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 Rights group: South Africa abuses growing
Police harassment and human rights violations in South Africa are on the rise in the lead-up to next week's World Cup soccer tourney, a rights group says.
Informal traders, homeless South Africans, refugees and migrants living in high-density, inner-city housing have been targeted by alleged police abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a release Friday.
Police actions have included raids, indiscriminate arrests, ill-treatment and extortion, as well as destruction of informal housing, the group says.
Police are using regulations set down to comply with FIFA World Cup requirements in host cities to expel homeless people and street traders from "controlled access sites" and exclusion zones around World Cup venues, the release said.
"FIFA by-laws" creating the exclusion zones are seen as particularly harmful in a country where large parts of the population are reliant on the informal sector economy for survival.
Protesters in poor communities say the majority of South Africans are being excluded from the economic benefits of hosting the World Cup, Human Rights Watch says.
(2010-06-05 / upi.com)
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