Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:25 am
Time: 12:25 am
Results for immigrants (south africa)
1 results foundAuthor: Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) Title: Protecting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants in South Africa during 2010 Summary: The movement of people into, within and through South Africa raises fundamental questions about the country’s commitments to human rights, regional integration, security, and economic development. Where it was once a side issue occupying minor corners of government and civil society, a combination of domestic debates and global trends has put the country’s response to migrants at the heart of South Africa’s policy agenda. In the coming year, the government will debate amendments to the Immigration Act and has committed to continue efforts to regularise migrants from across Southern Africa who have been living and working in the country. Elsewhere, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) will begin enlisting municipal authorities in a campaign to plan for and protect refugees along with domestic and international migrants. The Department of Health (DoH) has recognised the need to build systems that promote people’s access to basic health services regardless of their migration status. The innovative ‘Protection Working Group’ – a body bringing together the police, line ministries, civil society and international agencies – has done impressive collaborative work to combat xenophobic violence and continues to identify hotspots and pre‐emptively respond to threats of xenophobic violence. CoRMSA has played a central part in putting these issues on the agenda, and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that they are effectively addressed. Despite positive developments and an opening of space for discussion with local and national government representatives, there is much work to do. In early 2011, a United Nations delegation called on South Africa to “improve social cohesion and measures against discrimination, exploitation, a tendency by the police to ignore the rights of migrants, and the overall lack of a comprehensive immigration policy that incorporates human rights protection.”1 Statements by the Minister of Home Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini‐Zuma, suggest that there is ambivalence, even at the highest levels, about the protection of migrants and refugees in South Africa.2 Part of this uncertainty stems from the fallacy that migrants’ interests run counter to positive economic and political transformation. Moreover, many continue to feel that South Africa cannot effectively combat xenophobia until we have banished inequalities and racism within the citizenry. CoRMSA takes the position that efforts to build a system of policies and laws that protect migrants and refugees cannot be separated from the objective of building a just and transformed South Africa. South Africa remains part of the larger region of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and cannot close its borders. Nor should it. Not only is South Africa obliged by international law to protect refugees and asylum seekers, but the movement of people within the region helps to foster prosperity and human security. Similarly, efforts to arrest, detain, or inhibit the migrants’ economic activities within the country only hinder investment, job creation, and social cohesion. To be sure, some South Africans lose out when foreigners move in. But all evidence suggests that migrants’ skills, entrepreneurship and investment helps South African business and creates jobs for locals. Continued myth‐making and scapegoating will only take us backward. By accepting that migrants and refugees are part of the country’s population, we can develop pragmatic policing, urban development, and health policies. South Africa’s inability to come to terms with Zimbabwean migration continues to tarnish the country’s reputation and reveals more fundamental questions about the commitment to protect non‐nationals within its borders. While marketed as a generous offer to help Zimbabweans secure legal status in South Africa, 2010’s ‘regularisation’ process was characterised by bureaucratic ineptitude and dissimulation. The result was that approximately 10% of the Zimbabweans in the country have obtained some kind of durable legal status. The remaining 1 million or more have been left in limbo, uncertain whether they will be arrested, deported, or simply left to find their way through the overwhelmed asylum system. This scenario suggests that the South African government’s approach to migration is Janus‐faced: offering a friendly, embracing vision to the world while in reality shutting out the non‐nationals crossing its borders or living within them. While there is reason for considerable disquiet, the possibility of extending similar amnesties to other SADC nationals hints at a gradual recognition of the need to build a regional migration framework. This report provides a summary of some of the most significant developments affecting the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants in South Africa. The point is not to suggest that migrant rights should take priority over those of citizens: protection of those who move will only be achieved through strengthening the broader systems of administrative and criminal justice that serve all who live in South Africa, and improvements in the quality of care and services provided to the country’s poor and marginalised populations. For those concerned with the rights and welfare of non‐nationals in South Africa, this document provides the best available data and analysis. For others, it offers a snapshot of South Africa’s strengths and weaknesses in protecting one among many vulnerable populations. This year’s report focuses on key elements of refugee and migrant rights protection in South Africa. Based on extensive research by CoRMSA and its partners, each section offers a series of recommendations to promote positive and pragmatic reforms. The points below provide a summary of the report’s primary findings and recommendations. Details: Johannesburg: Consortium for Refugees adn Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA), 2011. 140p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 16, 2012 at http://www.cormsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/CoRMSA-Report-20111.pdf Year: 2011 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.cormsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/CoRMSA-Report-20111.pdf Shelf Number: 124555 Keywords: Asylum (South Africa)Human RightsImmigrants (South Africa)Refugees (South Africa) |