South Africa: World Marks Refugee Day

BuaNews (Tshwane)

20 June 2008
Posted to the web 20 June 2008

Bathandwa Mbola
Pretoria

June 20, 08: Today marks World Refugee Day, a day set aside to remember millions of people who were forced to flee their homes each year, escaping with their lives and a few belongings, to seek asylum in other countries.

World Refugee Day, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly from 2001, stands out as a salute to the courage of young people in Africa and the world.

As nationals observe this day, the UN has warned that the reasons why people flee their homes are becoming increasingly complex and interlinked.

It says that nowadays people do not just flee persecution and war.

"People do not just flee persecution and war but also injustice, exclusion, competition for scarce resources and the human consequences of dysfunctional states," the UN said as it marks the day.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) there are about 11 million refugees worldwide and 26 million internally displaced people.

Volatile situation in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East are said to be increasing refugee numbers worldwide.

South Africa is among many countries remembering those victimised from their native lands.

In this regard, a number of cultural activities highlighting the role that its citizens can play in providing a warm reception to people from other countries are currently underway in different parts of the country.

Through these activities South Africans seeks to condemn the recent spate of violent attacks towards people from other countries and promote a spirit of tolerance towards asylum seekers and encourage refugee activism among South Africans.

In South Africa, UNHCR estimates that there are 38 000 registered refugees.

South Africa has some 90 000 people seeking asylum and waiting for their applications to be processed by the Home Affairs Department, said UNHCR Spokesperson Yusuf Hassan.

"They fled from countries that are facing political problems and they fled from wars, and for them to be able to come here and suffer the problems that they have suffered is indeed sad.

"However, it is also important to emphasise the fact that South Africa is a country that has given them asylum and has re-committed itself to the protection of refugees."

The country's participation commemoration of the day lies against the background that in 1996, when it ended its years of international isolation and status as a refugee producing country, it committed itself to helping expatriates.

In this regard, it signed the UN 1951 convention and 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugee problems in Africa.

These international conventions required the country to recognise and provide protection to people classified as refugees.

"This law became effective in 2000 and continues to be the country's primary piece of legislation governing asylum seekers and refugees in the country," the Department of Home Affairs said.

It, however, said the increased movement of people to the country with the hope for a better life had put pressure on the system, leaving gaps in allowing some applicants who would not qualify to slip through and achieve refugee status.

The department blamed this on lack of capacity and inadequate resources to facilitate the registration of asylum seekers, creating a backlog of asylum applications that over 100 000 to date.

However, government has established a steering committee tasked with coming up with practical and sustainable solutions to ensure that all asylum applicants are immediately dealt with.

Boasting state-of-the-art information systems, government has launched the Refugee Reception Office in Crown Mines, Johannesburg, eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Town in the Western Cape and Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape and other provinces designed to fast track the processing of applications.

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