Refugees accuse UNHCR of incompetence
“I am here to demand that UNHCR confront Home Affairs on our behalf”
Hundreds of refugees protested outside the offices of United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cape Town on Tuesday. The protest was organised by the Western Cape Refugee Community.
They accuse the organisation of failing to protect them from xenophobia, failing to help get their documents from Home Affairs and failing to help them with resettlement in other countries.
GroundUp is still awaiting a response from UNHCR to a request for comment.
Many of the protesters told GroundUp that documentation problems had caused their children to be expelled from school or miss matric examinations. Some said the documentation problems had cost them their jobs or businesses.
Tendai Bhiza, an activist, said that UNHCR employees often refused to serve refugees unless they had appointments, but yet the office phone number for making appointments often went unanswered.
Bhiza said that UNHCR was mandated to protect refugees and resolve their problems. Its primary purpose was to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.
Thierry Issia was 17 when he fled war in Burundi about 30 years ago. He complained that Home Affairs had withdrawn his refugee status in 2014. His children, who were present at the protest, are undocumented though he is married to a South African woman. “The South African government told me I must go back to my country. Where must I go now, because I don’t have a home to go?”
Issia’s complaint with UNHCR is that since 2014 the organisation has kept postponing his appointment. He said they don’t answer their phones.
Maksiem Bururu has been living in South Africa for five years but has not worked. “My wife and children are living on handouts. Employers are refusing to employ me because my asylum document is never extended for more than three months. I am here to demand that UNHCR confront Home Affairs on our behalf.”
In a statement, the Western Cape Refugee Community vowed to continue the protests until UNHCR changed its treatment of them. They accused the organisation of failing to deal with refugee problems since the 2008 xenophobic violence.
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Letters
Dear Editor
Many asylum seekers and refugees find themselves in no man's land. They left their own countries long ago hoping to naturalized in South Africa. This country takes a long time to either award or reject their request for refugee/ asylum statuses. Some of them are now old but have no permanent residence here in SA. Had the country decided their fate long ago, they could have returned to their countries some years back.
What should they do now? They are in the middle of the jungle as we speak. Home Affairs claims that many of these people's requests are not genuine after so many years. We hope the ConCourt will set matters straight in this regard.
Dear Editor
Asylum seeker need to be processed within 6 months. This means that in a months times, Home Affairs has to make a decision about your stay in South Africa. If you are rejected, then within that 6 months, you have to decide or send the person back.
There are human right lawyers that can assist with appealing this decision but this process often takes 10-17 years to finalise. South African immigration officers and UNHCR workers are not properly trained or have the correct information about refugees and immigration in general.
Government has no plan to inform or educate communities about the presence of foreigners. It would be better if the United Nations withdraw its treaty with South Africa because it isn't working anymore.
Officials are supposed to keep all the asylum seekers by the border first and examine their cases before entering. But officials there receive bribes and let people into the country.
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