Refugee Backlog Project at the Court Classique Hotel in Arcadia, Pretoria
20 April 2006
1. Background
The phenomenal increase in the number of asylum seekers in the past 12 years
is directly linked to the achievement of a peaceful transition in South Africa.
Since the eradication of apartheid, South Africa has become a safe haven for
thousands of individuals from all over the world that are forced to flee their
own communities or countries because of persecution or a well-founded fear of
persecution.
Before 1994, there were neither policy nor legislation governing refugees in
South Africa as it was only regarded a refugee-producing country. But with the
advent of democracy in 1994, South Africa did not only see the liberation of
the oppressed masses from an apartheid system, but it also became a safe haven
for displaced and persecuted people.
The dawn of the new era meant South Africaâs acceptance back into the
international community of nations. In 1996, ending its years of international
isolation and status as a refugee-producing country, South Africa signed the
United Nation 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of
Refugees. These instruments, including the Expanded Organisation of African
Unity (OAU) Convention on Refugees, were incorporated into the South African
Refugees Act. This law became effective in 2000 and continues to be the
countryâs primary piece of legislation governing asylum seekers and refugees in
the country.
This new dispensation and bloodless transition to a democratic order,
created a climate of hope for most people in the war-torn countries across the
world.
The increased movement of people to the south with the hope for a better
life has put pressure on our system leaving gaps in allowing some applicants
who would not normally qualify to slip and achieve refugee status while also
refusing some valid claims.
Newly arrived asylum seekers are registered and issued with a temporary
residence permit in terms of Section 22 of the Refugees Act. Section 22 permit
allows the holder to sojourn in the Republic while his or her claim is under
consideration by the Refugee Status Determination Officers who are based at
Refugee Reception Offices. These permits are renewed every thirty days at any
Refugee Reception Office in the country.
On approval of the claim, the Refugee Status Determination Officer issues a
recognition certificate valid for a period of two years and informs the refugee
of his or her rights and obligations in the Republic. Part of the rights
extended to refugees is to apply and obtain an identity and travel documents
issued by the South African government. The identity document has a 13 digit
number which is required in terms of the South African Identification Act for
identification purposes to access services from any organisation or institution
like, financial institutions, license department, social, welfare and
population development department etc.
Those whose claims have been rejected as unfounded are afforded an
opportunity to lodge appeals as prescribed in the Refugees Act and the Refugee
Appeal Board would at times invite them for an oral hearing in order to gather
more facts. On the other hand, there are those whose claims are said to be
manifestly unfounded, fraudulent, and abusive. These are automatically
forwarded by the Refugee Status Determination Officers to the Standing
Committee for Refugee Affairs who have legislative obligation to review such
cases when forwarded to them.
The influx of asylum seekers, lack of capacity and inadequate availability
of resources to facilitate the registration of asylum seekers has created a
backlog of applications that runs over 100 000. These have resulted in some
instances to unlawful arrests, detention and deportation of legitimate
applicants.
As a result of all these challenges, the Ministry of Home Affairs
established a Departmental Steering Committee to come up with practical
sustainable solutions that will ensure that all asylum applications dating back
to 1998 are immediately dealt with.
2. Plan to reduce backlog
The challenges required the Department to establish steering committees that
will fast track the processing of backlog applications. Temporary offices in
four provinces (Gauteng â Crown Mines, KwaZulu-Natal - eThekwini, Western Cape
- Cape Town and Eastern Cape - Port Elizabeth) have also been set up to
expedite the processing of these applications dating received between 1998
after the promulgation of the Refugee Act 130 of 1998 and July 2005.
