Cabinet approves plan to overhaul immigration laws
Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the cabinet has approved a white paper overhauling the country’s immigration laws after “robust engagements” that resulted in “wide support” of the document’s policy positions.
The “white paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection: towards a complete overhaul of the migration system in SA” was published in the Government Gazette for public comment in November 2023.
It proposed a complete overhaul of the Citizenship Act, the Refugees Act and the Immigration Act, and called on the government to introduce single legislation to address the new challenges facing the country.
At a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday, Motsoaledi said the cabinet approved the document on April 10 and it was published in the Government Gazette on Wednesday.
“I intend to introduce [a] complementary and integrated bill in parliament [based on the final white paper] without any further delay,” he said.
The document proposes the government review the international treaty on refugee protection, saying it is a “mistake” not to have curtailed socioeconomic rights — known legally as reservations — extended to asylum seekers.
It also calls for SA to review or withdraw from the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol with a view to accede to them with reservations, as have other countries.
The department said the government had erred in not having limitations on socioeconomic rights that would be enjoyed by refugees when it signed up to the refugee convention.
RESPONSES
Motsoaledi said the white paper received overwhelming responses from individuals, political parties, premieres, research institutes, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Unicef.
“Only a handful of public interest groups are opposed to selected policy positions, such as withdrawal from the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1967 Protocol and re-acceding with reservations, proposed repeal of section 4(3) of the SA Citizenship Act, including rights of children and the first safe country principle,” he said.
The 1951 convention was initially drafted to meet the needs of refugees displaced by World War 2. It was supplemented by the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, which did away with geographical limitations of the refugee convention, making it applicable to refugees across the world. Nearly 150 countries have agreed to be bound by the provisions.
The final white paper said it was a “serious mistake on the part of government” that SA did not make any reservations in respect of the 1951 convention and 1967 Protocol.
The white paper noted most of the reservations deal with socioeconomic rights, which most of the countries in Africa have said “cannot be extended to asylum seekers and refugees. The reason being that those countries simply do not have resources to do so. SA is in no different a position”.
It noted that asylum seekers and refugees enjoy rights and privileges such as social grants, basic healthcare services, record of birth, travel documents and equality before the law.
By December 2023, SA had 113,007 refugees, 81,086 active asylum seekers, and 824,404 inactive asylum seekers, according to the final white paper. Inactive asylum seekers refers to those who were issued with asylum permits and are now untraceable.
“They have not renewed their permits and the department has no idea as to their whereabouts,” the document reads.
Regarding refugees, the document calls on the government to review and/or withdraw from the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol with a view to “accede to them with reservations like other countries”.
“The procedure involves depositing the reservations with the UN secretary-general and complying with other domestic requirements. It must be emphasised that the contemplated withdrawal (with a view to re-acceding with reservations) does not negate SA’s commitment to human rights,” the final white paper states.
However, some public interest groups, including the UNHCR, the IOM and Unicef are opposed to the government’s withdrawal from the 1951 convention and its 1967 Protocol.
“The thrust of the objection is that SA will still be bound by other international instruments and its constitution,” the document reads. “It is suggested countries such as Zambia and Mozambique have acceded to the 1951 convention and its protocol with reservations but they do grant socioeconomic rights to asylum seekers and refugees.”
The home affairs department said the argument was “missing the point” because the objectives of reservations were not necessarily to curtail the rights of asylum seekers and refugees but rather for countries to observe the 1951 convention and 1967 Protocol within their “limited resources and capabilities”.
The white paper said that in countries where the political situation had improved and fear of persecution no longer existed, the department should, in collaboration with UNHCR and ambassadors concerned, “repatriate refugees to their countries of origin”.
The paper notes that SA cannot afford to grant citizenship to all migrants who might arrive “to access benefits, rights and privileges that go with it”.
The criteria for granting citizenship needed to be tightened as the present system “opens the door for foreign nationals and refugees to obtain citizenship at some stage”.