573 asylum seekers screened in 12 months
MBABANE – The Ministry of Home Affairs was able to receive, document and screen 573 asylum seekers in the country.
The projections, according to their annual performance report, are that 191 will be registered in the fourth quarter, which makes the annual total of 764 for this financial year. The report states that this has shown a significant increase on arrivals over the current reporting period.
Also noted is that over this period, the department was able to process a significant number of refugee status permit renewals. This allowed refugees to access services from financial institutions and government departments among others.
These services range from acquisition of documents like personal identity numbers (PINs), identity cards (IDs), convention travel documents (passports) and any other documents that would be needed to create employment or business opportunities to sustain their lives.
Over the reporting period, 351 applications were received by the department and a projection of 117 is expected in the fourth quarter. Also, 345 permits were dispatched over the same period and a projection of 115 for the fourth quarter.
Still on the refugees’ section, the department also dispatched 221 EMCTDS (Eswatini Machine Readable Convention Travel Documents).
These documents allow the refugees to travel anywhere in the world for business, studies, and leisure except their countries of origin as the principle is that it may either be unable or unwilling to provide them with protection hence the need for seeking international protection.
The report highlighted that 404 applications were received for this document, with 135 expected to be received during the fourth quarter thus totalling
539 annually. It is expected that 74 of these documents will be dispatched during the fourth quarter to add up to 295.
The total refugee population in Eswatini that has been electronically registered for both refugees and asylum seekers currently stands at 3035.
“It is worth mentioning that there is a sharp increase of applications as compared to previous years especially from Ethiopia and Eritrea. This may be attributed to the recent conflict that erupted in the Tigray Region in Ethiopia,” reads the report in part.
The asylum seekers and refugees come from Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ivory Coast, Congo, Egypt and Eritrea. Others are from Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Syria Arab Republic and Uganda. The rest are from Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.