As at Tuesday, 4 April, the refugee backlog stood at 103 410 cases, the
breakdown is as follows:
Table 1: Adjudicated cases
Centres: Cape Town
Backlog (March 2006): 24 940
Approved: 617
Unfounded: 761
Manifestly Unfounded: 575
Total Adjudicated: 1 953
Balance of Backlog (As at 4 April 2006): 22 987
Centres: Durban
Backlog (March 2006): 11 338
Approved: 7
Unfounded: 1748
Manifestly Unfounded: 420
Total Adjudicated: 2175
Balance of Backlog (As at 4 April 2006): 9163
Centres: Crown Mines
Backlog (March 2006): 62 867
Approved: 1
Unfounded: 30
Manifestly Unfounded: 796
Total Adjudicated: 827
Balance of Backlog (As at 4 April 2006): 62 040
Centres: PE
Backlog (March 2006): 12 008
Approved: 284
Unfounded: 2001
Manifestly Unfounded: 503
Total Adjudicated: 2788
Balance of Backlog (As at 4 April 2006): 9220
TOTAL
Backlog (March 2006): 111 153
Approved: 909
Unfounded: 4540
Manifestly Unfounded: 2294
Total Adjudicated: 7743
Balance of Backlog (As at 4 April 2006): 103 410
Table two: Top five countries (National Backlog)
Country: Democratic Republic of Congo
Backlog: 13 376
Percentage: 12,2%
Country: Zimbabwe
Backlog: 11 026
Percentage: 10,1%
Country: Ethiopia
Backlog: 9 341
Percentage: 8,5 %
Country: Pakistan
Backlog: 9 245
Percentage: 8,4%
Country: Somalia
Backlog: -
Percentage: 8%
Total
Backlog: 51 753
Percentage: 47,2%
2.1 Resources
The infrastructure at the four centres include the General Live Capture
technology, servers and telephony that are all linked to the mainframe database
for verification of details as well as the Electronic Queue Management System,
which obviates the challenge of people standing in long queues at Refugee
Reception offices.
In addition, a dedicated toll-free line has been provided for refugees and
interested parties to phone in to track and trace the progress of applications
received at the Refugee Reception offices. The number is 0800 73 38 43.
2.2 Awareness programme to change behavioural attitudes toward
refugees/asylum seekers
Coupled with the refugee backlog challenge is the negative public perception
toward refugee and asylum seekers who are seen to be taking away jobs from
South Africans. In worst cases, refugees or displaced people are generally
considered to be criminals/crooks and these wrong perceptions have necessitated
a parallel awareness raising campaign that will aim, among others, to:
* To encourage and promote refugee activism among South African communities
toward refugees or asylum seekers;
* To position the Department of Home Affairs as a caring, compassionate and
responsive organ of state in dealing with refugee issues;
* To integrate all worthy immigration programmes and initiatives under a common
campaign;
* To educate refugees about their rights and responsibilities;
* To work closely with other law enforcement agencies in clean-up operations to
discourage illegal immigration in South Africa.
3. Positioning South African Government on issues of displaced people within
the United Nations context
South Africa is chairing the G77 (a group of 132 developing countries) for
2006 at the United Nations level, and with illegal migration increasingly
becoming a global trend, there is a particular challenge in dealing with
variety of issues of development and migration, all of which relate to national
interests and priorities.
Migration and development, is among the critical issues that form the key
themes of the UNâs agenda for 2006. The G77 co-ordination mechanism in South
Africa is currently hard at work monitoring migration development and
interacting with counterparts around G77 and migration issues. The outcome of
this exercise will form part of a High Level Dialogue on Migration that will be
held from 14 to 15 September 2006, where ministers are to participate at
plenary sessions, panel and roundtable discussions during the 61st Session of
the UN General Assembly.
4. The role of the media
The role of the media helped change the perception from around Alien Control
Act to a reformed Refugee Act regime. This request is necessitated by the fact
that there is a growing perception in the public domain that the Department is
failing and ill-treating refugees or asylum seekers who are currently in South
Africa and the fact that the transformation of the legislative framework from
Aliens Control regime to a progressive Immigration and Refugee Act has not
permeated in the media, hence the use of words such as âaliensâ in some of the
daily media reports.
More importantly, the Ministry would like to explore areas in which the
Department and the media can co-operate and make interventions to support and
promote activism for refugees and asylum seekers.
It is against this background, that the Ministry and the Department would
like to engage with the media sector to discuss these issues, create
partnership in areas of mutual interest, and jointly identify the role that
your industry could play in ensuring that issues of refugees and asylum seekers
are given prominence and priority in the news.
The dialogue with the media forms part of interaction with the broader civil
society in South Africa to understand governmentâs position on matters
pertaining to refugees, asylum seekers, citizenship and related issues that
fall under the mandate of the Department of Home Affairs.
Enquiries:
Nkosana Sibuyi
Head of Communication
Cell: 082 886 6708
Tel: (012) 810 7338
Issued by: Department of Home Affairs
20 April 2006
