Rights Groups Slam South Africa’s Xenophobia Record

Foreigners in South Africa are being attacked with impunity in South Africa, a leading human rights organization has said.

The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in Southern Africa (CORMSA) made this statement following a February 7 attack in which Ethiopian refugees were attacked by hundreds of locals in Balfour, a rural town about 80km east of Johannesburg.

Amnesty International also released a statement, attributing the xenophobia to a low public awareness of the country's human rights obligations towards refugees and others in need of international protection."

Worse xenophobia attacks erupted throughout South Africa in 2008, killing at least 62 people and displacing 100,000 others.[PE]