2011 round up: Part three: Decriminalization of homosexuality and anti-discrimination

Image via Wikipedia

By Paul Canning

I'm rounding up the year in a series of posts - in which no doubt I've missed something, so please let me know what I've missed in the comments!

Decriminalization of homosexuality and anti-discrimination

We saw an increased impact in 2011 of the work of the UN Human Rights Council, particularly its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process of interrogating country's human rights records, and other long term work by activists starting to bear fruit in other parts of the United Nations and other international bodies as well.

The passage of a resolution against killings of LGBT at the end of last year, reversing an attempt by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and some African countries at halting LGBT progress in international bodies, sparked a global reaction, including demonstrations and novel contact with governments by local LGBT.

It marked the change in approach by Rwanda in particular, which had previously backed off criminalization, with its UN ambassador drawing on the country's experience of genocide to send a message to those claiming that LGBT is not defined or that LGBT don't even exist.

It marked the first sign of historic change in Cuba, which appears likely to culminate in same-sex unions and anti-discrimination laws agreed by the Communist Party next year. The way that other Caribbean countries changed positively on the UN vote on killings also marked a development which continued in several island nations during 2011.

A change of approach by South Africa on the international LGBT rights front, due to internal civil society pressure, led to them proposing the historic July resolution affirming LGBT rights at the Human Rights Council, which then led to the publication of the first UN report on LGBT human rights in December. That July resolution also caused further ripples, including the first public affirmation of LGBT rights by a Gulf civil society group, in Bahrain.

It emerged that the organised backlash against LGBT rights in international bodies, led by the OIC, Russia and the African group, was receiving support from American Christian fundamentalist bodies such as CFAM. The same people who are losing the 'culture war' at home have shifted to intervening in Africa and the Caribbean and various countries repeated their arguments/lies, such as Uganda claiming at the UN Human Rights Council that lesbians and gays 'recruit'. However it was also clear from investigative reporting at UN HQ that many of the no-shows, abstentions or yes votes of various countries during key UN LGBT rights votes was largely down to US diplomatic pressure. This showed how both US and European pressures on LGBT rights is already happening, and working, in a year which saw extensive simplified and often inaccurate reporting on the use of such 'leverage', like the supposed 'colonialist' tying of development aid to LGBT rights.

Four countries committed themselves to decriminalization: São Tomé and Príncipe; Nauru; The Seychelles, and; Northern Cyprus.

In Botswana LGBT launched, then put on hold, a legal push for decriminalisation. and in Belize LGBT started their legal challenge to criminalisation on constitutional grounds. Jamaican law is to be challenged at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the opposition leader called for a review of the buggery law.

In Chile all anti-gay discrimination was banned. Colombia passed an anti-discrimination law which includes prison terms. In South Africa government action began on so-called 'corrective rape', following massive international attention. But in Brazil, passage of a hate crimes law failed due to increased evangelical Christian influence in that country. And in Malawi, the government criminalized lesbians and used LGBT rights as a wedge issue against its opponents.

The anti-criminalization effort at the Commonwealth Summit failed but it did raise the issue widely in media worldwide.

Several former African leaders came out for decriminalization. In her fantastic speech on gay rights at the UN in December, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointedly mentioned one, former Botswana leader Festus Mogue. But only the Zimbabwean leader Morgan Tsvangarai offered support for LGBT amongst current African leaders.

Related articles

• UN publishes landmark LGBT rights report (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• What preceded Hillary Clinton's UN speech? (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

What preceded Hillary Clinton's UN speech?

By Douglas Sanders

Hillary Clinton’s fine speech in Geneva on LGBT rights saw the US playing catch-up to initiatives of a dozen other Western countries. As activists, we welcome the US to the process. But dawn is not yet breaking everywhere.  There are many time zones.

In the years since the Second World War lesbians and gay men have gradually been recognized as legitimate minorities in the West. Soon half of Western Europe will have legal same-sex marriage (and most of the rest will have registered partnerships in parallel with heterosexual marriage). Latin America has begun to follow the same path, with marriage in two key states (Argentina and Mexico) and equal rights in other places (including strong leadership by Brazil). 

The combination of Western European and Latin America support has turned the tide at the United Nations, allowing (a) the accreditation of LGBT NGOs for lobbying purposes, (b) support from UN human rights experts, and (c) the first resolution by a UN political body in June, 2011, supporting LGBT rights (in the Human Rights Council). 

There is now some jockeying for applause by leading states. Which country has taken the lead and should get special praise? Is it the Netherlands? Is it Brazil? Is it France? Is it Argentina? Is it the UK? Is it the US? We have become fashionable! Hillary Clinton was photographed with a clutch of LGBT leaders from around the world after her speech.

Who is on the other side? Russia. States in the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Most of Black Africa. Who says nothing? India. China (which has stopped simply siding with opposing states on the issues).

The Netherlands must get the ‘lifetime career’ Oscar. It had the first post-war gay organization, and led in funding both for local and international LGBT organizations. Its domestic policy was termed gay and lesbian ‘emancipation.’ In 2001 it was the first country to open marriage. HIVOS, a humanist foundation, administers a part of Dutch foreign aid, and its name is inevitably on the supporters list for international events.  Sweden also gets credit now for supporting the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

The 1993 UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna was the first ‘coming out’ party for governments. Five stepped forward to state their support for gay and lesbian equality rights: Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. Singapore also stepped forward – the only government to state their hostility to homosexual rights (and skepticism about human rights in general). 

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Victory for refugees in Johannesburg

Image by UN in Armenia via Flickr

Source: Lawyers for Human Rights

The North Gauteng High Court handed down judgment 14 December setting aside Department of Home Affairs' decision not to open a refugee reception office in Johannesburg and directing the Director-General to reconsider his decision.

Lawyers for Human Rights was representing the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants and the Coordinating Body of the Refugee Communities. These groups challenged the decision by the Department of Home Affairs not to open a new refugee reception office in Johannesburg after the existing office was closed down at the end of May 2011.  The Department claimed that it had made no such decision and was in fact ordered to close the refugee reception office by another court application brought by the surrounding businesses in Crown Mines.

The Court found that a decision had indeed been taken in line with an apparent policy pronouncement by Cabinet to move all asylum services to border posts.  It was agreed between all parties that if a decision was found to have been taken, the necessary public consultation and consultation with the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs had not taken place as required by the law.

