Balfour (Siyathemba): Grave concern at continuing violence against refugees

the safety and property of refugees living in the Siyathemba/Balfour area of Mpumalanga

province. Last night, for the second time in less than eight months, refugees and migrants

were forced to flee the area after receiving threats. An armed crowd of several hundred looted

and damaged their shops and other property, destroying their means of livelihood. At least 134

adults and children, mainly Ethiopian refugees, appear to have been affected by the violence

and have sought shelter in safer areas locally or in other provinces.

Despite efforts on Sunday by humanitarian and human rights monitors including Amnesty

International, and senior police being alerted to the threatening situation, there appears to

have been a significant failure by the provincial police to prevent the violence from escalating.

Among those affected were refugees who were experiencing violence and displacement in

South Africa for the third time since 2008. As one of them told Amnesty International, “They

told us to go out [of Siyathemba]. They have wrecked our shop. I have lost everything again. I

am very scared.”

In September 2009 Amnesty International wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs, Dr

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, to express concern about threats of violence and verbal abuse

against refugees and migrants who had been attacked and displaced in Siyathemba/Balfour

during community protests in July that year over local government failures to provide services.

Amnesty International was also concerned that the refugees and migrants were being coerced

into withdrawing their criminal complaints and to not seek compensation, apparently as a

condition for re-integration back into the same community from which they had been expelled.

In a memorandum to the government in August 2009 Amnesty International welcomed

President Jacob Zuma’s public statement condemning violence against non-nationals and his

decision to meet the refugees and migrants who had been displaced during the July protests.

The human rights organization acknowledges, as well, that by late 2009 senior police officials

at the national level were responding positively to a civil society and UNHCR-led initiative to

improve the prevention of and police emergency responses to violence against refugees and

other non-nationals.

However, as indicated by the repetition of violence on 7 February 2010 in Siyathemba/Balfour

and other large-scale incidents which occurred during 2009, there remains a culture of

impunity for crimes against refugees and migrants. There persists also low public awareness of

the country’s human rights obligations towards refugees and others in need of international

protection.

Amnesty International calls on the government to ensure that there is a swift and effective

investigation into last night’s attacks and the police response to them. Those found

responsible for human rights abuses should be brought to justice and the victims fully

compensated.

Public Document

****************************************

For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44

20 7413 5566 or email: press [at] amnesty [dot] org

International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK

www.amnesty.org