Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic
Despite the open policy of integration, refugees in South Africa have been experiencing increasing exclusion and discrimination in socio-economic development and from social services. State-sanctioned discrimination contributes to mistrust among marginalized groups toward the government and its inst...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-04-01
|
| Series: | Social Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/4/224 |
| _version_ | 1797603433562243072 |
|---|---|
| author | Aron Tesfai Michaela Hynie Anna Meyer-Weitz |
| author_facet | Aron Tesfai Michaela Hynie Anna Meyer-Weitz |
| author_sort | Aron Tesfai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite the open policy of integration, refugees in South Africa have been experiencing increasing exclusion and discrimination in socio-economic development and from social services. State-sanctioned discrimination contributes to mistrust among marginalized groups toward the government and its institutions. However, public trust towards healthcare authorities and government institutions is critical during pandemic outbreaks to ensure the population’s willingness to follow public health initiatives and protocols to contain the spread of a pandemic. Eleven key informants, including refugee community leaders and refugee-serving NGOs, were virtually interviewed about refugees’ access to healthcare in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of inconsistent access and discrimination on their trust of public healthcare initiatives. Interviews were analyzed using critical thematic analysis. The results suggest that refugees’ access to public healthcare services were perceived as exclusionary and discriminatory. Furthermore, the growing mistrust in institutions and authorities, particularly the healthcare system, and misperceptions of COVID-19 compromised refugees’ trust and adherence to public health initiatives. This ultimately exacerbates the vulnerability of the refugee community, as well as the wellbeing of the overall population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T04:32:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-74851c439d344f5da0c23f68c89b4d2e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T04:32:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-74851c439d344f5da0c23f68c89b4d2e2023-11-17T21:22:02ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602023-04-0112422410.3390/socsci12040224Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID PandemicAron Tesfai0Michaela Hynie1Anna Meyer-Weitz2Discipline of Psychology, School of Applied Human Sciences, College of Humanities, Howard College Campus, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South AfricaDepartment of Psychology, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, CanadaDiscipline of Psychology, School of Applied Human Sciences, College of Humanities, Howard College Campus, University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South AfricaDespite the open policy of integration, refugees in South Africa have been experiencing increasing exclusion and discrimination in socio-economic development and from social services. State-sanctioned discrimination contributes to mistrust among marginalized groups toward the government and its institutions. However, public trust towards healthcare authorities and government institutions is critical during pandemic outbreaks to ensure the population’s willingness to follow public health initiatives and protocols to contain the spread of a pandemic. Eleven key informants, including refugee community leaders and refugee-serving NGOs, were virtually interviewed about refugees’ access to healthcare in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of inconsistent access and discrimination on their trust of public healthcare initiatives. Interviews were analyzed using critical thematic analysis. The results suggest that refugees’ access to public healthcare services were perceived as exclusionary and discriminatory. Furthermore, the growing mistrust in institutions and authorities, particularly the healthcare system, and misperceptions of COVID-19 compromised refugees’ trust and adherence to public health initiatives. This ultimately exacerbates the vulnerability of the refugee community, as well as the wellbeing of the overall population.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/4/224refugeesCOVID-19access to public healthcareexclusiondiscriminationpolitical mistrust |
| spellingShingle | Aron Tesfai Michaela Hynie Anna Meyer-Weitz Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic Social Sciences refugees COVID-19 access to public healthcare exclusion discrimination political mistrust |
| title | Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic |
| title_full | Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic |
| title_short | Human Rights Violations and Mistrust among Refugees in South Africa: Implications for Public Health during the COVID Pandemic |
| title_sort | human rights violations and mistrust among refugees in south africa implications for public health during the covid pandemic |
| topic | refugees COVID-19 access to public healthcare exclusion discrimination political mistrust |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/12/4/224 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT arontesfai humanrightsviolationsandmistrustamongrefugeesinsouthafricaimplicationsforpublichealthduringthecovidpandemic AT michaelahynie humanrightsviolationsandmistrustamongrefugeesinsouthafricaimplicationsforpublichealthduringthecovidpandemic AT annameyerweitz humanrightsviolationsandmistrustamongrefugeesinsouthafricaimplicationsforpublichealthduringthecovidpandemic |