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Stakeholders chart way forward on refugee reception
Forced Migration Studies Programme, Wits University
March 17, 2009

http://migration.org.za/uploads/Press2009/PressRelease-RRO.pdf (Direct link to 2 page pdf)

The Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at the University of Witwatersrand held a closed door roundtable discussion with the Department of Home Affairs officials on Friday 13 March 2009. The discussion centered around recommendations contained in a newly released FMSP study assessing refugee policy and service delivery at the country's five permanent refugee reception offices. The report, titled "National Survey of the Refugee Reception and Status Determination System in South Africa," calls for revisions in the Department's Turnaround Strategy.

The study, the first of its kind in South Africa, reveals the extent of the difficulties at South Africa's refugee reception offices. It emphasizes that problems with access, service delivery, inadequate staff training, and prejudice among staff at the reception offices is resulting in severe violations of asylum seeker rights. It also highlights that the failures in the status determination process are creating an unmanageable backlog within the Refugee Appeal Board.

While recognizing that the refugee system will continue to struggle to meet demand until the government introduces fundamental reforms of immigration policy, stakeholders agreed on a set of temporary measures to improve the protection of asylum seekers. These include: 1) increasing the capacity of the refugee reception offices and the Refugee Appeal Board and 2) working with civil society to develop measures to combat corruption and deal with the long queues outside the reception offices

The report noted that the status determination officers at the reception offices were unable to conduct extensive interviews, do adequate country research and issue individualized, well-reasoned decisions. Participants at the meet agreed that an independent research unit should be established to provide relevant and up to date country information in order to address these deficiencies and ensure that asylum seekers who face grave dangers are not improperly returned to their home countries in violation of the law. Recognizing that the limited research capacity of individual status determination officers contributed to the poor quality of asylum decisions, stakeholders at the meeting expressed their willingness to assist if called upon to build the DHA's research capacity.

The report also found a large-scale failure by the refugee reception offices to fulfill their legal obligations to inform asylum seekers of their rights and to assist applicants throughout the process. Most asylum seekers interviewed by FMSP did not understand the asylum process and the exact nature of their interactions with reception office staff. They also recounted confronting anti-immigrant prejudice and hostility during these interactions, revealing a general perception that those who arrive at the reception offices are taking advantage of gaps in the asylum seeker system to remain in the country.

"We are concerned that the overwhelming problems in the asylum seeker process have caused officials staffing these offices to lose sight of the primary purpose of the asylum seeker system, which is to provide protection for those fleeing persecution in their home countries, in accordance with international and domestic law," said Dr. Roni Amit, primary author of the report.

Centre managers at the roundtable shared FMSP's concern that the reception offices do not have the capacity to meet the overwhelming demand at these offices, and that sufficient resources are lacking. As a result, thousands of asylum seekers arrive at these offices each day and are turned away, leaving them without any legal status and making them vulnerable to arrest, detention and deportation even if they have valid asylum claims in accordance with South Africa's Refugees Act.

"We identified areas of shared concern and potential remedies in Friday's dialogue," said Dr. Amit. "Now it's up to the Directorate to take the necessary steps to provide the reception offices with the resources they need to adequately perform their functions and protect the rights of bona fide asylum seekers."

The discussion was held with refugee reception centre managers from the Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Port Elizabeth refugee reception offices, as well as the Chair of the Refugee Appeal Board. Other stakeholders who participated included the Wits Law Clinic, Lawyers for Human Rights, members of the Appeal Board, the Consortium for Refugee and Migrants in South Africa, and Atlantic Philanthropy's Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation.

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