2010 UNHCR country operations profile - South Africa

Working environment

The context

Refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa have freedom of movement, the right to work and the right to avail themselves of basic social services. Consequently, they reside mainly in urban areas amongst migrants, foreigners and the local population.

Government statistics indicate that more than 207,200 individual asylum claims were registered in South Africa in 2008, making the country the largest single recipient of asylum-seekers in the world. There were some 227,000 asylum applications pending at the end of December 2008. The majority were from Zimbabwe (122,600), Malawi (18,160), and Ethiopia (11,350), as well as from other African countries and from Bangladesh, China, India and Pakistan. There are also some 43,500 refugees recognized by the Government, mainly from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Somalia.

In national elections held on 22 April 2009, the African National Congress (ANC) won another five-year mandate. The Government continues to face challenges in dealing with socio-economic issues, especially with regard to improvements in basic services, high unemployment, income disparities and soaring crime rates.

It is estimated that South Africa attracts millions of economic migrants every year. There is also a continuous migration from rural to urban areas. As a result, competition for jobs, housing, business opportunities and social services has intensified, resulting in social tensions.

UNHCR is working with its partners to reduce the risk of any new outbreak of xenophobic violence following the events of 2008 which led to the displacement of some 46,000 foreigners. The prevalence of HIV has stabilized at 11 per cent of the total population, and South Africa is implementing the largest anti-retroviral treatment programme in the world, adding a significant burden on already overstretched public health services.

South Africa is a signatory to the major refugee instruments and it also has national legislation, the Refugees Act of 1998, which has recently been amended to ensure better asylum processing and protection. The Government has established six refugee reception offices in major cities around the country, but these are overburdened by the sheer number of asylum-seekers in the country.

The needs

UNHCR continues to provide technical advice, training and support to the Department of Home Affairs in order to increase its asylum processing capacity and thereby reduce the backlog of pending asylum applications.

Xenophobia in the country poses a serious challenge, since local integration is the preferred durable solution for many refugees in South Africa. UNHCR aims to promote the acceptance of refugees and asylum-seekers through public-information and media campaigns against xenophobia.

Based on the assessed comprehensive needs, UNHCR will provide direct material and legal assistance to the most vulnerable people of concern in the country, supporting them with food, shelter, education, health, community services, skills training and self-reliance projects.

Resettlement is used as a durable solution for the most vulnerable individuals with serious protection needs. UNHCR has seen an increase, albeit small, in people seeking voluntary repatriation. A major hurdle to voluntary repatriation is continuing instability or conflict in some countries or areas of return, such as Somalia or eastern DRC. Life in South Africa therefore remains a more attractive option for most refugees.

Main objectives

Favourable protection environment

• Ensure that asylum-seekers and refugees have access to asylum procedures, identity documents, and protection against refoulement.

• Support the Government in maintaining asylum principles and enhancing its protection capacity.

• Strengthen partnerships with government departments, NGOs, human-rights organizations, refugee communities and others in order to protect and assist refugees and asylum-seekers.

Basic needs and services

• Provide immediate basic assistance in food, health, education and shelter to the most vulnerable groups among refugees and asylum-seekers.

Durable solutions

• Pursue durable solutions for refugees by promoting voluntary repatriation, local integration and the strategic application of resettlement.

• In cooperation with partners, pursue local integration through effective advocacy and by introducing programmes for greater self-reliance among refugees and harmony between the refugees and the host community.

Key targets for 2010

• Some 20 per cent of the 320,000 people of concern in South Africa receive direct UNHCR assistance, while others benefit from general protection advocacy.

• Some 6,000 families, mostly vulnerable asylum-seekers, receive food and temporary shelter assistance from UNHCR.

• A UNHCR-introduced micro-credit programme reaches up to 15,000 beneficiaries, augmenting their self-reliance and facilitating their local integration.

• UNHCR submits 2,000 people for resettlement from South Africa, double the number in 2009.

• UNHCR enhances the Government's capacity to process asylum applications and undertake refugee status determination (RSD) within six months of an asylum application, as stipulated by South African law.

Strategy and activities

UNHCR will organize public information campaigns countering xenophobia and promoting the acceptance of people of concern in the country. It will also provide assistance to improve the self-reliance of refugees and asylum-seekers, whose local integration will be made easier if they are seen to be contributing to the local communities.

Continuing technical support and training for RSD officers and refugee reception officers of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) will ensure that refugees and other people of concern receive international protection and have access to durable solutions. UNHCR will encourage the Government to fast-track asylum applications in order to eliminate the backlog and maintain the credibility of the asylum processing system.

The resettlement criteria for South Africa will be refined to meet the greater protection needs of refugees arising from xenophobic violence in the country.

UNHCR will formally establish a field office in Durban to provide a better response to the needs of the increasing number of people of concern.

Constraints

A major protection challenge in South Africa is to reach out to the huge population of refugees and asylum-seekers residing in urban areas and spread throughout the country. The large number of asylum-seekers is overstretching the DHA's capacity and clogging the asylum system. The football World Cup hosted by South Africa in 2010 could pull more asylum-seekers into the country, as more jobs in the construction industry may be needed.

Xenophobia is a major obstacle to the local integration of people of concern. A number of conflict-resolution initiatives are being implemented by local authorities, NGOs, the UN and other organizations, but it is likely that xenophobia will continue to affect refugees and asylum-seekers in the country. While awareness campaigns can certainly change and shape public attitudes, they alone cannot mitigate the complex root causes linked to problems with socio-economic development and governance.

Organization and implementation

As the regional office for Southern Africa, UNHCR in Pretoria takes the regional responsibility at the operational, resource-management, technical-support and oversight levels. It coordinates the operations of seven country offices (Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe) and directly addresses the protection needs of the people of concern in Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Swaziland.

Coordination

Collaboration with the Government, and in particular the DHA, will continue to be given top priority. UNHCR has advocated successfully for the establishment of a Protection Working Group (PWG) with a number of NGOs, human rights and civil society organizations, academic institutions and UN agencies. With UNHCR as lead agency, the PWG meets regularly to coordinate protection assessment, monitoring, common advocacy and approaches to the media on key protection issues, joint outreach and resource mobilization.

UNHCR and the UN Country Team work closely together to coordinate and promote the former's role within the broader UN context and also to benefit from the combined resources of the team. Currently, 13 implementing partners work with UNHCR under a contractual agreement, providing legal, social and other services to refugees and asylum-seekers.

UNDP offices in Comoros and Madagascar provide material assistance to a small number of people of concern in those countries under a memorandum of understanding. The International Organization for Migration supports UNHCR in resettlement and voluntary repatriation programmes by providing logistics expertise.

Financial information

The budget for South Africa increased gradually in 2006 and 2007, reflecting the steady increase of the population of concern. In 2008, the budget more than doubled to USD 12.3 million, mainly as a response to the xenophobic violence that broke out in some major cities of South Africa. Part of the budget was also used to address the urgent needs of asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe, who arrived in great numbers following the political violence that erupted after the disputed March 2008 elections.

In 2009, the budget decreased in line with the improved situation in Zimbabwe and the slowly diminishing trend of xenophobia in South Africa. The big budgetary increase in 2010 is partly explained by UNHCR's expanded involvement with the rising numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers who lost their livelihoods and other means to support themselves during the xenophobic violence and are now dependant on humanitarian assistance.

Source: UNHCR Global Appeal 2010-2011