Human Rights Council
Seventeenth session
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
Summary
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants conducted an official visit to South Africa from 24 January to 1 February 2011, where he visited Pretoria, Johannesburg, Musina and Cape Town, and met with Government ministers, Members of Parliament, officials of central and provincial governments, the United Nations country team, lawyers, academics and members of civil society organizations, as well as with migrants in South Africa.
While recognizing that the Government has taken measures to protect migrants, such as the regularization process of Zimbabweans present in the country, has started to address the xenophobic attacks directed against migrants in townships and to alleviate the impact of the recent economic crisis, the Special Rapporteur noted that other challenges are still to be addressed. In addition, the integration of migrants into society is hampered by the absence of a comprehensive immigration policy and the lack of regional and multilateral agreements.
In this context, the Special Rapporteur makes a number of recommendations for the Government, including the need to develop thorough data and statistics based on the demand for the labour force, the arrest and detention of foreign nationals, access of migrants to social services, in particular health care, and the situation of unaccompanied foreign children, all in the context of the absence of a comprehensive immigration policy that respects the human rights of migrants and ensures their integration into South African society.