Mozambique: South Africa treating deportees ‘inhumanely’ – ministry official

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: South Africa treating deportees ‘inhumanely’ – ministry official

3:19 CAT | 11 Jul 2018

File photo: Lusa

Mozambique’s Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs has accused the authorities in neighbouring South Africa of deporting its citizens in an “inhuman way” and called on the government in Pretoria to observe international laws in the area

“One should not, just because someone is there [in South Africa] illegally, treat them as if they were an animal, treat them in an inhuman way,” said the national director of human rights at the ministry, Albachir Macassar, as quoted by Maputo-based daily newspaper O País.

Mozambicans found living illegally in South Africa, he said, are transported as if there were animals in rail trucks, in conditions that violate international rules on the treatment of human beings.

Macassar said that South Africa last year deported 45,283 citizens of Mozambique, of the some 400,000 that are estimated to live in the country.

By contrast, he stressed, Mozambique has been exemplary in its treatment of foreign nationals in its territory, in line with international conventions on the subject.

Source: Lusa