Submitted to the SA Human Rights Commission

27 October 2004

1. From the 3^rd World Conference Against Racism NGO Forum Declaration – Article 12 to 18

2. Overview

The previous apartheid government’s divide and rule policy meant that citizens were grouped and located along racial, ethnic lines and tribal lines. This policy of separate development instilled a false sense of racial superiority, ethnic and tribal exclusion, intolerance and mistrust amongst South Africans. South Africa’s apartheid policy made it a pariah amongst all nations of the world, especially those on the African continent.

10 Years into our democracy this legacy of separate development and isolation manifested in South Africans now plays itself out within South Africa. The false sense of racial superiority, ethnic and tribal exclusion intolerance and mistrust is directed at migrants, refugees and other citizens African states beyond our borders.

South Africa currently grapples with the infamous title of fast becoming the most xenophobic country in Africa. A case in point is the recently publicised reports of a South African citizen arrested and housed in Lindela Deportation Centre for deportation to Zimbabwe. The reason for her arrest was the law enforcement officers’ perception that she was too black to be South African. Reports of unjust and inhumane treatment at this centre of people from other countries remains a cause for concern. Most refugees are not afforded basic human rights and those who are hired to work on farms continue to be exploited especially in terms of a minimum living wage. The Lindela reports, the farm workers reports, the reports of ‘deep divisions between judges at the Cape High Court ’ shows the structural rootedness of instituionalised racism in South Africa and relates directly to the experiences and perpetuation of xenophobic attitudes and practices.

A few news clippings spanning a period of two years that relates to ethnicity and xenophobia experiences in South Africa.

Sowetan 12/11/02: In South Africa the youth are often overlooked in matters relating to foreigners. It is largely the adults who are on the receiving end of social agencies’ work and citizens’ prejudices. The fear or dislike of African foreigners is fuelled by a lack of information or ignorance about their social, economic, political and practical realities.

Sowetan 14/11/02: In a rights-based society such as ours we should be vigilant in ensuring that children, regardless of their origins, enjoy the rights to which they are entitled. Soul Buddyz (television programme) research confirms that children of foreigners live with this stigma every day.

Sowetan 14/02/03: A group of Nigerians living in a flat in Hillbrow were given 28-days notice to pack their bags and vacate the premises on February 1. A board of trustees at the Tigerberg Flats in Primrose Street allegedly accused them of vandalism, crime and violence and told them to leave the premises by February 28. Nigerian representative Mr. Ife Mollar said about 200 Nigerian nationals would be affected by the decision. Mollar said the decision to have them evicted was underpinned by tribalism and xenophobia.

Sowetan 14/10/03: A most disturbing trend is developing in the coverage of police raids of Hillbrow. Although we have no doubt that the area has its share of criminals, it is wrong to constantly imply that because a vast majority of foreigners live in the area, they are responsible for crime. Many foreigners come to South Africa to escape persecution, others in search of a better life. The majority are law-abiding, honest and hardworking. Although a degree of xenophobia may be understandable in ordinary South Africans who lack job security, it is neither understandable nor acceptable in the police services. Laura Pollecutt Media Officer, Soul City Institute.

The Citizen 30/03/04: Last week, and less than three weeks before the general election, Public Works Minister Stella Sigcau voiced her party’s official concern that large parts of S.A’s stock of land and buildings would, sooner or later, be in the hands of foreigners. The reaction has been prompt and blunt. Absa’s senior economist Chris Hart said government’s warnings about foreign land-ownership seemed xenophobia. The land affairs department, which falls under another ministry, Thoko Didiza, is auditing the amount of land owned by foreigners before deciding whether to limit how much they should be allowed.

Sowetan 19/04/04: Recent reports that minister of Public Works Stella Sigcau was worried about the levels of fixed assets owned by foreigners, and the fact that Government is conducting an audit to determine land ownership by foreigners, refer. There are no Government plans to limit ownership of land or property by foreigners. According to a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, there are many reasons why countries would want to monitor foreign ownership of land. One of them is strategic security. Government, through the Department of Land Affairs, has been conducting an audit to determine how much land foreigners own. There is nothing xenophobic about this. It is part of ongoing and responsible management of our valuable resources. (Thami Ngidi Director: media liaison Ministry of Public Works)

Sowetan 18/08/04: The announcement by our football authorities that the number of five foreigners to be fielded in a league match has raised anger among some. The argument is that this practice will stifle the growth of our football. Whether or not one agrees with this statement the bottom line is that this call is made too late considering the following achievements by foreigners: From 1998 to previous season foreigners have almost scooped the Player of the Season or Players’ Player of the Season and Top Goal scorer awards. No South African player has ever won Africa’s Footballer of the Year award. When did we begin to be conscious about this matter? Weren’t we supposed to raise our concern when these were happening, why cry now? We are reaping what we sowed and let us follow the world trend where five foreigners are fielded in a league match.

