Wits Report Highlights Refugee Rights Violations, Wasted Taxpayer Money and Need for Immigration Reform

A report released by the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at Wits University titled “Protection and Pragmatism: Addressing Administrative Failures in South Africa’s Refugee Status Determination Decisions” identifies serious flaws in South Africa’s refugee status determination process.

The review of 324 negative status determination decisions from all of the country’s permanent Refugee Reception Offices shows that these offices are unable to perform their primary function—investigating the validity of asylum claims and distinguishing those individuals who need protection as refugees from those who do not. The quality of status determination decisions has been severely affected by efforts to process hundreds of asylum applications daily. As a result, individuals with valid asylum claims are being returned to life threatening situations, in violation of South African and international law. In one instance, a woman who fled civil war in the DRC after being kidnapped and brutally raped by rebel forces was told that she suffered no harm.

According to Roni Amit, a researcher with FMSP and author of the report, “The problems are leading to significant human rights violations. Individuals are being denied refugee status without having their asylum claims properly considered, which is what the system is set up to do, and what it is required to do by law. Apart from the rights violations, taxpayer money is being devoted to a system that is not carrying out its core function.”

The report recommends several measures that can be implemented immediately, while broader immigration policy reforms are being developed.