Global Campaign to End Child Detention to focus on South Africa

Press Release: Illegal immigration detention of children on the increase in South Africa

Johannesburg, 4 September 2012 – The Global Campaign to End Child Immigration Detention, launched on 21 May, is focusing on South Africa during the month of September.  South Africa is one of the six states that the Campaign is targeting during 2012. South African law prohibits the detention of children for immigration reasons however, in practice, significant and increasing numbers of children are being detained in police stations and detention facilities in preparation for deportation. 

One of the Campaign activities planned in South Africa in September is the launch of the 2012 Detention Report, an annual report compiled by local Campaign member, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR). LHR is one of the only organisation which has been regularly visiting the only formal detention centre, Lindela – just outside Johannesburg – in order to provide pro bono legal representation to its detainees. The Detention Report is compiled through monitoring assessments, including consultations with adult and child detainees, as well as state officials. This regular monitoring has enabled LHR to identify trends and legal issues as well as shifts in practice and national policies.

Also, international Campaign Coordinator, Jeroen van Hove, based in Europe, will visit South Africa in the week starting on the 17th of September. He has sought permission from the government to visit the Lindela Repatriation Centre and will be assisting in campaign activities which include, among others, a video recording session by a group of 20 children who have been trained in media monitoring at the Troyeville Primary School by Media Monitoring Africa (MMA). They will get actively involved by recording their own video messages for the Campaign appeal “Speak up for children behind bars”. Their voices will join the ones of other children from Greece and Australia who have already spoken up against child detention. The videos can be viewed at www.youtube.com/speakuphindbars.

The Campaign will also collaborate with MMA to speak to a group of secondary school children training to be journalists who regularly report to the media on child issues. The Campaign will facilitate the young journalists’ access to children with detention experience, which would enable a child’s story to be told by another child media reporter. As we plan these activities, LHR is intervening in the cases of six minor children currently in detention. These include five Zimbabwean boys detained at the Musina Police Station in Limpopo and a 16year old Congolese boy who has been detained at Lindela since February 2012.  

 Although official figures are not available, it has been reported that between October and December 2011, 86 children between the ages of 2-17 years were detained and deported to Zimbabwe, which receives the highest number of children who are deported from South Africa. The campaign calls on the Government of South Africa to stop detaining children – not only in law, but also in practice, as well as to stop deporting minors.

Campaign calls to action: Sign the global petition today and trigger an email to Hon. Dr. N.C. Dlamini-Zuma, the South African Minister of Home Affairs. Wear the campaign badge on your Facebook or Twitter profile photo. Under 18’s record your message of support on Youtube, as has been done by Australian and Greek youth in previous campaign months. Share Dakari’s story about detention in South Africa here.

Contact: Gwada Majange Consortium for Refugees and Migrants South Africa, CoRMSA gwadamirai [at] cormsa [dot] org [dot] za +27-11-403-7560  

About the campaign

At the 19th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2012, the Global Campaign to End Immigration Detention of Children was launched with the support of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. This year the Campaign is focusing on seven countries: Australia, Greece, Mexico, Israel, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States. Countries have been chosen for inclusion in the campaign based on the extent to which immigration detention of children is an issue, combined with the commitment of local civil society groups. The focus on each country will last for one month, during which Campaign workers, along with members of local organisations will set up different activities in support of the Campaign.

Human rights and refugee rights groups from all over the world first came together in 2006 to start exploring this issue and begin building momentum for the Campaign. With the support of The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, this has now become a global public campaign. Over eighty organisations have already formally endorsed it. Members of the general public can sign a global petition, calling for an end to immigration detention of children, which will be presented to the Human Rights Council in a year’s time www.endchilddetention.org.   Background on detention in South Africa Although the Refugees Act of South Africa does not provide for the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and refugees, the Immigration Act does provide for the detention and deportation of ‘illegal foreigners’.

Also, South African law prohibits the detention of children for immigration reasons and their removal from South African territory without a court decision. However, in practice, large and increasing numbers of children and minors are being detained in police stations and deported, without legal safeguards or overview of their best interests. It has been reported that between October and December 2011, 86 children between the ages of 2-17 years were deported to Zimbabwe, one of the most common countries where children are sent back.

Human rights groups are raising major concerns about the conditions of the main detention centre, the Lindela Repatriation Centre. In 2005, the courts ruled that children may only be detained as a matter of last resort and that Lindela was not fit for the detention of children. Since then, women with children have mostly been detained in separate shelters, although there are still sporadic cases of children being detained at Lindela. Human rights groups are also concerned about the emergence of unregistered children’s shelters, as well as reports of physical abuse, neglect and long-term detention in such shelters.