According to Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, head of the Refugee and Migrant Rights Programme at LHR, “We are encouraged by the court’s decision in this matter.” She added, “We continue to be extremely concerned about the closures of the metropolitan refugee reception offices. The Department of Home Affairs has not carried out any public consultations on a decision which will negatively affect a vulnerable group. Further, the department has so far failed to put up any infrastructure or make contingency arrangements to provide services to refugees and asylum seekers. Notwithstanding, they have started closing down refugee reception offices.”

Lawyers for Human Rights has also challenged the closure of the Port Elizabeth Refugee Reception Office.  This centre was closed as of 30 November 2011 apparently in line with the same Cabinet policy.  That matter is due to be heard on 9 February 2012 in the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth.

Related articles

• South Africa 'reviewing' asylum seeker's rights (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

South Africa 'reviewing' asylum seeker's rights

Image by Sokwanele - Zimbabwe via Flickr

Source: IRIN

Nearly half a million asylum seekers in South Africa may lose their right to earn a living or study while their refugee status is being determined after indications that the government plans to amend legislation governing those rights.

An announcement on 23 November that Cabinet is "reviewing" the minimum rights of immigrants, including the right to work and study, was followed by a media briefing two days later at which Mkuseli Apleni, Director General of the Department of Home Affairs, suggested that the asylum seeker system was being abused.

"The right [of asylum seekers] to work and study has created a problem," he said. "People by default are going through the asylum seeker process in order to be able to work, but the majority are economic migrants using a back door."

Apleni noted that South Africa has the largest number of asylum seeker applications in the world. The system needed "streamlining", he said, and an amendment to current legislation would likely be passed in the next legislative year.

Refugee rights groups have reacted to the announcement with alarm. A joint statement by several civil society groups, including the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, and People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), argues that the review is a precursor to the withdrawal of rights that will "force more asylum seekers underground, thus making them liable to exploitation".

"It's going to limit people's employment opportunities, deny children living here a right to education, [and] increase tensions with locals," predicted PASSOP director Braam Hanekom.

South Africa's 1998 Refugees Act is silent on the question of whether someone who has been issued an asylum seeker permit can work or study while awaiting a decision on their refugee status. An attempt by Home Affairs to expressly prohibit work and study was challenged when a case was brought to court in 2003 by the Cape Town-based Legal Resources Centre (LRC) on behalf of a Zimbabwean woman and her disabled son.

The matter went to the Supreme Court of Appeals, where the judge ruled that freedom to work and study were "an important component of human dignity", and guaranteed by the country's Bill of Rights.

"The judgement was a resounding endorsement of asylum seekers' right to work, and they're obviously trying to override that," said William Kerfoot, the LRC attorney who handled the case.

Asylum seekers, who are not eligible for any kind of social support, often wait years for their applications to be processed, and prohibiting them from working "effectively turned them into criminals or beggars", he commented.

More than half of asylum seeker applications in South Africa are made by Zimbabweans fleeing economic hardship and human rights violations. Very few of them are eventually recognized as refugees, but applying for asylum is often their only legal avenue for remaining in the country.

The resulting flood of applications has created a backlog in the asylum system that the Department of Home Affairs attempted to address in 2009 by introducing a special dispensation to lift the threat of deportation from undocumented Zimbabwean migrants.

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SA denies Congolese albino gay man asylum

Charles Ngoy

By Paul Canning

A gay, albino Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugee has been refused asylum in South Africa in what advocates say is an increasing pattern of refusals for LGBT asylum seekers.

Charles Ngoy was refused asylum, in part, because Congo does not have a sodomy law due to its legacy as a Belgian and not British colony (although one has been proposed, reportedly directly inspired by the infamous Ugandan 'kill gays' bill. ).

However gay people in Congo suffer as in most of the rest of Africa from discrimination, rejection and harassment.

Albino people face discrimination and marginalization in their communities, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“They have trouble getting work, in accessing adequate health care, in finding marriage partners and in entering education,” UNDP said.

“Albino children do not feel loved by their parents, brothers and sisters. Albino women are subject to discrimination from other women. Women who give birth to albino babies are often mocked or rejected.”

A report in June by the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRBC) said that, in general, society favours criminalizing “acts against nature.” Homosexuality is taboo in the DRC. There are no public places for homosexuals in the capital city of Kinshasa. It reported that:

“Discrimination against LGBTI individuals is widespread, and they are often rejected by their communities” and are subjected to threats, retaliation, insults and social exclusion.

Junior Mayema, a gay Congolese refugee in South Africa who was interviewed for South African TV recently, fled after his mother tried to inject him with gasoline. He was hunted, shunned and banished.

Charles told the South African eNews Channel:

"In DRC I have never been arrested for my sexual orientation but I've been discriminated against by Congolese people, by friends by family. Because of that, it is not an easy life. Also I'm facing double persecution because I'm an albino... in Congo, if you are albino, and you are not protected by your family it's very difficult because not everyone in Congo likes albinos."

David Von Durgsdorff of Refugee Rights advocacy group Passop said:

"The case of Charles is not the exception, it's the norm. We're seeing more and more cases like this."

"We are very worried about these developments. It makes it clear that the Department of Home Affairs is compromising the refugee status determination process and turning it into an accelerated refugee rejection process."

"Homosexual asylum-seekers from many parts of Africa who have legitimate claims for asylum are being rejected left, right and center. The current system is failing and needs to be improved urgently."

"The case of Charles represents a particularly blatant failure, because he faces a double persecution in Congo, being both albino and gay. We have helped him appeal the decision and will continue to follow this and other such cases closely."

Charles grew up and spent most of his life living in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa.  His parents divorced when he was less than a year old. The main reason for the divorce was because his father’s mother had a problem with the colour of his skin – he was albino.

Growing up he did not have a family experience. He lived with his father most of the time during school, but did not feel loved by him. His father’s new wife did not accept him as part of the family and treated him horribly.

When Charles was nine he started developing gay feelings. These feelings grew stronger and during his teenage years he felt more and more drawn to intimacy with men. However, he was very careful to keep this secret, because he knew very well that in Congolese tradition being gay was unacceptable.  For this reason he tried to suppress his sexual orientation, but it became too strong. When he was 18, he started having some small first relationships and boyfriends.

Despite these first few experiences, he was living in the shadows. He couldn’t share his secret with anyone.  He was already constantly persecuted, vulnerable and afraid because he was an albino, and was trying hard to be accepted not just by society, but also by his family. Because of this fear of being further marginalised and persecuted he hid his homosexuality.

