Cele, ‘Invisible and Detained: How Immigration Detention Reproduces Gender-Based Violence Against Migrant Women in South Africa’, 2026

Zekhethelo Cele, ‘Invisible and Detained: How Immigration Detention Reproduces Gender-Based Violence Against Migrant Women in South Africa’, Lawyers for Human Rights, February 2026

Abstract

In South Africa and globally, immigration detention is framed as an administrative mechanism to manage irregular migration. In law, it is meant to be lawful, reasonable, and temporary. In practice, for migrant women, detention is not neutral. It is a gendered system that reproduces harm, entrenches inequality, and obscures gender-based violence. Many women in immigration detention have fled gender-based persecution, including domestic violence, sexual violence, forced marriage, trafficking, and conflict-related harm. Yet South Africa’s immigration framework, particularly the Immigration Act and its enforcement practices, remains largely gender-blind as the administrative decisions rarely take into account women’s experiences of trauma, caregiving responsibilities, pregnancy, or exposure to violence Instead, immigration control prioritises compliance and removals, often at the expense of dignity, safety, and care.