11/08/2004

South Africa: Gender Stereotypes Prevent Male Asylum Seekers from Receiving Refugee Status

"80% of the world's refugees are women and children." This sentence evokes a particular image of a woman with small children living in the many refugee camps in Africa. However, not all refugees fit this stereotype. According to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, "A refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." The Convention does not specify the sex of refugees. Gendered stereotypes are making it difficult for Zimbabwean men to seek political asylum in South Africa. Instead of women and small children living in camps, the typical Zimbabwean refugee is male and lives in the urban areas of Johannesburg.

Because the majority of Zimbabweans who have come to South Africa are male, South Africans have stereotyped them as economic migrants --- males who work illegally in South Africa to send money back home. The crisis in Zimbabwe has produced a flood of males leaving their wives and families behind in Zimbabwe to make their way to South Africa and other bordering countries. "After the farms were seized, the women [former farm workers] return to the traditional lands while the men jump the borders," explained a local NGO in Zimbabwe. "The men often tend to be the ones that are political and are the ones that are targeted for political violence."

Zimbabweans have struggled to be recognized as true political asylum seekers. Instead, they are branded as economic migrants trying to escape the dismal economy of Zimbabwe. Government of South Africa officials justified this policy by telling Refugees International that "the profile of [Zimbabwean] applicants [for political asylum] in South Africa is young and male. Most of the refugees in the world are women and children." Clearly, gendered stereotypes of males being less vulnerable or in need of protection must change. The following is the story of a male urban refugee from Zimbabwe who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Thomas is a nineteen-year-old former farm worker from Zimbabwe. "I was working on a farm as a general laborer in tobacco and maize when the war vets came to take the farm. The boss interviewed them and they harassed him by taking items and destroying things until he left for Britain. Some of the farm workers tried to fight against the war vets but they took over part of the farm. My father was beaten up and tortured. He struggled against them and they accused him of being MDC [Movement for Democratic Change, the leading opposition political party] because the boss was MDC. They said this is the reason they picked this farm. War vets cut down the tree and we were forced to go back to our rural areas with our mother. Some of my friends were Malawians and they were stuck there because they could not go anywhere else. The war vets took the tractors - we reported it to the police. My father remained on the farm and they beat him because they said he was MDC. We know the people who beat up our father. We tried to stop them from beating my father and if they find us, they can kill us. Some were in the rural areas looking for us. My father grew up close to these people but now that they think he is MDC they want him dead.

Things are difficult in Zimbabwe. The elections are coming so there is going to be violence. We are living in fear. South African police are looking for us here. In the case of foreigners --- if you come close, they will interview you. I came here in January 2004. I jumped the border with my brother. My mother didn't want me to come here but we had to look after ourselves. It is hard to find jobs. We need to support our family. On the farm we were seasonal workers and we lived on the compound. My brother has been arrested 2 times. I am working where I live. There is nowhere for me to move around so the police can't find me."

Advocates Sarah Martin and Andrea Lari traveled to Zimbabwe and South Africa in June 2004.