Hiding his homosexuality meant that he was constantly aware of how he walked, talked or what he did, and tried to suppress his natural character because of fear of being discovered.

"You can get beaten and out casted by society if it is discovered that you are gay" he says. 

He had little choice but to keep his sexuality a secret. Nobody in his family knows he is gay, to this day.

Although he had a boyfriend and a job as a school administrator, he didn’t have peace or safety in his life. Realising that he would never be able to find peace in Congo, and hence could never be happy, he decided that leaving was the only way he could be happy.

He arrived in South Africa two weeks ago. It has been a tough two weeks for him. He applied for refugee status, but was rejected by a Department of Home Affairs official.

His first impressions are that people here also judge him for being albino, and he has sensed a similar homophobia. But at least there is safety and the necessary structures and laws exist that enable gays to live openly and not have to walk through life hiding their true identity. 

Ngoy says he will appeal the decision.

HT: Matuba Mahlatjie

Related articles

• South Africa begins removing Zim refugees: report (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Video: South Africa risks refoulement of gay Zimbabweans in chaotic repatriation (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Audio: LGBT asylum seekers in South Africa (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
• Video: South African TV doco on LGBT refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

LGBT History Month: Simon Nkoli

Simon Tseko Nkoli (November 26, 1957 – November 30, 1998) was an anti-apartheid, gay rights and AIDS activist in South Africa.

Nkoli was born in Soweto in a seSotho-speaking family. He grew up on a farm in the Free State and his family later moved to Sebokeng black township.

His activism started early. At age nine, he locked his parents in a wardrobe so they could escape detection from police enforcing the pass laws, which restricted where blacks could live.

The would-be activist found his boyfriend in 1974, Andre, a white bus driver, when he was just seventeen. Longing for companionship, he wrote to a white man he found in a gay magazine. The two men apparently hit it off and started a clandestine relationship.

When the couple’s parents found out, they forbade the men from seeing one another. Determined to be together, Nkoli and his white lover formed a suicide pact, which Nkoli’s parents also discovered.

Fearing for their son’s life, they begrudgingly allowed him to move to Johannesburg to be with his lover. Even while living together, however, the men had to remain undercover. Rather than going to jail for violating pass laws, Nkoli pretended to be a servant.

Nkoli became a youth activist against apartheid, with the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) and with the United Democratic Front, participating in the 1976 Soweto uprising.

In 1983, he joined the mainly white Gay Association of South Africa, then he formed the Saturday Group, the first black gay group in Africa.

His activism on apartheid led to him being arrested in 1984. He faced the death penalty for treason with twenty-one other political leaders in the 'Delmas Treason Trial'.

Simon came out to his co-defendants and a number of them thought that the state would use Simon’s being gay to undermine the moral stance of the anti-apartheid movement. In the end, his co-defendants accepted Simon’s argument that discrimination based on sexual orientation was just as unacceptable as racism.

His coming out to the men he went to jail with and who would go on to lead in the country has been of great importance for the development of LGBT rights in South Africa.

After leaving jail he observed:

"In South Africa I am oppressed because I am a black man, and I am oppressed because I am gay. So when I fight for my freedom I must fight against both oppressions."

He founded the Gay and Lesbian Organisation of the Witwatersrand in 1988. He traveled widely and was given several human rights awards in Europe and North America. He was a member of International Lesbian and Gay Association board, representing the African region.

Nkoli founded South Africa’s first AIDS advocacy groups, Township AIDS Project and the Gay Men’s Health Forum.

Steven Cohen wrote in 1998 that Nkoli "unified the black and white gay communities, ending faggot apartheid."

"Simon's links with the ANC after his four years of imprisonment and subsequent acquittal, were hugely instrumental in the entrenchment of our gay rights in the constitution."

That constitution, in a world first, included 'sexual orientation' as protected against discrimination.

Patrick “Terror” Lekota, jailed with Nkoli and who became South Africa’s minister of defense, highlighted Nkoli’s contribution to the new constitution:

"How could we say that men and women like Simon who had put their shoulders to the wheel to end apartheid, how could we say that they should now be discriminated against?"

After becoming one of the first publicly HIV-positive African gay men, he initiated the Positive African Men group based in central Johannesburg. He had been infected with HIV for around 12 years, and had been seriously ill, on and off, for the last four. He died of AIDS in 1998 in Johannesburg.

Amongst numerous honors, he was made a freeman of New York by mayor David Dinkins in 1996. In 1999 the City of Johannesburg created 'Simon Nkoli Corner' on the junction of Hillbrow's Twist and Pretoria streets.

Canadian filmmaker John Greyson made a short film about Nkoli titled "A Moffie Called Simon" in 1987. Nkoli was the subject of Robert Colman's 2003 play, "Your Loving Simon", based on his prison letters (I was one of many around the world who corresponded with Simon), and Beverley Ditsie made a film in 2002 called "Simon & I".

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell worked with him in the 1980s. He said:

"A real pioneer, he was an openly gay campaigner against apartheid who was known and loved by Winnie Mandela and her daughters during the period when Nelson was in jail and Winnie was subject to internal exile in the town of Brandfort."

"Simon was a slight, gentle, soft-spoken man but immensely strong in character, determination and courage. His witness as a black gay anti-apartheid activist inspired many African LGBTs to come out and helped ensure that the ANC embraced LGBT rights."

Related articles

• Together in Solidarity at South Africa's Ekurhuleni Pride (mask.org.za)
• Video: South African TV doco on LGBT refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Video: South African TV doco on LGBT refugees

Source: SABC

A man carries the scars after a gang tried to hack his arms off with pangas and another was almost murdered by his own mother. Their crime? Being gay and born in countries that view homosexuality as an abomination. They have come to South Africa for refuge in fear of such persecution.

Read more »

UN human rights commissioner tells General Assembly 'LGBT rights should be non-controversial'

Navi Pillay image via Wikipedia

Source: UN

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay 20 October presented her annual report [PDF] to the General Assembly. The written report touched on SOGI [sexual orientation and gender identity] issues in the following section of text:

“The Office continued to draw attention to human rights violations, including discrimination, perpetrated against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. By resolution 17/19, the Human Rights Council, expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against persons because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, requested me to commission a study on relevant discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence. The findings of the study will be discussed by the Council at its nineteenth session.”