2.4 XENOPHOBIA – Africa: Regional media reports that possibly influence South Africans thinking and continuance of instilled mindsets.

History has taught us that violent isolated cases lead to sporadic events and national disasters. The situation in Rwanda started as isolated events and the UN led by Western governments gave a blind eye. Today, more than a million people were violently massacred. Their lives would have been spared if those isolated, violent actions were dealt with. This reinforces the need for an Early warning Signals methodology that addresses transformation and redress in an institutionalized manner. It is and cannot be enough that we have all the equality and empowerment laws when we lack resources for implementation and more of indictment, society lacks resources for access, understanding which will lead to acceptance.

The Star 05/04/04: Ismail Muhakwa marched through his hilltop village with a machete 10 years ago, hunting down his Tutsi neighbours. His first victim was a young man trying to cross a river into Burundi. "We killed him on the spot, using clubs and knives," Muhakwa recalls. Today, he awaits trial before his fellow villagers. HE meekly goes from family to family, asking them to forgive him and to believe that he, like his country, has changed in the decade since the genocide. Wednesday is the anniversary of the beginning of systematic slaughter unleashed by the Hutu majority on more than 500 000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

The Citizen 05/04/04: Vowing never again, Rwandans began a week of memoration yesterday for the estimated 800 000 people killed a decade ago in 100 days of genocide that the world did little to prevent. France, the United States and the United Nations have been criticized for their roles during the events of 1994, but organizers of a three-day conference that opened yesterday say they want to focus on the future before a memorial on Wednesday. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was head of peace at the world body during 1994, accepted institutional and personal blame last month for not doing more to prevent the Rwandan slaughter.

Sowetan 07/04/04: Stanislas Hategekimana stared at the ground as he recounted how he danced and sang while he killed Tutsis during 1994 genocide in Rwanda and admitted that he killed so many, he couldn’t put a number on them. "In the killing groups that I took part in starting in 1992, we killed so many people that I can’t count them," said former member of the Interahamwe militia – a group held largely for the 100-day spree of violence – who was sentenced two years ago to life in prison for his role in the massacres. From April to July 1994, up to one million people were slaughtered in the Rwandan genocide, triggered by the shooting down of the plane carrying Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.

The Star 04/05/04: Adamu Sule, a 29-year-old motorcycle taxi rider, was one of thousands who ran for dear life when militia of the Tarok tribe invaded Dooshima 11, a remote village of mud huts in central Nigeria. Armed with rifles and machetes, the Tarok were in hot pursuit of retreating mercenaries of rival Fulani tribe who had occupied his village days earlier, in an escalating ethnic conflict that has killed more than 350 people in three months. "We just ran for our lives when we heard the (Tarok) coming. "There was no time for questions," said Sule, who returned to the village on Sunday to rebuild his charred, roofless huts. More than 100 people were killed in raids on Dooshima11and five other villages in Taraba state over a two-week period in mid-April, local residents and officials said on a trip to the remote area on Sunday.

The Star 16/08/04: Hundreds of people wandered silently through devastated alleyways at Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi, trying to make sense of a massacre of almost 160 men, women and children. Victims were shot, burned and hacked to death at camp for Congolese Tutsis in an overnight attack on Friday. "The enemies came and shone torches on the people sleeping, then they fired shots and stabbed them," said Xavier, a survivor. The Hutu ethnic group, rivals of the Tutsis, has claimed responsibility for the killings. But several sources say attackers from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo DRC and extremist Hutus from another neighbour, Rwanda, were involved.

Sowetan 16/08/04: Funerals were to be held yesterday for the victims of an attack on refugee camp for Congolese Tutsis in Burundi that left close to 160 dead, officials said. An ecumenical ceremony and burials were to be held at the Gatumba camp, where the refugees were shot, burned and hacked to death late on Friday in an attack blamed on a coalition of Hutu extremists. "The burials should take place Sunday (yesterday) at 2pm at Gatumba," which lies near the capital Bujumbura, just inside the border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said Isabelle Albric, a spokeswoman for UN mission in Burundi.

