Topic: Combating the Rise of Xenophobic Violence
Country: South Africa
Delegate Name: Emma Stout
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All South Africa position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
The United Nations has been attempting to remedy racial tension and violence, including xenophobic violence ever since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They have adopted such resolutions as Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/74 of 18 April 1997, the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action all attempting to address this issue. Still, the issue of xenophobia violence is unresolved, and a growing issue in many regions. Recently, xenophobic violence has been an issue for many countries with influxes of Muslims. This stems from several factors including anti-immigrant sentiments and racial profiling and is becoming an issue in many European nations. South Africa has a history of dealing with such issues, having abolished apartheid not yet twenty years ago. With one in every fifty people living in a foreign country we view this as not only an issue of global importance, but one that is especially important for South Africa.
From a global standpoint xenophobic violence has occurred all over the world. Possibly the most famous case would be the holocaust, but that is not the only; there have been outbreaks in the United States, Rwanda, Australia, Russia, often borne out of anti-immigrant sentiments xenophobic violence is an issue that has continued to prevail in the modern world. South Africa has been dealing with a rush of xenophobic violence, the first major outbreak having occurred May of 2008, when a series of riots began against refugees. South Africa has had subsequent issues with xenophobic violence since then, namely in 2010 after the World Cup. These outbreaks of xenophobic violence are triggered by several factors. The education system in weakening at the same time as the job market is deteriorating. Many South African’s blame this on the rush of refugees and immigrants from Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique who are willing to work and sell their goods for less than South Africans will. With twenty percent of South Africa’s population being foreign nationals, xenophobic violence is a key issue that South Africa hopes we can work towards resolving.
South Africa treats xenophobic violence as an extremely serious issue and has taken many steps towards eradicating it. We have a strong commitment to treating the root causes of the violence, as well as dealing with it head on. Our police force is trained in reacting to xenophobic violence and we have added additional police to help combat the issue. Additionally the perpetrators of such violence are dealt with in the fullest extent of the law. We also call upon organizations to work with the police to stop the violence and encourage them to educate their community about living peacefully with foreign nationals. We believe that community programs are crucial part in dealing with this violence. This is a way to deal with the violence before it begins and that is always preferable to dealing with it after the fact. We have also received monetary assistance to strengthen our educational and legal services regarding xenophobic violence and believe that we would benefit from continued assistance to support these programs which help us combat the tide of xenophobic violence.
There are several steps South Africa believes should be taken when tackling xenophobic violence globally. As we are already doing, police forces should be trained and added to in order to protect the people from this violence. Steps to educate people should also be taken in order to stop the violence before it occurs. We believe also in strengthening the laws against those who commit such crimes and creating strong anti- hate crime legislation. It is very important that people do not believe that they have impunity in committing xenophobic violence and that others are encouraged to turn those who commit these crimes in so they do not go un-punished. These are all viewed as important steps for South Africa, but in our nation as in many others they cannot be achieved without the support of other nations and NGOs. We recognize that this is often an issue borne of poverty and a lack of education and so aid should be provided for those countries who are dealing with the daunting task of combatting xenophobic violence. In the past South Africa has received some aid in order to strengthen our educational system and legal services and we believe this should be an option for all countries in need of assistance when dealing with xenophobic violence.
