"Keep Your Head Down": Unprotected Migrants in South Africa

Looks at the experiences of undocumented migrant farm workers in South Africa, many of whom lack adequate legal protections and are particularly vulnerable to human rights abuses when they are arrested, detained, or deported

Negotiating Rights: The Politics of Local Integration

Advocacy campaigns against the “warehousing” of refugees in camps suggest the facilitation of local integration as a preferred policy option for states, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. This paper argues that the institutions, assumptions, and habits that the international refugee protection system has developed over the past forty years hinder our understanding of local integration as a fundamentally political and refugee- and host-driven process. The paper uses African case studies to show how local integration is part of broader processes of local politics. It proposes alternatives to three key assumptions of conventional policy-oriented approaches to local integration: (1) that local integration is a form of local politics rather than institutionalizable process for an exceptional category of people (e.g., refugees); (2) that local integration is negotiated by refugees based on a range of legitimacy claims and forms of exchange rather than primarily based on “refugee rights”-related claims; and (3) that local integration is enabled by hosts for a variety of reasons rather than mainly for reasons related to the idea of “refugee protection.”Les campagnes contre le « stockage » des réfugiés dans des camps suggèrent la facilitation de l’intégration locale comme option à privilégier par les États, organisations internationales et organisations non gouvernementales. Le présent article soutient que les institutions, hypothèses et habitudes développées par le système de protection internationale des réfugiés au cours des quarante dernières années entravent notre compréhension de l’intégration locale en tant que processus fondamentalement politique mis en œuvre par les réfugiés et les hôtes . La recherche s’appuie sur des études de cas africains pour montrer comment l’intégration locale fait partie du processus plus large de politique locale et propose des alternatives à trois hypothèses clés des approches classiques à l’intégration locale axées sur les politiques: 1) que l’intégration locale est une forme de politique locale plutôt qu’un processus institutionnali-sable pour une catégorie exceptionnelle d’individus (par ex., les réfugiés); 2) que l’intégration locale est négocié par les réfugiés à partir d’une série de revendications de légitimité et de formes d’échange et non plus principalement à partir de revendications liées aux « droits des réfugiés »; 3) que l’intégration locale est permise par les hôtes pour une variété de raisons, plutôt que pour des raisons essentiellement liées à l’idée de la « protection des réfugiés .

Negotiating belonging: the integration of Mozambican refugees in South Africa

This study is about refugee integration: how refugees become citizens, and more generally how outsiders become insiders. More specifically, it is about an appropriate conceptual framework for studying and understanding refugee integration processes. I propose that refugee integration be understood as local politics, and that, therefore, refugees and hosts negotiate their relationships with each other based on their respective interests and using a series of material and symbolic exchanges. While this conceptual approach to integration seems self- evident, this empirical, process-oriented, and spatially and temporally specific approach radically departs from the predominant normative assumptions in the policy and academic literature. The thesis sets out and develops how this simple framework, consistently applied, carries analytical correlates which stand in marked contrast to most analyses of refugee integration processes. My argument is supported empirically with a detailed case study of villages in a rural border area of South Africa where many (former) Mozambican refugees are settled since the 1980s. I spent four years (2002-2006) living and conducting field work in this area. The thesis by published (and publishable) works includes five articles covering different aspects of refugee integration as political negotiation. These include: 1) analysing the conceptual dangers and empirical fallacies of approaches to local integration which frame it as a ‘solution’ within the international refugee assistance and protection regime; 2) illustrating how common conceptual and methodological approaches to studying refugees tend to hide the presence of integrated refugees; 3) applying the political negotiation approach across time periods by comparing the integration processes of two ‘waves’ of Mozambicans fleeing conflict into South Africa in the mid-1800s and the 1980s; 4) showing how integration processes, including those related to legal status, often function according to very different logics than intended by national or international legal frameworks and policies targeting refugees; and 5) looking at processes of negotiated integration at the level of the village and how they are spatialised

Associations between women’s economic and social empowerment and intimate partner violence: findings from a microfinance plus program in rural North West Province, South Africa

