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Facts at a Glance
- Some 15 million rural South Africans remain trapped in poverty, due to the social engineering of apartheid and the priority given to urban industries in the government’s economic policies.
- Three-quarters of all children living in poverty can be found in rural areas. 1
- The homes or properties of 67% of black gay men have been attacked because of their sexuality.2
The Situation In Brief
Despite the advent of democracy, a progressive constitution, and social and economic progress on many fronts, South Africa remains a society characterised by deep social divisions and the trauma of its violent past. Some 46% cent of the population lives in rural areas, most in deep poverty. Within this population, people employed on farms, who represent some 15% of the workforce, are an especially exploited and marginal group.
Even though a comprehensive framework of legislation protects the human rights of South Africans as never before, some groups in the population are particular targets of stigma and remain vulnerable. These include black, mostly poor gays and lesbians, living in townships and rural areas; and migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, who are the targets of xenophobia. Society’s failure to meet the needs of 80,000 ex-combatants also threatens national reconciliation and stability.
Reconciliation & Human Rights Programme Goals
The goals of the Reconciliation & Human Rights Programme in South Africa are as follows:
- Strengthen organisations that campaign for the rights of the rural poor/farmworkers, immigrants and the gay community.
- Support organisations that undertake projects aimed at reintegrating ex-combatants into society and initiatives that get the community working together to make peace with the past and each other.
Reconciliation & Human Rights Resources
Publications
- The Mail and Guardian – South Africa’s leading weekly progressive newspaper
- South African Journal on Human Rights – a quarterly analytical journal, published by Juta
- Transformation – a quarterly analytical journal on current affairs
- ESR Review – a quarterly review of socio-economic rights in South Africa, published by the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape
Reports and books
- Human Rights Watch: Prohibited Persons: Abuses of Undocumented Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees in South Africa, New York, 1998
- Human Rights Watch: Unequal Protection – The State Response to Violent Crime on South African Farms, New York, 2001
- Nkuzi Development Association and Social Surveys, Africa: Still Searching for Security: The Eviction of Farm Dwellers in South Africa Since 1994, Johannesburg, October 2005
- Human Rights Watch: More than a Name: State-Sponsored Homophobia and Its Consequences in Southern Africa, New York, 2003
- Schadeberg J: Voices from the Land, Pretoria, October 2005
General Web sites
- Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the Witwatersrand,
www.wiserweb.ac.za – an excellent resource for general information on social, economic and cultural issues
- Centre for Civil Society,
www.nu.ac.za/ccs – a comprehensive Web site on political, social and economic affairs and civil society, from a progressive prospective
Web sites on human rights
- South African Human Rights Commission,
www.sahrc.org.za
- Legal Resources Centre,
www.lrc.org.za
- The Black Sash,
www.blacksash.org.za
Web sites on farmworkers and the rural poor
- Nkuzi Development Association, www.nkuzi.org.za
Web sites on gays and lesbians
- Behind the Mask, www.mask.org.za – covering gay and lesbian issues on the continent
- Triangle, www.triangle.org.za – Web site of a Western Cape service provider
- Out, Tshwane, www.out.org.za – Web Site of a Guateng service provider
- Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa, www.gala.org.za
- Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, www.oia.co.za
Web sites on refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants
- Lawyers for Human Rights, www.lhr.org.za - see the organisation’s Refugee Rights Project
Web sites on reconciliation
- Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, www.csvr.org.za
- National Peace Accord Trust, www.peaceaccord.org.za
Feature films and documentaries
- Film Resource Unit,
www.fru.co.za
Continue to read about our Reconciliation & Human Rights Programme in action in the United States »
Footnotes
1, Source: Child poverty and the budget, Inst. for a Democratic South Africa, 2000
2, Source: Research in Gauteng Province by OUT, Tshwane, 2004