In her oral statement introducing her report this morning, the High Commissioner [HC] also mentioned SOGI-related work in the context of other discrimination-related work that the Office is carrying out, saying:

“Moving now to the topic of countering inequality and discrimination, OHCHR continued to draw attention to human rights violations, including discrimination, perpetrated against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In June, the HRC adopted resolution 17/19 “expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against persons because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.” The resolution requests my Office to commission a dedicated study which will be discussed at the Council’s 19th session.”

During the Q and A session that followed the High Commissioner’s statements, a number of States asked questions or made statements referring to the Office’s focus on SOGI-related issues. Notably, the United Arab Emirates speaking on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) devoted its entire statement to the issue, expressing serious concern at “an attempt to introduce to the United Nations some undefined notions that have no legal foundation in any international human rights instrument.”

The OIC was:

“disturbed at the attempt to focus on certain persons on the grounds of their sexual interests and behaviours … our alarm does not merely stem from concerns about the lack of legal grounds, but more importantly it arises from the ominous usage of that notion. The notion of sexual orientation spans a wide range of personal choices that expand way beyond the individual’s sexual interest. The OIC reaffirms that this undefined notion is not and should not be linked to existing international human rights instruments.”

Speaking for the African Group, Kenya also expressed concern about the allocation of resources to “social issues” that lie outside of agreed human rights frameworks and urged the Office to wait until States are in agreement on the scope of such issues and any new obligations before pursuing work in such areas.

Benin suggested that the HC should restrict herself to human rights that were universally agreed by the internationally community and deplored the attempt to introduce new rights or concepts such as sexual orientation in the name of universality.

Iran also stressed the need for the HC to avoid insisting on issues which are not yet covered by internationally recognized norms and standards.

Speaking in support of the Office’s work in the area of SOGI were Chile, Ireland, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, all of whom said they looked forward to the release of the HC’s forthcoming study on violence and discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. In its statement, South Africa referred to the discussion of the study’s findings and recommendations in March as a potential opportunity for dialogue rather than finger-pointing.

In her response to question, the High Commissioner said:

“As a human rights challenge, countering discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity should be non-controversial. We are not trying to create new rights or extend human rights into new, uncharted territory. What we are doing is insisting that all people are entitled to the same rights and to the equal protection of international human rights law—doesn’t matter who they are, what they look like, or whether you approve of them or disapprove of them."

“In June 2011, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 17/19, expressing deep concern at acts of violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The resolution requests my Office to prepare a study documenting violence, discriminatory laws and discriminatory practices, and setting out ways in which international human rights law can be used to prevent these kinds of human rights violations in future. In March, we will have a panel discussion at the Human Rights Council, as foreseen in resolution 17/19, at which Member States can discuss the findings and recommendations contained in the study.

“If we can just focus on the facts, on the violations themselves—on cases of people being killed, raped, attacked, imprisoned, tortured and executed for being gay, lesbian bisexual or transgender, or simply discriminated against—then I think we will begin to see more and more support for action to address these problems in a more effective manner at the national level.”

Related articles

• UN passes historic LGBT human rights resolution (madikazemi.blogspot.com) 
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Does BP think spreading feces a good way to deter immigrants?

Picture PASSOP

By Paul Canning

Does BP agree with spreading feces to deter immigrant laborers?

The South African refugee advocacy group PASSOP (People against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty) and the Western Cape branch of Young Workers Forum of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU YWF) want to know.

On Wednesday 12 October they discovered that a BP service station was doing just that in the Cape Town suburb of Salt River.

It was smeared on a picket fence and on the street in front of the BP location. The low fence was where immigrant job seekers sit daily, waiting for jobs.

COSATU YWF and PASSOP asked what was going on and was told that the “head of security” instructed that the smearing be done - and with the “full knowledge of BP management” - and not for the first time, despite complaints.

Some of those effected have now lodged a complaint with the South African human rights commission.

South Africa hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees, including, it is believed, thousands of LGBT Africans fleeing repressive societies and regimes. South Africa grants refugee status on the basis of sexual orientation. 1.5 - 3 million Zimbabweans now live in South Africa.

Most refugees to South Africa arrive by bus after journeys that last weeks from countries such as Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, and Tanzania, when they get close to the border, those without legal papers walk through the bush and swim across rivers to avoid being sent back.

In May 2008 a series of xenophobic riots left 41 African refugees dead and 21 South African citizens. More attacks followed a year later. There were allegations that the pogroms were promoted by local politicians, though both the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) have spoken out against xenophobia.

Zimbabweans fleeing political violence are labeled undocumented "economic migrants" and many human rights monitors are convinced the South African government is committed to expelling as many Zimbabweans as possible, as soon as possible.

At the beginning of this year the scale of undocumented Zimbabwean migrant applications for regularisation forced the government to delay mass repatriations. Those are now believed to have started.

Related articles

• In South Africa, confusion, desperation surrounds massive planned Zimbabwe migrant removals (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• South Africa begins removing Zim refugees: report (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Life as a gay refugee in South Africa (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

South Africa begins removing Zim refugees: report

Image by Sokwanele - Zimbabwe via Flickr

By Paul Canning

The South African government has denied that it has started removing Zimbabwean refugees but the South African refugee group PASSOP says "we are now convinced that the Department of Home Affairs has lifted South Africa’s moratorium on deporting Zimbabweans."

The Zimbabwe Herald newspaper 4 October quoted Beitbridge assistant regional Immigration Officer Tamari Shadaya as saying that:

“We received a memo from the South African Home Affairs Department on Thursday last week notifying us of their plans to deport undocumented Zimbabweans.”

Shadaya also reportedly said that “deportations will commence with immediate effect, though we are yet to receive any repatriates from that country.”

PASSOP has exposed abuse of asylum seekers at refugee reception centers compromising their right to apply for refugee status. They also say that any deportations are in direct contradiction to the recent undertakings made by the Department of Home Affair’s Director General, Mkuseli Apleni, while addressing the Parliamentary Portfolio committee for Home Affairs. Apleni said that the government would not embark on deportations of Zimbabweans until the Zimbabwean Documentation Project has been completed, appeals reviewed and the minister approved deportations.

About 275 000 applications for permits were received under the project and South Africa has insisted it will lift a moratorium on Zim deportations when the process is complete.

