In March 2019, the South African government launched its National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (NAP). Among the actions the NAP identifies to be taken to combat xenophobia, are creating mechanisms to ensure foreigners receive services they are entitled to, facilitating their integration, and embracing a humane and dignified approach to managing migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

However, as the incidents documented in this report show, implementation of the NAP should include steps that could quickly and effectively improve accountability for perpetrators of abuse motivated by xenophobia and justice for its victims.

Potential measures include creating a dedicated portal or contact for non-South African nationals to report xenophobic incidents and standardizing how instances of xenophobia are recorded and responded to across provinces, stations, and community policing structures.

This report documents some of the large scale and more individual experiences of xenophobia, discrimination, and barriers experienced by non-nationals in the year following the launch of the NAP, as well as the, at best, anemic response by the government.

Report by the Human Rights Watch