Police the borders, let the children be

Immigration lawyers and constitutional law experts are wondering what is really behind proposed amendments to the country’s immigration law, which could take away the South African birthright of children born here to foreigners. The draft proposals to regulations in the Births and Deaths Act stipulates that children born in this country to foreign parents will, in future, get a “confirmation of birth” certificate, instead of a birth certificate. There is a bigger difference between these two documents than would at first appear.

A birth certificate entitles anyone born in this country to South African citizenship, whereas the confirmation of birth certificate will effectively remove that right.

Any children born to foreign parents – even those in the country legally – run the risk of being left in a nationality limbo and would possibly face a difficult time in applying for school admission or medical aid, processes which require the production of a birth certificate.

The draft proposals could still be struck down by the Constitutional Court … but they are an indication of the government’s aimless attempts to deal with the reality of illegal migrants.

Better policing at borders and scrutiny of existing documents is a better way of doing this than taking away the rights of children.