Passop say that it will now be impossible to clarify how many people are in South Africa:

"It is obvious that sadly many immigrants in South Africa will ‘go underground’ into hiding and be unwilling to open doors to officials conducting the census."

"The number of immigrants living in South Africa has been subject to much speculation. In particular the number of Zimbabweans has been a hotly contested: while the Department has claimed that the vast majority had been documented in the recent Zimbabwean Documentation Project, many civil society organizations, including the IOM, IDASA House and Human Rights Watch have claimed that there could be as many as 1.5 million Zimbabweans in South Africa."

"This latest move will continue to obscure the actual number of Zimbabweans living in South Africa. South Africa will have to keep depending on deportation numbers and estimates hence forth, as surely undocumented Zimbabweans will not answer doors to be counted and will do everything they can to avoid arrest and deportation."

PASSOP fears that deportations will stoke xenophobia and “Afrophobic” tensions and raised the possibility of communities “witch hunting”, with neighbors turning on their neighbors, South Africans turning on fellow Africans.

"We believe that deportation is an Apartheid tendency," they say, "and that deportations of fellow Africans is un-African."

Gabriel Shumba from the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum told SW Radio Africa 4 October that deportations are a bad idea, saying “the political situation (in Zimbabwe) has not yet changed enough to accommodate forced returns.”

“We don’t think Zimbabwe is in a situation that can be called ‘stable’. There is another election on the cards and we believe violence is very likely,” PASSOP’s Braam Hanekom said.

Related articles

• In South Africa, activists win extension of Zim documentation deadline - but problems remain (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• In South Africa, confusion, desperation surrounds massive planned Zimbabwe migrant removals (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Life as a gay refugee in South Africa (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Zimbabwe 'disappears' refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Gay Africans react to Obama's UN comments

By Paul Canning

Gay African activists have reacted positively to President Obama's inclusion of LGBT human rights in his annual address to the United Nations General Assembly - a first for an American President.

Obama said:

"No country should deny people their rights, the freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere."

According to Mark Bromley of The Council for Global Equality, a coalition of organisations working to promote human rights and LGBT equality in the United States and overseas, the inclusion of LGBT human rights is very significant as it reflects the Obama administration’s foreign policy priorities and "there is always intense competition to get issues included in the speech. It’s definitely considered prized placement."

Bromley noted that President George Bush had refused to join a UN statement calling on countries to decriminalise homosexual relations.

"President Obama, in contrast, stood before that same institution to pledge U.S. support for LGBT rights globally," he said.

The United States has, under Obama, led efforts for LGBT at The United Nations and in other international bodies. Obama personally spoke out against Uganda's 'Kill gays' Anti-Homosexuality bill - comments which drew significant attention in Africa. The Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, His Grace Henry Luke Orombi, said:

“It is distressing that Barack Obama a fellow African would promote racial civil rights as morally equivalent to immoral civil behaviour. We are Africans and know the difference between moral behaviour and responsibility as opposed to civil rights being compared to homosexuality. Will Barack Obama represent our interests in this matter?”

In January Obama said he was "deeply saddened" by the murder of Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato.

In June Obama called the passage of the first LGBT human rights resolution at the United Nations "a significant milestone in the long struggle for equality, and the beginning of a universal recognition that LGBT persons are endowed with the same inalienable rights - and entitled to the same protections - as all human beings."

He said that the United States "stands proudly with those nations that are standing up to intolerance, discrimination, and homophobia."

"LGBT persons are entitled to equal treatment, equal protection, and the dignity that comes with being full members of our diverse societies. As the United Nations begins to codify and enshrine the promise of equality for LGBT persons, the world becomes a safer, more respectful, and more humane place for all people." 

Ugandan lesbian activist Jacqueline Kasha Nabagesera yesterday told the Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution, held to coincide with the UN General Assembly, that "not every war is fought with guns" and that "statements and resolutions from the US help. We need American support against the LGBT hate bill in Uganda." (Video of her speech below, she says Ugandan diplomats told her she should be arrested for treason).

African gay leaders we spoke to saw Obama's latest comments as extremely important for their struggle in a continent where the LGBT movement is growing but faces stiff and organised resistance.

Ali Sudan, President of the underground LGBT group Freedom Sudan, said that the comments "gave me hope".

"LGBT individuals suffer or are killed everyday by the hand of their countrymen especially here in Africa and the Middle East," he said. "We need to stand together and keep fighting to gain our rightful rights as humans. I hope his message will inspire many other people to stand with us in this fight."

Stéphane Koche of Cameroon's Association Camerounaise pour la défense de l'homosexualité (ADEFHO) described Obama's UN comments as "very inspiring for the world, including Africans."

"It means a lot. It highlights common values, common hopes, common aspirations and it's very simple to understand."

Braam Hanekom, coordinator of South Africa's PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty), also found the comments "inspiring". He said:

"Despite the immense political challenges we believe he is facing, President Obama was unafraid to address the rights of the LGBTI community. He used a powerful platform and addressed many of our leaders."

"His inclusion should be seen as a clear message and we hope that pressure will be increased on all countries that have failed to protect and/or who have even actively demonized the LGBTI community."

"We should warn him that many of our African leaders are, what I call "chameleons", they tend to "care" for the LGBTI community where it is popular and it benefits them, while in their countries and communities (even in AU meetings), they tend to be homophobic (where and when it benefits them politically). We hope that he will show them that the USA will not support leaders who have failed to recognize the rights of the LGBTI community."

"The USA should also start challenging those who fail to make their position clear, as well as hold accountable those who "claim" to respect LGBTI rights. It is also important to state clearly that many Africans are part of our local LGBTI communities and thus there is no substance to nonsensical claims from certain "right-wing populist" leaders that "it is Un-African", instead it is "Un-African" to disown our brothers and sisters for who they love or what they believe."

David Kuria, a Kenyan gay leader and politician, "read the statement with delight."

"When a President such as Obama with African roots talks in favour of gay rights, at the very least it shows that not everyone is homophobic and that in fact African leaders are in a class of thinning minority."

Kuria said that there are now some African politicians who are prepared to stand up for LGBT "albeit not too loudly." He suggested that they may be "emboldened to be more vocal" if US embassies follow up the comments with "tangible action".

"We are trying as activists," Kuria said, "to build a narrative that shows LGBTI rights as the next cycle of or frontier of Human Rights development in Africa. First we had decolonization, then  women's rights and now the last frontier is LGBTI rights."

