Racism, xenophobia and discrimination

The Special Rapporteur's central observation was that "while Italian society is not marked by a profound phenomenon of racism, it is facing a disturbing trend of xenophobia and the development of manifestations of racism, primarily affecting the Sinti and Roma community, immigrants and asylum-seekers primarily of African origin but also from Eastern Europe, and the Muslim community"--p. 2.

With a particular focus on the health sector, this report documents responses to xenophobia in South Africa (SA) from 2000-2022. The overall aim of the research is to determine what has been effective in challenging xenophobia and how to foster solidarity to inform strategic and thoughtful future action, while identifying different forms and modes of responses to xenophobia, including xenophobic violence during this period. Over 80% of the population in SA rely on state-funded access to health. While almost everyone faces challenges in accessing treatment in the country’s failing public healthcare system, specific categories of the population – including asylum seekers, refugees and migrants without documents – face heightened risks, intersectional violence and discrimination when doing so. With rising inequality, unemployment and a public health system crippled by underfunding, corruption and systemic weaknesses, discrimination and violence against foreign nationals and others perceived as “outsiders” such as South Africans from other provinces or naturalised citizens is increasing. The Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the risks and vulnerabilities for many of the country’s most marginalised populations. Drawing from an audit of key civil society actions and strategies that have resisted (health) xenophobia in SA over the past two decades, the report explores the following main questions: what kinds of responses have emerged to tackle multiple forms of health xenophobia? What initiatives, strategies and actions were taken in the past and are taken now – whether organised or informal, by coalitions, organisations, groups or individuals – and how can an understanding of these responses help to mobilise more successfully in the future? The key findings show that there are persistent civil society responses that aim to address the immediate needs of foreign nationals while simultaneously fighting for more awareness, longterm systemic change and recognition of the core structural issues that have led to the crisis within the public healthcare system. To do this, civil society has utilised a variety of advocacy tools: engaging with Parliamentary mechanisms, community mobilisation, protest action, statements, public education, lodging complaints with statutory bodies, embarking on litigation and engaging community networks to mobilise on a local clinic level. The findings of this research also show that within an increasingly challenging context, diverse collaborations and partnerships can be particularly valuable. They draw on the experiences of social justice organisations and their connections with groups and individuals embedded in communities through their histories of local level networking and activism. Highlighting the small, less visible responses which, often have more sustainable impact, this report offers a starting point from which to plan and strategise for the future. However, considering continued and increasingly more emboldened and explicit xenophobia, and the failure (or refusal) of the South African government to take consistent and unequivocal action against xenophobia, it is evident that civil society responses have not been sufficient to quell and address this prejudice. While building on the strategies of the past, new strategies, alliances and energy are urgently needed to continue the struggle to ensure the Freedom Charter vision that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it” – including its public healthcare system.

El Informe se basa en los resultados obtenidos a partir de la encuesta realizada en el año 2016, bajo el nombre de Actitudes hacía la Inmigración llevada a cabo por el Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS). El análisis de la encuesta se ha realizado desde una triple perspectiva: univariable mostrando las tendencias en los indicadores de racismo y xenofobia desde 2007, cuando las variables lo han permitido o desde 2008; bivariable, examinando los principales indicadores de la cohesión social en función de las actitudes y prejuicios; y multivariable, extrayendo las dimensiones más relevantes y elaborando una tipología de perfiles de los españoles ante éstas. Los resultados del análisis de actitudes y percepciones de los españoles hacia la inmigración en 2016 y su comparación con los años anteriores, muestran una evolución favorable en todas las variables que miden las actitudes racistas, intolerantes o xenófobas de los encuestados, alcanzando, en muchos casos, en 2016 los mejores comportamientos de las series analizadas.