The Star 16/08/04: Rwandan troops arrived in Darfur as the first foreign force, mandate to protect observers monitoring a shaky ceasefire between the Sudan government and rebels in the remote western region. About 155 Rwandan troops were being sent to troubled Darfur at the weekend as part of an African Union (AU) force. Rwanda says the world’s slow response to the Darfur crisis echoes its own experience during a 1994 genocide. The United Nations calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and says 50 000 people have been killed and at least 1-million more displaced since two rebel groups took up arms against the government in February last year.

Sowetan 16/08/04: Rwandan troops were airlifted yesterday to Sudan’s Darfur as the first foreign force there, mandated to protect observers monitoring a ceasefire between the Sudanese government and rebels in the troubled western region. Some 154 Rwandan troops and military equipment were being sent to Darfur at the weekend as part of an African Union (AU) force. Rwandan president Paul Kagame said on Saturday his soldiers would also intervene to protect civilians in danger. Rwanda says the world’s slow response to the Darfur crisis echoes its own experience during a 1994 genocide, confusion over the exact powers and role of the troops being sent to Sudan.

The Star 17/08/04: Nigerian police have launched a manhunt for leaders and supporters of a militant group seeking a separate state for ethnic Igbo people of the southeast. Police yesterday described Igbo aspirations as treason. The group has called on the more than 30-million people of the Igbo-speaking states to go on strike next week to draw international attention to their struggle.

The Star 17/08/04: The African Union plans to send a team of investigators to Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo after more than 160 Tutsi Congolese refugees were massacred at a border camp in Burundi. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also the chairperson of the 53-member AU, denounced the brutal attack by extremist Hutus, which prompted Burundi to close its border with its giant DRC neighbour. Burundi’s rebel Hutu Forces for National Liberation claimed responsibility for the killings but several other rebel groups and militia operating from inside the DRC have been accused by various parties of taking part.

The Citizen 18/08/04: The Burundi Army said yesterday it might cross into neighbouring Congo to pursue rebels and militia it blames for massacring 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp in western Burundi’s Army, Brigadier-General Germain Niyoyankana, said the military was prepared to move into Democratic Republic of Congo if the Kinshasa government failed to disarm the rebels and allied militia. "We must avoid a new attack from Congo so the Burundi Army does not rule out an offensive in the in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Everything depends on the Congolese government," Brig. Gen Niyoyankana said. The Hutu Forces for National Liberation, the only rebel group still fighting the Burundian government, claimed responsibility for the attack in which refugees were burned, hacked and shot to death.

The Star 18/08/04: Rwanda and Burundi have threatened action against the Democratic Republic of Congo following the massacre of Congolese Tutsis refugees in Burundi. The central African’s giant action has pushed the volatile Great Lakes region into a new ethnic crisis. "I have not ruled out an offensive against the DRC aimed at making them respect our country’s borders," General Germain Niyoyankana, head of Burundi’s army said yesterday. This comes four days after 160 Tutsis were slaughtered at a refugee camp, 4km inside Burundi from the DRC border, by suspected Hutu extremists.

The Citizen 18/08/04: Rwandan President Paul Kagame accused the United Nations yesterday of "doing nothing" to bring peace to Africa’s Great Lakes region, where some 160 ethnic Tutsis were massacred in Burundi last week. "It is clear they are doing nothing," said Kagame, himself a Tutsi. Hutu fighters, who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda before fleeing to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when the 100-day slaughter was stopped, have been accused of crossing into Burundi last Friday to slaughter Tutsis at Gatumba, all of whom were refugees from DRC. At least 800 000 died in Rwanda’s genocide, most of them Tutsis.

The Star 19/08/04: Police in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura have fired teargas at crowd protesting against the massacre of at least 160 Congolese Tutsis at a UN refugee camp in the west of the country. About 100 Congolese Tutsis, known as Banyamulenge, gathered outside the Democratic Republic of Congo embassy in the lakeside city yesterday to denounce last week’s attack, which Burundi blames on Hutu rebels and allied militias. "We’re demonstrating to show our suffering, but the police are brutalizing us with teargas," said Arthur Mugisha, one of the protesters.

Thisday 19/08/04: With time running out for Sudan to meet a UN deadline for assuring the safety of the civilian population of Darfur, the government is seeking help from Libya and Nigeria. As the August 29 deadline looms, AU-sponsored peace talks between the Sudanese government and the Darfur rebels are due to begin in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Monday. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Beshir has asked Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi to "intervene personally" in the escalating crisis. Nigeria, the chair of the AU peacekeepers and diplomats to resolve the conflict it would face pressure from outside the continent.