"The same arguments, including religious, against LGBTI rights had been used against women's rights so it's not a hard narrative to generate. President Obama's words falls quite in place in this story because his predecessors had prophetically spoken in similar terms of the previous cycle of rights."

Some commentators were more critical. Writing on death + taxes, US gay activist Andrew Belonsky said:

"The real test, however, will be whether the Obama Administration actually works said rights into their policy, especially in Arab nations undergoing Democratic transformations."

"The States have failed to normalize homosexuality in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. If Obama wants to be seen as a man of his word, he and the State Department will make clear that new governments like those in Egypt and Tunisia in need of American support and money have no choice but to accept and celebrate their LGBT citizens. If they don’t, they will be failing the democratic dreams that fueled their uprisings in the first place."

Video of Obama's speech

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Video: Transsexual and intersex refugee issues in South Africa

Liesl Theron speaking at the 'LGBT Identities, Governance, and Asylum' session at the 13th conference of the International Association for Studies in Forced Migration (IASFM) held in Kampala, Uganda, July 3-6.

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• Conference hears how Uganda is generating LGBT refugees (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Heterosexual Africa? Notes from the struggle for sexual rights (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Is South Africa's foreign policy turning pro-LGBT?

Jerry Matjila

Source: Independent Online

By Peter Fabricius

The [South African] government has often been criticised for failing to protect human rights in its foreign policy. However, Jerry Matjila, the new Department of International Relations and Co-operation director-general, insists this will change.

“The president and the minister (of International Relations and Co-operation, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane) have told every one of our diplomats that ‘the Bill of Rights is your Bible’,” he said.

“We have a vision to create a better world with more justice and more human rights.”

He recently took up the post of top diplomat after returning from Geneva, where he was ambassador to the UN.

Matjila is a seasoned career diplomat who represented the ANC abroad before 1994.

He said he had seen significant changes in foreign policy over the past two years – under the Zuma administration – not only on human rights, but also in opening international markets and greater forthrightness in dealing with conflicts.

There has been more engagement with countries in the region than before, which “creates a very good atmosphere for us”.

Analysts have seen possible evidence of the benefits of this engagement in Zuma being able to persuade the likes of Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos that the SADC must take a tougher line against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Probably the issue which ignited most controversy over South Africa’s human rights position during the Thabo Mbeki administration was voting against a resolution in the UN Security Council condemning the military junta in Burma/Myanmar for human rights abuses in 2007.

South Africa gave complex procedural and strategic reasons for its vote, but human rights advocates felt it had betrayed its human rights legacy. Matjila said this wouldn’t happen again. He described how he had “ruffled the feathers” of other African governments by invoking the Bill of Rights to protect lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people – from persecution and discrimination.

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Heterosexual Africa? Notes from the struggle for sexual rights

Image via Wikipedia

Source: Royal Africa Society

By Marc Epprecht

Not every story out of Africa is doom and gloom, even on topics like “the rise of homophobia.” To be sure, there have been some recent shocking cases of violence and hate-mongering against gays, lesbians, and trans people around the continent. Governments in many countries are meanwhile proposing to reform laws inherited from former colonial rulers, moving toward greater repression and in divergence from major international bodies and public health initiatives. Were Uganda to enact and enforce its proposed Anti-Homosexuality bill, to give one of the most notorious examples, it would be required to withdraw from the United Nations and African Union, sever links with all its major donors, and arrest a large proportion of the heterosexual population for knowing (but not reporting to the police) suspected homosexuals or human rights and sexual health advocates.

Another side of this story, however, does not get as much attention. This is the story of the emergence of a vibrant lgbti (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) network across the continent, of creative and courageous challenges to homophobia, of sensitive and insightful new research into “sexual secrets,” and of political and religious leaders who are resisting the demagogic tide. How many people are aware that six African nations endorsed the recent UN General Assembly resolution to include sexual orientation in the universal declaration of human rights?

Alright, the Central African Republic and Gabon are not among the heavy weight or vanguardist states in Africa. One is probably justified to suspect neo-colonial arm-twisting upon them by their major donor (and the resolution’s sponsor - France). Nonetheless, a precedent has been set. It is not politically impossible for African governments to support an inclusive definition of sexual rights as understood by liberals in the West. Sexual rights activists in Africa, with international solidarity, are actively pursuing those rights through a range of strategies and fora, including through the mass media, the courts and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

This is not going to be an easy struggle. It is not just that overt homophobes seem to be proliferating in the context of intense rivalry between evangelist Christian and Muslim faiths and opportunistic (mostly American) missionaries. There is also a profound, ongoing economic and health crisis across much of the continent. This makes it extremely difficult for sexual rights and sexual health advocates to make their case in the public eye. How to convince unemployed youth, landless peasants, and women trapped in abusive marriages or survival sex work, that freedom for men to have consensual sex will improve their lives? This is particularly challenging given the widespread stereotype in Africa that gays and lesbians are economically privileged and well-connected to opportunities in the West.

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Do we need an LGBT underground railroad?

By Joe Mirabella

As African nations like Uganda, Ghana, Congo, and others continue their witch hunt against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and perceived LGBT people, there is a growing need for a new underground railroad.

Our community is being hunted, beaten, raped, and murdered for their sexual orientation and gender identity. This is not hyperbole, life could not be worse for our LGBT brothers and sisters in many regions of Africa.

Even those who escape the most horrendous murderers in places like the Congo to more tolerant countries like South Africa, they are left homeless and tortured by their own family members.

24-year old Junior Mayema fled the Congo for South Africa after her mother tried to inject her with gasoline after learning she is a lesbian - but only after an exorcism failed to "rid her of evil spirits." Once in South Africa, she was kicked out of home after home, as her Congolese community discovered her sexual orientation.

Paul Canning covers LGBT refugee issues every day on LGBT Asylum News. His site is filled with stories of those who escape their torturous nations with the hope of discovering a new life in a more tolerant society, only to find a less than friendly immigration system waiting to send them back into the grips of hell.

Despite the challenges they face establishing legal status in their new country, they still have an opportunity at life, like Robert Segwanyi who was spared deportation. Paul Canning led a campaign on Change.org to spare him deportation back to Uganda.

Frankly, if Paul had not done this, Robert would have surely been killed upon his arrival in Uganda. Robert is safe now. He is free in the UK because of the kindness of thousands perfect strangers who signed Paul's petition.