Given the mixed evidence on whether women's economic and social empowerment is beneficial or not for reducing intimate partner violence (IPV), we explored the relationship between women?s empowerment and IPV risk. We analyzed data from baseline interviews with married women (n = 415) from the Intervention with Microfinance and Gender Equity (IMAGE) longitudinal study in rural South Africa. IMAGE combines a poverty-focused microfinance program with a gender-training curriculum. We fitted logistic regression models to explore associations between women?s economic situation/empowerment and IPV. For the multivariable logistic regression, we fitted three models that progressively included variables to explore these associations further. Women who reported ?few to many times? for not earning enough to cover their business costs faced higher odds of past year physical and/or sexual violence (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 6.1, 1.7-22.3, p = .01). Those who received a new loan experienced higher levels of past year emotional (aOR = 2.8, 1.1-7.4, p = .03) and economic abuse (aOR = 6.3, 2.2-18.5, p = .001). Women who reported that partners perceived their household contribution as not important faced higher odds of past year economic abuse (aOR = 2.8, 1.0-7.8, p = .05). Women who reported joint decision-making or partner making sole reproductive decisions reported higher levels of past year physical and/or sexual violence (aOR = 5.7, 0.9-39.4, p = .07) and emotional abuse (aOR = 3.0, 0.9-10.2, p = .08). Economic stress and aspects of women?s empowerment, alongside established gender roles within marital relationships is associated with IPV risk in rural South Africa. Although improved economic conditions for women appears to be protective against physical and sexual IPV, associations between certain indicators of women's economic situation, empowerment, and IPV are inconsistent. We need to consider complementary programming and all types of IPV in research, intervention, and policy, as different aspects of empowerment have varying associations with different types of IPV (physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse)

Women's economic status, male authority patterns and intimate partner violence: a qualitative study in rural North West Province, South Africa.

There are conflicting views on the impact of microfinance-only interventions on women's economic empowerment and intimate partner violence in low and middle-income countries. Evidence suggests however that when microfinance is combined with complementary programmes (microfinance plus) it may be effective for empowering women and addressing intimate partner violence. We conducted in-depth interviews with adult women in rural South Africa who had received microfinance loans for more than a year and had recently completed gender training. We explored women's perceptions on income generation; the effects on their relationships, including intimate partner violence; their notions of power; and perspectives on men's reactions to their empowerment. Findings reveal that the notion of 'power within the self' is supported by women's income generation, alongside a sense of financial independence and improved social support. Women reported increased happiness and reduced financial stress, although social norms and gender expectations about women subservience and male headship remain salient, particularly among older women. Furthermore, younger women appeared to tolerate abuse due to financial and caring responsibilities. These findings underpin the importance of complementary gender training programmes and of including men as participants for enhancing the effectiveness of economic strengthening interventions

‘Just crime’? Violence, xenophobia and crime: discourse and practice

The minister of police and other prominent politicians have interpreted violence against foreign nationals as 'just crime', implying that it is criminally motivated, and thus denying the presence or relevance of xenophobic motivations. This article deconstructs this claim by showing that the police have in fact reacted strongly and specifically to this kind of 'crime'; analyses the assumptions about perpetrator motivations implicit in it; and reflects on the normative and political flavourings of terms such as 'crime' and 'xenophobia' suggested by the claim that violence against foreign nationals is 'only' crime. The article concludes by examining the implications of the distinction between 'xenophobia' and 'crime' in terms of shaping institutional responses to violence against foreign nationals and influencing general perceptions of xenophobia, including those of potential perpetrators

Women's Economic Contribution, Relationship Status and Risky Sexual Behaviours: A Cross-Sectional Analysis from a Microfinance-Plus Programme in Rural South Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, women bear a disproportionate burden of HIV/AIDS while also facing economic and gender inequalities. To explore the association of women's economic contribution and relationship status with risky sexual behaviour, this study analysed cross-sectional data from 626 women aged 22 to 84 in rural South Africa. All women were enrolled in a microfinance plus gender training programme (Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE)). We used univariable and multivariable logistic regression to explore the associations of relationship status and women's household income contribution with inconsistent condom use, multiple sexual partners and transactional sex, respectively. We found that married, older women had the highest odds of inconsistent condom use, while those contributing all the household income had higher odds of multiple sexual partnerships, but lower odds of transactional sex compared to those with no contribution. Income contribution and relationship status have a nuanced relationship with sexual risk behaviours. Thus, economic strengthening interventions should target relevant vulnerable women while also addressing the broader social and economic drivers of risky sexual behaviour

Protecting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants in South Africa

Provides an annual assessment of the status of South Africa's refugees and migrants, trends in xenophobia, government policies, and other developments affecting them. Makes recommendations to the authorities for protecting refugees' and migrants' rights