| |
|
|
| |
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR
NEWSLETTER |
|
|
| |
STAFF |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Refugee Status Determination System
|
Knowledge interchange between the Refugee Appeal Board at the Department of Home Affairs, South Africa and the Immigration Department, Canada on the Refugee Status Determination System
Until just over a decade ago, South Africa was regarded as a refugee producing country. During the apartheid years, thousands of South Africans sought refuge in neighbouring countries or abroad. Today the political landscape has changed and South Africa is now a destination sought after by refugees. It's estimated that at least 1,000 people seeking asylum cross into South Africa each day, predominantly from Zimbabwe and other African states.
There are currently several thousand applications for asylum waiting to be processed by the Department of Home Affairs. It is an overwhelming task and the number of pending cases is mind numbing. The xenophobic attacks in South Africa during 2008 and again in 2009 serve to highlight the pressure South African communities are subjected to due to urgent and competing domestic priorities.
In 1998, Ahmed Arbee was tasked with setting up and chairing the first Refugee Appeal Board (RAB), an independent body established in terms of section 12(1) of the Refugees Act 1998.
The purpose of the Board is to consider all the appeals lodged against the decisions of Refugee Status Determination Officers. This is no small feat given that there are currently only four members of the Appeal Board and the number of appeals continues to increase. The Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs (SCRA) reviews the decisions of the Refugee Status Determination Officers with specific reference to unfounded, abusive and fraudulent claims.
"South Africa is a signatory to the Geneva Convention which emphasises a humane approach to the victims of persecution," explains Ahmed. "As such, we undertake to treat asylum seekers fairly and with compassion.
Since 9/11 the United States and Europe have tightened their immigration control enormously, as has Australia. Though people leave their countries for fear of persecution and, while they have the right to ask for asylum in another country, South Africa is facing the brunt of reactionary policies. The crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in a huge influx of people and there's very little international burden sharing both within Africa and internationally."
"One of our aims is to promote an understanding of refugee law and to harmonize practices and status determination standards both in South Africa and Africa. To further these goals, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded a visit of representatives of the Africa Chapter of the International Association of Refugee Law, Judges, the High Court, the Refugee Appeal Board and the Department of Home Affairs to Canada. The purpose of our visit to Canada was to gather more information about their status determination standards and to learn how to implement effective administrative procedures. The Canadian system is very impressive, well resourced and with an exceptional country-of-origin database.
"Fortunately for us," Ahmed continues, "we have established a partnership that will enable us to tap into their country-of-origin information. We also had the opportunity to witness oral hearings, including ways of determining the credibility of asylum seekers. This is a particularly difficult task, especially when dealing with women and unaccompanied minors.
"In order to determine whether somebody's claim is genuine or not you need to extract as much information as possible. But, in terms of the spirit of the Geneva Convention, the process is designed to be inquisitorial rather than adversarial and this takes time – something which we do not have given the number of cases we need to handle every day.
Dr. Florencia Belvedere, Johannesburg Refugee Reception Centre Manager, was part of the delegation that visited Canada. She came back energised and with better ideas on how to improve the local system.
"Administrative justice is very important," asserts Dr. Belvedere, "and, while our circumstances are different, it was eye-opening to see the excellent work done by the Canadians. The time taken for each hearing was impressive and due process is followed every step of the way. For instance, where we might try to fit five cases into three hours; we sat through a relatively straightforward hearing which took a minimum of two hours. What's more, the information gathered about the person's country of origin is very in-depth and this cuts to the heart of the matter and allows adjudicators to determine whether or not the claim is legitimate.
"There are some very practical measures we can learn from the Canadian example." For instance, anybody who wants to apply for asylum is freely given the application forms to take away, fill them in and then submit them within 60 days. However, in South Africa, we give clients the forms to fill in onsite, and this takes an enormous amount of time and clogs the system. It also does not allow clients to submit additional information. Adopting a new approach to the filling in of applications forms can help streamline the system and get things moving."
What stood out, though, for both Ahmed and Florencia, was the level of customer service. This is something both are striving for.
"We need to aim for qualitative decision making in the Department of Home Affairs to reduce pressure on the Appeal Board," Ahmed explains. "Case law needs to be applied more uniformly and we need to promote professional development on an ongoing basis."
To this end, our Canadian counterparts are coming to South Africa in March 2010, where we will run in-house training for officials of the Department of Home Affairs. It will also be helpful to the Canadians to see what our circumstances are and together we can tailor make an effective system for South Africa in which we streamline our processes."
|
|
|
| Copyright © 2010 Canadian Cooperation Office - South Africa I All Rights Reserved I Designed by ToolboxStudio |
|
