South Africa

A report released by the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at Wits University titled “Protection and Pragmatism: Addressing Administrative Failures in South Africa’s Refugee Status Determination Decisions” identifies serious flaws in South Africa’s refugee status determination process.

This legal review looks at strategic interventions for upholding the constitutional rights to water and sanitation and a better use of the law in improving the delivery of water services. Of course, use of law is not the only way of reaching such goals.

This report highlights serious human rights concerns in South Africa's immigration detention facilities, in particular the private operated facility at Lindela in Krugersdorp and  the detention centre operated by the SAPS in Musina. The report reveals that despite South Africa's obligations in domestic and international law to comply with basic minimum standards of detention, there are serious violations of these most basic rights ranging from lack of access to drinking water to the most serious violations of torture in detention, which occur with little oversight or legal recourse.