EN
TR
Discrimination and hate crime in Africa takes various forms some of which are, religious
Seeing as how Africa south of the Sahara is largely made of blacks, it is not strange…
For better comprehension, we will look at the various laws, regulating discrimination…
Hate Crime:
It has been described as a criminal act committed with a bias motive(3).…
Discrimination:
Discrimination has been defined using three criteria, 1) unequal treatment on the…
Migrants:
According to the UN convention, migrant workers and members of their families: (a)…
Refugee:
A refugee is any person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons…
I- Laws and regulations against racial discrimination applicable in Africa
African countries are parties to international conventions that deal with various…
A- International
1- International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.…
2- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 in its article 2…
3- The African Charter on Human and People’s Rights 27 June 1981 in its article 2…
4- Convention concerning Migrations in Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality…
5- International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers…
6- International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). All…
7- The protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights…
8- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women of…
9- The 1951 convention, read with its 1967 protocol, relating to the status of r…
10- The OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee problems in Africa…
B- Domestic legislations
a- SouthAfrica
The South African constitution states that, (1) everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. (2) Equality includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To promote the achievement of equality, legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination may be taken. (3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth. (4) No person may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds in terms of subsection (3). National legislation must be enacted to prevent or prohibit unfair discrimination. (5) Discrimination on one or more of the grounds listed in subsection (3) is unfair unless it is established that the discrimination is fair(14). The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000…
Employment Equity Act (EEA) of 1998 provides protection against discrimination…
b- Legislations in the Maghreb
We consider the relevant sections of the constitutions of these countries. This is…
- Egypt
Article 53 defines discrimination, criminalized in many articles of the Constitution,…
Article 93 of the Constitution stipulates the binding nature of international agreements,…
Note should be taken of the fact that, article 53 considers colour as one of the…
- Morocco
Article 19 of the constitution states:…
“Men and women have equal civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental…
It should be noted that, this article guarantees equality only between women and…
From the above legislations, one notices the lack or absence of any legislation or…
II- Incidents of hate crime and discrimination in some African countries.
A- South African statistics
Racial discrimination attacks; according to South Africa’s submission to the African Peer Review Mechanism in early 2011, there is progress in race relations but “there are still incidents which appear to be influenced by racism”(15).…
• A suspected racially-motivated sexual, verbal and physical attack on factory workers…
On December 1 2010, Mr Potgieter, a white and farm caretaker, was stabbed and hacked…
Sexual orientation attacks;
Lesbians are affected by the practice of “corrective” rapes, in which victims are…
• In September 2011, the body of Nontsikelelo Tyatyeka was found in a dustbin in…
Xenophobic attacks 2008 and 2015:
Some writers have said that, achieving democratic, rights-based migration policy…
Before the 2008 violence, at least another 72 foreign nationals had been killed since…
Despite the severe effects of hate crimes and its differences from other forms of…
Further and unfortunately, South Africa currently does not have specific legislation…
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) while raising concerns…
It also called on the government “to adopt legislation and other effective measures…
