Corruption rife within asylum-seeking chain: Study

Researchers have warned that disturbingly high levels of corruption in the Asylum Seeking Process may soon spread to other areas of the public service.

For the first time, the African Centre for Migration and Society, together with Lawyers for Human Rights, conducted research which shows that close to a third of migrants is experiencing corruption.

Senior researcher, Roni Amit, says many deserving people are refused asylum simply because they don't have money for bribes. Amit says as much as the corruption, at the moment, ony affects foreign nationals, it doesn't mean it will remain confined to that.

Amit goes on to say: “It can spread like a cancer to other areas of the public service. If people are concerned about the number of migrants entering the country, then having financial incentives for irregular migrant entries into the country really undermines the goals of preventing them from entering the country.”

The study, conducted by Lawyers for Human Rights in partnership with Wits University's African Centre for Migration and Society, points at how rife corruption is within the system.

According to Amit, they had anecdotal reports of people experiencing corruption, so they decided to conduct the study to get a broader picture and to also have empirical evidence of just how widespread the problem is.

Close to 1 000 respondents formed part of the survey. According to the survey, five refugee reception offices found that close to a third of them report experiencing corruption at some point in the asylum application process.