City Press 22/08/04: One week after the horrific against a Congolese Tutsi refugee camp in Gatumba, Burundi, just inside the border with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), shockwaves from the incident continue to reverberate around the region. In the eastern DRC border town of Bukavu, the rag-tag Congolese armed forces are preparing themselves for a possible attack from the forces of the dissident Congolese army commander Laurent Nkunda, encamped just 50km to the north in Kalehe. They are also preparing for a possible intervention by the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF), encamped just a few kilometers across the border in Cyangugu. This follows repeated threats from the Rwandan government, since the Gatumba massacre, that it might deploy its forces inside the DRC in pursuit of Rwandan Hutu anti-government militia, the FDLR.

The Citizen 25/08/04: World leaders must act quickly to help rescue a faltering peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo or risk a return to full-scale war in central Africa, a leading think-tank warned yesterday. The International Crisis Group (ICG) said efforts to end Congo’s five-year war could be derailed by recent fighting, ethnic tensions in the country’s east and political ill-will in the western capital Kinshasa.

Sowetan 25/08/04: Burundian rebels attacked an army position south of the capital in a clash that left three rebels dead and three soldiers wounded, an army spokesman said yesterday. The fighters from the National Liberation Force, the last remaining rebel group in Burundi, launched the attack on the camp near Ruyaga, three kilometers south of Bujumbura late on Monday night. African and European leaders have declared the National Liberation Force that claimed responsibility for an attack on unarmed Congolese Tutsi refugees last week, a terrorist organisation.

Thisday 25/08/04: Burundi’s Forces for National Liberation (FNL) rebels, blamed for the massacre of Congolese refugees this month, would be welcomed back to peace talks if they renounce terrorist activities, South Africa said. Hutu FNL rebels and allied attackers armed with guns and machetes killed 160 people at a camp for Tutsi Congolese refugees in western Burundi last week. Regional leaders branded the FNL a terrorist group after the attack and have demanded the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the massacre. "If they said, look

The Star 20/09/04: Sudan has condemned as "unfair" a new UN resolution calling on Khartoum to restore security to the crisis-racked Darfur region of face possible sanctions. However, the speaker for the Sudanese parliament cautioned the West yesterday not to intervene in his country, warning that it risked opening "the gates of hell". The Sudanese embassy in Washington said the government was committed to resolution "even though it was unfair and unjust to Sudan", according to a statement published by the independent Al-Sahafa newspaper. The resolution was adopted on Saturday by 11 votes to nil, with China, Russia, Algeria and Pakistan abstaining. The resolution was sponsored by the United States, which says Khartoum and its proxy Arab militias are guilty of genocide in Darfur.

The Star 21/09/04: There’s no genocide or rape in strife-torn Darfur, says Sudan’s justice minister. But the head of Amnesty International claims that villagers are slaughtered, homes torched, and girls and women raped. In Darfur an estimated 50 000 people have died and 1,4-million have been displaced. UN officials say Arab militias have carried out a scorched-earth campaign of ethnic cleansing against black residents. Amnesty secretary-general Irene Khan, who visited Darfur, says pro-government Arab militias are waging genocide.

The Star 21/09/04: A Catholic priest accused of killing Rwandans in the 1994 genocide has gone on trial. Prosecutors at a UN tribunal allege he ordered collaborators to bulldoze a church in which 2 000 Tutsis were hiding. Forty-one-year-old Father Athanase Seromba is the first Catholic priest to face charges at the tribunal in connection with the genocide. Up to 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered by Hutu extremists in 100 days. Seromba has pleaded not guilty to charges which include genocide and crimes against humanity, and his trial began without him yesterday as he refused to leave his detention cell.

Sowetan 27/09/04: When and why did the current upsurge in violence begin at Msinga’s Kwalatha village, where the population used to be about 1 000 is dwindling, succumbing to bloody conflict? There are 280 women in Kwalatha – and only nine men. Most men have been killed in the faction fighting or they have fled with their families. The conflict essentially involves three clans – the Funeka, Dlamini and Mkhize. Central to the fighting, according to police, is the proliferation of illegal firearms in Msinga. In an attempt to restore sanity, on July 4 Inkosi P.J Ngubane of Amabomvini in Msinga assembled Kwalatha villagers at the Nazareth Baptist Church to pray for peace. Reverend Tholumuzi Dladla led the ceremony. Meanwhile, peace has yet to return to the erstwhile tranquil and serene Kwalatha.

