New asylum regulations anger refugees

Asylum seekers not in possession of permits issued under a new refugee act will be treated as illegal immigrants from next month, the South African government announced last Thursday. In a joint communiqué with UNHCR, South Africa's department of home affairs said decisions would be made by the end of April on the thousands of asylum seekers in the country. Those successful would receive a new refugee identity card, unsuccessful applicants would be treated as illegal aliens, the communiqué added. "We're not confident home affairs has the resources to implement this in a few short weeks," Yussuf Abbas of the Somali Association of South Africa told IRIN on Monday. "Our experience is that home affairs works very slowly, now we're told if we don't have the right paper by May we'll be deported." Others working with refugees in South Africa believe the new regulations will create mayhem. "There's no way they can process all these people by May," Nobuntu Mbelle of the South African Human Rights Committee told IRIN, "then it'll be open season, the police will arrest everybody without the new document to bump up their crime figures." Under the Refugees Act of 1998, when someone claims asylum in South Africa, they remain an asylum seeker until their status as a refugee is confirmed or denied. But by 1 April 2000, when the Act came into effect, more than 27,000 applications for asylum had not been processed. It's taken a team of forty lawyers working in conjunction with UNHCR and Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), six months to clear the backlog. Home affairs said 18,000 applications had now been finalised, while 9,000 constituted cancelled applications. But asylum seekers complain that attempts to deal with the backlog has led to hasty judgements. "How can informed decisions be made about applicants when they rushed through them in this way?" an Ethiopian refugee told IRIN. Even though the government says its working under an expanded definition of who qualifies for refugee status, many asylum seekers expect bad news when they present themselves to home affairs in the next three weeks."I applied to be a refugee three years ago, I've got a wife and a life here now," Abdou, a Senegalese asylum seeker told IRIN, "they'll probably turn me down because I have no proof of persecution and I'll have to leave," he added. UNHCR Country Representative Bemma Donkoh said the implementation of the Act was a good thing for refugees. "For the first time in South Africa we have a clarification of the status of refugees," she said. Donkoh pointed out that under the Act, refugees would be able to study, work, open bank accounts and enjoy the protection of the law. "And there's a proper appeals procedure, its simply not the case that those who are turned down will be deported," she added. In a country reportedly renowned for its xenophobia, other refugees are unhappy with the new documents they are to be issued with. "Officially they want to integrate us, but now we're getting a red refugee book in contrast to the green South African identity document," Dosso Ndessomin, a refugee from Côte d'Ivoire told IRIN. "When we show those red books, our chances of getting work or finance are slim," he added. "They want to label us as different."