This article is based on media content analysis of more than 230 newspaper articles written on the Lindela Repatriation Centre from its establishment in 1996 to 2014. This centre is South Africa’s only holding facility for undocumented migrants1 awaiting repatriation, and the data revealed that it is a hub of human rights violations. The article juxtaposes the South African Bill of Rights, which supposedly underpinned the establishment of the centre, with the grotesque human rights violations that have occurred there since its inception. In light of this, the article draws on the theorising of Giorgio Agamben (1998), and particularly his theoretical contribution of the ‘homo sacer’ as one who has been left behind or excluded from the territorial boundaries that confer the rights of citizenship. I found that the detainees at the centre are largely living in what Agamben describes as a ‘state of exception’ and that undocumented migrants are often treated as ‘bare life’, as individuals who are subject to the suspension of the law within the context of the centre. Since they are non-citizens of the recipient state, these actions amount to xenophobia, which manifests in a gross violation of human rights.

中文翻译：

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Lindela遣返中心，1996-2014年：将理论应用于侵犯人权行为

本文基于对1996年至2014年成立于Lindela遣返中心的230多篇报纸文章的媒体内容分析。该中心是南非唯一等待遣返的无证移民的收容所，数据显示这是一个侵犯人权中心。该条将南非《人权法案》并列，据称该中心的建立自该中心成立以来就发生了怪异的侵犯人权事件。有鉴于此，本文借鉴了乔治·阿甘本（Giorgio Agamben，1998）的理论，尤其是他对“同性恋者”的理论贡献，后者是被赋予或赋予公民权利的领土边界之外或被排除在外的人。我发现，该中心的被拘留者主要生活在阿甘本所说的“例外状态”中，无证件移民通常被视为“光秃秃的生命”，因为在中心。由于他们是接受国的非公民，因此这些行为构成了仇外心理，这表现为对人权的严重侵犯。