But for every person who gets out there are hundreds left to fend for themselves. John Bosco told me about the life of Ugandan gays in prison. He said:

"There are no beds in prisons in Uganda - no mattresses - just the concrete floor. The prisons are packed. You sleep on one side. You don't have room to turn around," John recounted. 

"There are no toilets, there is no running water. There are buckets where everyone eats. No blankets, no curtains. It is hell. It is even worse than the place that they keep pigs," John explained.

Life is getting worse for Uganda's gays and lesbians, as an active witch hunt pursues anyone showing any signs of homosexuality, like not marrying or dating women. Who cares if you just have not met the right woman? If you don't have a girlfriend or wife, your life could be in danger.

Uganda could soon pass a law that would give gays and lesbians the death penalty. Few people realize, the law also makes it illegal to be supportive of gay rights, so straight people who are not vehemently anti-gay could also face persecution - leaving Uganda's LGBT people with no where to turn.

LGBT people in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other Western nations live relatively comfortable lives in comparison. Yes, we have our problems to deal with at home, but we also have the capability of helping our brothers overseas who are facing the worst circumstances imaginable - rape, torture, imprisonment, and death.

During the holocaust, people sheltered Jews and others being persecuted by the Nazis. An underground railroad shepherded some victims to safety. In the United States, an underground railroad moved African Americans from the South to the North where they could live freely and help others escape.

Clearly there is a need for this now. There are literally thousands of people who need to be rescued from oppressive populations, but the task of removing them to safety is not easy. A network of volunteer families, lawyers, corporations, and elected officials must work in concert to ensure the safe harbor of those in danger.

I don't pretend to be an expert on how to make this happen, but the need is there. I see it every day. I guess the first question to ask starts with you. Would you be willing to let a perfect stranger live in your home for a period of time while they negotiate the legal and immigration systems? Would you be willing to be a part of the new underground railroad?

Related articles

• Change.org protests removal by UK of gay Ugandan Robert Segwanyi (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Ugandan gay refugee recounts horror of imprisonment (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• How the Home Office is misusing law in gay Ugandan asylum seeker case (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• UK LGBT asylum activists react strongly to Ugandan activist comments (madikazemi.blogspot.com)

Dutch launch massive, world-first HIV/Aids program aimed at world's marginalised

Image via Wikipedia

Source: GNP+

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands has reserved € 35 million so that gay men, people who use drugs and sex workers in 16 countries can get easier access to information, condoms, antiretroviral treatment and care.

Never before has a country launched such a large HIV program aimed at these vulnerable groups. It could mean a huge turnaround in reducing the number of HIV infections in the 16 countries.

The program will start in September 2011 and be implemented by seven Netherlands based organizations  including GNP+. As well as the grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the program has been made possible by € 11.7 million from other sources.

The 4.5-year program has been judged the best by the ministry.

Earlier this year there was a call for proposals for development cooperation projects aimed at vulnerable groups. The Dutch government’s decision to reserve funds for this project is highly important. It means a continuation of the ‘Dutch approach’ within international AIDS relief where access to prevention and care in combination with the decriminalization of drug use, homosexuality and sex work is central. This is the only way gay men, people who use drugs and prostitutes can get the care they need.

A good example of this care is the integrated needle exchange program for injecting drug users. Many HIV infections are prevented as a result. The great success of the Dutch approach is recognized internationally.

Vulnerable groups are 10 to 20 times more likely to become infected with HIV than the general population. Only 8% has access to prevention, care, HIV treatment and support.

Many countries have legislation that makes access to care difficult or impossible. Examples include laws that make homosexuality a criminal offence or ones that are used to prosecute sex workers.

Offering HIV/AIDS care developed for and by these vulnerable groups must therefore go hand in hand with political pressure to change such legislation. This is precisely the aim of this program. It is also aimed at partners of gay men, drug users and sex workers. Because of the taboo related to homosexuality, in many countries men also have a relationship with a woman or are married.

The program will be run in 16 countries: Georgia, Kirghizstan, Tadzhikistan, Ukraine, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brazil, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

The program builds on work carried out in recent years. This work can now be continued and expanded. This new program will involve a lot more collaboration in order to be as effective and efficient as possible.

Gaps in existing projects will also be tackled. For example, most prevention programs along ‘truck routes’ in Africa are aimed at drivers. Until now, they have not benefited sex workers. This has meant that a great many infections still take place along these routes.

The Dutch program will be carried out by seven organizations: Aids Fonds/STI AIDS Netherlands, Aids Foundation East-West, COC, Global Network of People living with HIV, Health Connections International, Mainline and Schorer.

Together with 102 partner organizations in the 16 countries listed, they will ensure that in the coming years 400,000 gay and bisexual men, transsexuals, people who use drugs and sex workers get access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and other support.

New Report Shows Major AIDS Funders Fail to Track Investments for Gay Men and Transgender People

Source: MSMGF

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Life as a gay refugee in South Africa

Junior Mayema

By Junior Mayema

Life in South Africa as a gay black foreigner is a horrendous nightmare. Well, many days I wish it were just a nightmare. But it is the reality for me. This reality is one full of intolerance, discrimination, and prejudice. I am a refugee and a gay activist – this is my story.

I fled my home after my mother tried to inject me with a syringe full of gasoline when she discovered that I was gay. After leaving my mother’s house, I began living with my father and I attended Bandundu University. I became friends with other gay students at the university and began to date and experiment. During this time, my father saw a picture taken of me kissing another man. After confronting me, my father and mother forced me into a “healing process” run by a pastor. I was made to fast for days in order to expel the “devil spirit” out of my body.

When I did not change my behavior, my father spread the news of my homosexuality to the community. Local boys began to beat me. I was particularly weary of a notorious group that hunted homosexuals. My friends and family shunned and banished me. My life was in danger and I had nowhere to go, so I came to South Africa.

I came full of hope that things would get better; that I would be able to live my life without fear of being persecuted for who I am. And in some ways I do feel safer here than I did in Congo. But after being here for a year, I can honestly say that this hope did not come true.

Life is tough here. Firstly, there is a lot of homophobia in the Congolese community in South Africa. When I first arrived, I lived with my cousin. When he found out from my family in Congo that I was gay, he kicked me out on the street. My mother ensured that no other family member in South Africa took me in after that. Since then I have moved around a lot, living with different Congolese people, but the story is always the same: once they detect that I am gay, they kick me out.

