brothers who were working legally.119 The two children were evidently traveling
unaccompanied by adults, and ought not to have been detained.
We were allowed into the sleeping quarters of the men awaiting deportation at Makhado
police station. Each person had only a blanket. There were no mattresses.
Deportation without an opportunity to collect remuneration, savings,
and personal belongings
The Immigration Act does not require state officials to give undocumented migrants the
opportunity to collect remuneration, savings, and personal belongings prior to
deportation. Failure to enable migrants awaiting deportation to collect unpaid wages,
savings, and personal belongings is viewed by migrants, and Human Rights Watch, as a
serious injustice, if not necessarily a human rights violation. Given that the police
apparently permit undocumented migrants to collect their bank savings prior to
deportation (see below), the case for allowing undocumented workers the opportunity to
access their unpaid wages, savings not held in a bank, and personal property seems
strong. The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families, which the South African government has not
signed, provides for the right of foreign workers (documented and undocumented) who
get deported to be granted a reasonable opportunity before or after departure to settle
any claims for wages and other entitlements and any pending liabilities,120 and, upon
termination of their stay in the state of employment, to be accorded the opportunity to
transfer their earnings, savings, and personal effects and belongings.121
119
Human Rights Watch interview with a Mozambican detainee, Makhado police station, April 29, 2006, with the
translation assistance of a Zimbabwean detainee.
120
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families, adopted December 18, 1990, G.A. Res. 45/158, article 22(6),
http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/cmw.htm (accessed July 10, 2006).
121
Ibid., article 32.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOLUME 18, NO. 6(A)
32
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