El negacionismo de la xenofobia y el Pacto Mundial para la Migración en Sudáfrica

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) commits signatories to eliminate all forms of discrimination, and to condemn and counter expressions, acts and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, violence, xenophobia and related intolerance. The growth of xenophobia across the global South has become increasingly apparent. Governance responses to anti-immigrant sentiment and action take three main forms: intensification, mitigation and displacement. In South Africa, policy on international migration to the country focuses more on the perceived negative impacts of migration than any potential development benefits. As a direct result, negativity pervades both public policy and popular discourse about migrants and their impact on the country. Migrants encounter an extremely hostile environment in which their constitutional and legal rights are abrogated, their ability to access basic services and resources is constrained, and their very presence in the country is excoriated by the state and citizenry. Xenophobic attitudes are deeply entrenched, and xenophobic attacks have become common. In this context, this chapter examines the response of the national government and argues that displacement is the dominant governance model. This takes two forms: xenophobia denialism and the scapegoating of migrants. Xenophobia denialism and blaming migrants for their own victimisation act as barriers to South Africa recognising, promoting and arguing for migration as a positive developmental tool and operationalising the anti-xenophobia provisions in the Global Compact.