I also lived in some shelters and there I experienced xenophobia from South Africans. Even some members from the South African LGBTI community were not helpful. Their priority is to help South African LGBTI individuals, but other LGBTI refugees, like myself, have less access to support groups and assistance. It is tiring to be reminded every day that you are ‘not a South African’, and it hurts even more when it comes from other LGBTI people.

I wish I could just get to my feet and find a job. But finding a job in South Africa is tough enough as it is; trying to find a job as an openly gay foreigner is close to impossible. I have been looking for a job since I came here and I felt that most of the managers were judging me by my ‘gay’ physical appearance. Although the South African constitution protects LGBTI people from discrimination, homophobia is deeply rooted in South African society.

The majority of South Africans, like in most other African countries, think homosexuality is a western culture emulated by some African youths who are being recruited by white sugar daddies into homosexuality.

What can be done to change the desperate situation that I and countless other LGBTI refugees in South Africa are facing? Changing the culture of homophobia is difficult, but it has to be done, step by step. More people need to start campaigning against homophobia within our communities. We need to raise awareness and take action against xenophobia and racism in parts of the South African LGBTI community. We need to create a shelter or accommodation for LGBTI refugees in South Africa to help them get on their feet.

We have to build up a job referral system for LGBTI people to tolerant or ‘gay-friendly’ businesses and managers.

It is unlikely that things will get better in the near future. Yesterday I got kicked out by yet another Congolese host, on my 24th birthday. But hope is what dies last.

Junior Mayema is a volunteer with People Against Suffering Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP)

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In South Africa, confusion, desperation surrounds massive planned Zimbabwe migrant removals

Source: Mail + Guardian

By Kathleen Chaykowski

UPDATE: PASSOP said last night:

"We welcome the announcements made at the press conference earlier today. After reviewing the transcripts we believe that the Minister has not only only extended the deadline for Zimbabweans waiting for their permits but has also extended the moratorium on deportations."

Confusion about the future of Zimbabweans in South Africa deepened this week after the home affairs department suggested that those who have applied for special permits to stay in the country could be granted an additional month to finalise their papers, but avoided the word "extension".

Meanwhile, nongovernmental organisations are gearing up anxiously to receive thousands of Zimbabweans who might be deported, but officials remain tight-lipped about the scale of deportations that could follow the new deadline.

Homes affairs deputy director general Jackson McKay said last week the department would continue to issue the special permits into August, but would complete reviewing applications for them on July 31. The department had previously indicated it was on track to issue all the permits by July 31.

The government launched its Zimbabwe Documentation Project (ZDP) in September 2009, saying many Zimbabweans were in South Africa illegally and needed to apply for proper documents.

"We will conclude the adjudication of the [ZDP] applications by July 31 and finalise all outstanding matters in August," McKay said at a press conference last week. "This will allow us sufficient time to dispatch all the required permits."

If this is an extension, it is still too short, said Braam Hanekom, the director of People against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (Passop).

"August had never been mentioned before as part of permit distribution," he said. "Zimbabweans are panicking and really worried."

For one Zimbabwean responding to this development on Passop's website, the department's announcement means "it's all guesswork right now".

He continued:

"I went to the showground offices today to check the status of my application and we were told the offices were under construction. We were then told to leave and not given a date when we could check again."

This week home affairs spokesperson Manusha Pillai told the Mail & Guardian the August deadline would allow the department to dispatch permits and enable people to complete their applications.

Passop wrote to home affairs early in July pleading for a minimum two-month extension to the ZDP deadline. "We welcome the month extension, but we are concerned it isn't enough," Hanekom said.

Read more »

In South Africa, activists win extension of Zim documentation deadline - but problems remain

Image by Sokwanele - Zimbabwe via Flickr

Source: SW Radio Africa news

By Alex Bell

The South African government has extended the deadline for Zimbabweans to get permits to remain legally in the country, with thousands of people still to receive their paperwork.

The Zimbabwe Documentation Project was set to be finalised at the end of this month, and South African officials said they would resume deporting undocumented Zim nationals when the process was completed.

But according to the Cape Town based refugee rights group PASSOP, thousands of people have not got their documents yet, and fear has been rising that they face possible deportation in the coming weeks. The group then wrote to South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma this week, asking for a two month extension on the deadline, to ensure that every Zimbabwean who successfully applied for permits could get them.

According to PASSOP, the deadline has now been moved, after the Home Affairs Department’s Deputy Director General Jackie McKay said the process will be concluded at the end of August, instead of the end of July.

About 276 000 applications for permits were made by Zim nationals since the documentation process was launched last year, despite more than two million Zimbabweans estimated to be in the country. South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs last month said it still needed to hand over about 100 000 permits, but insisted that it would meet its July 31st deadline. The department also confirmed that it would be resuming deportations when the process was completed.

PASSOP’s Langton Miriyoga told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the one month extension on the deadline is welcome, but he said this still might not be adequate, given the high number of people still waiting. He agreed with the estimate that at least 100 000 people have not got their permits yet.

“This extension gives Zimbabweans some breathing room, but we are concerned that not everyone will get their documents in this extra month. There is also the concern that many people are yet to get their passports from the Zimbabwean consulate, and this might take longer than a month,” Miriyoga said.

Zimbabwe’s failure to issue enough passports to its citizens in South Africa has been the major stumbling block of the documentation process, which has repeatedly been extended since it was launched last September. Thousands of Zim nationals were eventually forced to apply for South African permits without passports. But without these documents, they can’t finalise their applications or regularise their stay in South Africa.

PASSOP’s Miriyoga said the South African government should be putting more pressure on the Zimbabwean government to ensure the passports are rolled out in time. He meanwhile said that the South African authorities have not yet confirmed if they are adjusting their plans to resume deportations to match the new deadline.

“They haven’t said anything about the deportations yet. This is a major issue that people are concerned about and we will need to engage with the authorities on this,” Miriyoga said.

Related articles

• Video: South Africa risks refoulement of gay Zimbabweans in chaotic repatriation (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Chaos expected as South Africa to Repatriate LGBTI Refugees to Zimbabwei (oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com)
• In Mozambique, refugee deaths highlight risks to those including LGBT trying for South African sanctuary (madikazemi.blogspot.com)
• Audio: LGBT asylum seekers in South Africa (madikazemi.blogspot.com)