The Citizen 04/10/04: Ethnic minority rebels in Darfur have rejected an attempt by the Sudanese government to divide them ahead of a new round of peace talks in Nigeria later this month, a Khartoum daily reported yesterday. The Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) said it would not take part in the talks in Abuja on October 21 unless fellow rebels from Justice Equality Movement (JEM) were also allowed to take part. The Sudanese government has accused the JEM of complicity in an alleged coup attempt in Khartoum last month by the Popular Congress party of jailed Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, and rejected it as a negotiating partner.

Sowetan 04/10/04: A string of bomb and gun attacks in northeastern India continued for a second day yesterday as blasts in a crowded market, a tea plantation and elsewhere, killed three people and wounded 18 bringing the death toll to 53 and more than 100 wounded. Police have blamed the violence on separatist rebels. The violence across the two states was some of the deadliest to hit the ethnic patchwork region, where more than three dozen insurgent groups have been active – including one of Asia’s longest running separatist conflicts, dating to shortly before Indian independence from Britain in 1947.

The Citizen 04/10/04: Scores of Iraqi Kurds took to the streets of Kirkuk yesterday to demand that Arab families settled in the northern oil centre by Saddam Hussein’s regime now leave. In a second day of demonstrations in the ethnically divided city, calling for the "departure of the Arabs" and "the return of Kurds" as part of efforts to restore its population make-up.

The Citizen 13/10/04: Rwanda’s 1994 genocide was initially planned to start on February 23 of that year but was delayed to ensure as many Tutsis as possible were slaughtered, Hirondelle news agency has reported a witness as telling the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwandan army, told the court: "The suspension was motivated by the desire to wait for the school holidays, so that no Tutsis, even school children, would survive".

The Star 29/11/02: Twenty people remained in jail yesterday after clashes in the Belgian city of Antwerp following the murder of a young Moroccan immigrant. The city has a large immigrant population and is a bastion of the far right.

The Star 03/12/02: The Vatican has harshly criticized the rise of xenophobia and racism in the world since the September 11 attacks, saying refugees were first in the firing line. "Because of the fear of terrorism, government began introducing tougher laws to maintain order and security," said Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, delivering a message from Pope John Paul 11 on World Migrants Day.

The Star 05/03/03: Between 15 000 and 20 000 skinheads are active in Russia. Xenophobic attacks occur regularly in Moscow, usually targeting African students, diplomats or traders. Russia’s parliament has amended the criminal code to allow for stiffer punishments for racially motivated hate crimes, and police are trying to track down the financing of skinhead groups, an official said.

The Star 18/06/03: The debate in the European Union has alarmed international rights groups, who worry that the emphasis of governments on restricting refugees criminalizes asylum-seekers and fuels xenophobia and racism. "Governments are prepared to go to any length to push refugees out. It feeds the circle of xenophobia and it is very short-sighted political thinking and self-interest," said Dick Oosting, head of Amnesty International’s EU office.

The Star 13/11/03: Twelve members of a militant eastern German skinhead group that agitates against foreigners have been convicted of two assaults on other young people and sentenced to probation of up to two years. A state court said yesterday the defendants, aged 22 to 26, and belonged to a group that aimed to rid a region south-east of Dresden of foreigners and people with leftist sympathies.

The above reports are limited to print media, reports from other media and those related on a personal level should be presented during the hearings. As FAZE 2 and civil society we remain concerned that "the conspiracy of silence" on apartheid, its manifestations and supremacist ideologies are dangerous and we support the SA Human Rights Commission in this process of public hearings.

3. Way forward

3.1 3^rd World Conference Against Racsim NGO Forum Programme of Action

396.  Effectively keep and use disaggregated statistics to assess the complexities of modern migration patterns.

397. Eliminate discriminatory treatment by public authorities, in particular police, other law enforcement officers, immigration officers as well as de facto immigration officials such as airport and airline employees, of persons from countries of immigration, asylum seekers and undocumented persons and to ensure that these groups are provided with necessary information and legal assistance in the event of torture, ill treatment or any kind of violence perpetrated on the basis of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.

398. Provide gender-sensitive human rights education and anti-racism training programmes for key professionals frequently in contact with immigrants and asylum seekers, including customs and immigration officials.

