E/CN.4/1999/15/Add.1 page 16 before 1 July 1991, have committed no crime, have a job (including those working for themselves) and are married to a South African citizen will receive their papers. Given the small number of people concerned (limited geographical area, numerous conditions, difficulty in proving that conditions have been met), this amnesty has had only limited effect to date 7/. 2. Immigration control 58. Illegal persons represent probably (though it is difficult to keep records) the majority of the immigrants in South Africa. Stigmatized in the Aliens Control Act as “prohibited persons” and criminalized by the law, they are regarded as undesirables, and therefore as liable to detention and repatriation. This process (arrest, detention, deportation) has frequently been denounced as being open to multiple abuse on the part of the South African authorities. 59. The introduction of stricter immigration legislation goes in tandem with the strengthening of police controls (the number of police units whose job is to search for illegal persons increased from 3 to 14 between 1994 and 1995). Raids have become much more frequent in the urban communities suspected of harbouring illegal foreigners. Some reports say that procedures are not being followed during arrests of suspected illegal foreigners. Others have described how the “immigrant hunts” provide some police officers with the opportunity to continue the violent behaviour and discriminatory practices made routine during apartheid. That violence is particularly evident during raids in which large numbers of more or less arbitrary and often violent arrests are made, often on the basis of “being the wrong sort” 8/, and the burden of proof of legal status rests with the accused: many foreigners, even South Africans, have spent months in prison like this, as their status can sometimes be difficult to determine. 3. Detention 60. Within the framework of the Aliens Control Act a person suspected of being in an illegal situation may be detained for successive periods of 48 hours on the authority of an immigration official, for as long as is necessary in order to determine his status. However, after the first 48 hours of detention the detainee must be informed in writing of the reasons for his continued incarceration. In practice, people are detained without any written explanation for often very long periods (there is no maximum detention period in law, neither before determination of the immigrant’s status nor afterwards, and particularly while awaiting repatriation). Although, the law does provide for 7/ Only 11 000 people have applied to date (an insignificant figure compared with the number of, illegal persons in the country), according to H. Kotze and L. Hill, “Emergent migration policy in a democratic South Africa”, in International Migration, Vol. 35, No 1, 1997. 8/ Certain immigrants (or citizens) “typed”, or identifiable by their clothing, the languages they speak (Mozambicans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians, etc.) are apparently subjected to more frequent checks than others. A foreigner is any person who does not speak Zulu or who has vaccination scars high on the arm, vaccinations in South Africa being given lower down the arm.