Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in the Rainbow Nation of South Africa

Mr. X walked into the interview room carefully, yet eagerly. He was a young man with an aged face. He seemed impatient to begin telling his story, to be listened to, but exceedingly aware that this may be his only opportunity to do so.

By the second month of my internship at the UNHCR in Pretoria, South Africa, this became a familiar scene. I interviewed dozens of refugees and asylum-seekers in order to determine their protection needs and recommend follow-up actions. These interviews involved a delicate balance between compassion and critical analysis, as the tragedies and traumas of refugees and asylum-seekers have to fit into the grounds set out in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention). Nevertheless, linking some of the world’s most vulnerable individuals to the protection of this international human rights mechanism fueled my determination, even as I learned about the enormous hurdles that continue to hinder the effective implementation of the UNHCR mandate in South Africa.

South Africa is one of the major destination countries for African refugees, with many fleeing from Ethiopia, Somalia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over the past decade, the South African asylum system has become increasingly overwhelmed, with approximately 463,940 asylum-seekers and 112,192 refugees in the country as of December 2014. South Africa is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. These Conventions are implemented by way of the South African 1998 Refugees Act, which incorporates the basic principles of refugee protection, including freedom of movement, the right to work, and access to basic social services.

Despite both international and domestic legislative guarantees, however, refugees and asylum-seekers in South Africa often face extreme hardships. The social fabric of South Africa is tremendously fragile. Racial tensions remain high, the unemployment rate is 25%, poverty and corruption are widespread, and violent crime is common. The celebration of the diverse “rainbow nation” has been strongly challenged by the practical realities that flow from sustained economic inequality.

In this context, foreign nationals, and especially refugees and asylum-seekers, are an easy scapegoat. There is a misguided perception that foreign nationals —specifically, foreign nationals from other African countries—are undermining businesses owned by South Africans and contributing to the high crime rate. This has resulted in pervasive discrimination. The refugees and asylum-seekers that I interviewed often reported being unable to access employment, housing, adequate police protection and even health care services. Beginning in April 2015, yet another wave of violent xenophobic attacks spread throughout the country, especially in Johannesburg and Durban.

Many of the refugees and asylum-seekers that I interviewed reported being threatened, robbed, and assaulted. Many had their shops and homes looted. Several individuals reported that members of their family and communities had been brutally murdered and many barely escaped with their lives. Thousands of people who fled their countries of origin in search of a safe haven have been internally displaced in South Africa and re-traumatized.

The South African government’s reaction to these events has been widely criticized as woefully inadequate. Many authority figures have treated these persistent xenophobic attacks as unexceptional and isolated criminal incidents, insisting that South Africans are not xenophobic. Nevertheless, civil society organizations and thousands of South Africans have rallied against the violence, both on the streets and through social media. For its part, the UNHCR plays a unique role in delicately mediating between its beneficiaries, civil society organizations, and government efforts, while also promoting international law principles and standards.