399. Provide education and capacity building for refugees, asylum seekers, documented and undocumented migrant workers and migrants on their rights, responsibilities, and avenues for redress.

400.  Recognize the professions, qualifications, titles, and degrees of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant workers, during the period in which they are waiting for legalisation of their status.

401. Recognize and give value to foreign-trained and foreign-educated migrants, migrant workers, refugees, and asylum seekers, stateless and internally displaced persons thereby enabling them to use and improve their skills.

403. Initiate and review policies and regulations that facilitate the regularization and decriminalisation of undocumented migrants, and in the meantime ensure respect for their non-derogable human rights and freedoms, including the right to life, the right not to be tortured, the right to equal access to justice and to security, as well as to other basic rights such as, their right to education, housing, health (with due attention to persons with disabilities), living wages, employment, access to culture and the environment without fear of arbitrary detention and summary deportation.

404. Actively promote and support self-initiatives and non-governmental organizations working to organize and unionize documented and undocumented migrants and migrant workers, allocate sufficient resources, especially to women’s groups, to build their capacities to more effectively address human rights violations within their community.

405.  Protect the equal rights of migrant women who are particularly vulnerable to violence, including sexual and domestic violence and other forms of abuse, ensure free and full access to remedies for human rights violations and grant them their own independent status in all immigration and migration matters.

406.  Recognize the particular vulnerability of migrant and refugee children, particularly unaccompanied and abandoned children, and appoint qualified guardians to children separated from their parents or otherwise unaccompanied by a responsible adult. Furthermore grant citizenship to children of migrant workers in the receiving countries.

407.  Recognise that there are diverse ways to establish family relationships and grant and facilitate entry for purposes of family reunification and ensure that, once admitted, family members enjoy secure and independent residence status, including the full enjoyment of social, economic, cultural, civil and political rights.

Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Stateless and Displaced Persons

410.  Implement the United Nations Guidelines for Internal Displacement and ensure that national governments, in collaboration with international governmental and non-governmental agencies provide adequate statistics on internally displaced persons.

411.  Review current national legislation and measures and refrain from introducing any further measures which may be contrary to the spirit of the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol and can prevent refugees from accessing protection such as visa regimes, restrictive interpretation of the Convention, posting of screening officers in countries of origins and airports, detention of asylum seekers, carriers’ sanctions, readmission and involuntary repatriation practices, and ‘safe third country’ practices.

412.  Ensure that legislation and policies take due account of and abide by the legal interpretations, policy directives, guidelines and recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and recognize the role of this body as guarantor of the correct application of the 1951 Convention.

417.   Terminate the covert and overt discriminatory practices undergirding the imbalanced response to humanitarian assistance in the various world regions, and between refugee groups, with due respect to the specific needs of refugees in refugee camps, shelters or other housing facilities while providing for their integration or volunteer resettlement to the country of origin and also enabling them to reach their families in other countries of arrival while they are waiting for recognition of their refugee status.

MIGRANTS

GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY

Ensure that legislation that promotes the full and effective protection of the human rights of migrants is implemented

Develop and implement policies and action plans, and reinforce and implement preventative measures, in order to foster greater harmony and between migrants and host societies

Educate and train public authorities, in relevant levels, about the rights of migrants and punish those who violate them

Implement measures that ensure that migrants enjoy all the rights afforded to the country’s nationals

Promote the recognition of professions, qualifications, titles and degrees of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers.

BUSINESS’ RESPONSIBILITY

Design and implement procedures that prohibit the abuse of migrants and promote their fair treatment as per requirements of the national legislation

Invest resources in educating and capacitating migrants so that they could easily adapt to the working environment

Develop programs that seek to advance the knowledge and expertise of women so that they could be equitably remunerated

Allocate resources for the training of public officials who deal directly with migrants.

CIVIL SOCIETY’S RESPONSIBILITY

Assist migrants in the process of their integration to society and in accessing all the legally protected rights

Educate and train migrants, refugees and asylum seekers about their rights

Facilitate, together with existing networks, the process of their integration into communities

Assist migrants in accessing the law when their rights have been violated and when they are discriminated against on the basis of their status.

Design an information booklet focusing on the history and challenges facing migrants and their immediate communities, so as to build understanding between the two.

NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS’ RESPONSIBILITY

Monitor the treatment of migrants by law enforcement agents

Monitor their integration to society and held to ease tension between the migrants and new found communities

Ensure that migrants receive fair and equal treatment before the law.