What is Xenowatch?
Developed by the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of Witwatersrand, Xenowatch is an open source system for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping that allows crowdsourcing of information and data on xenophobic discrimination incidents in South Africa using the following reporting methods: Email, WhatsApp and Call. Xenowatch tracks, verifies, records and analyzes all forms of xenophobic discrimination as well as responses or interventions by all relevant stakeholders including government and civil society. It serves as an early warning system that notifies authorities and civil society about threats and violence and calls for immediate and appropriate response. Xenowatch data is analyzed to identify violence causal factors and characteristics of communities at risk in ways that can inform early warning and more effective conflict prevention/resolution interventions.
Featured Project:
The Mobility Governance Lab (MGL) explores the governance of mobility at multiple scales across the global south. It is an autonomous, critical space working to realise principles of innovation, independence, and equitable partnership.
Reports & Publications
Opening Up Africa for Africans: A Proposal In Support of the Protocol for the Free Movement of Persons
Regional integration remains a top priority for the African Union (AU). In an effort to foster free movement and promote integration, peace, and unity at the continental level, a common AU passport was launched in 2016 aimed at this end. In 2018, two years after the initiation of the AU passport, the African Continental Free…
Panel Discussion: The Implications of Xenophobic Violence for Trade & Transformation
Wits University’s African Centre for Migration & Society and the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab held a hybrid panel discussion reflecting on the meaning and implications of xenophobic violence for South Africa’s economic and political future.
South Africa Plans To Deport Thousands Back To Zimbabwe
On Tuesday (11 April 2023), a court in South Africa began hearing arguments that could impact the status of 160,000 people from neighbouring Zimbabwe who live in the country. This follows an announcement last year by South Africa that the Zimbabwe Exemption Permits scheme would not be renewed after June. ACMS’s Professor LB Landau spoke…
