The Minister of Home Affairs briefed media on changes the White Paper seeks to bring to citizenship, immigration and refugee legislation.has said the public has shown great support for the final White Paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection which appeared in the
“The responses have been overwhelming. Individuals – that is citizens, asylum seekers and refugees – as well as public interest groups, companies, national and local government departments, premiers, research institutes, political parties, International Commission of Jurists, United Nations High Commission of Refugees, International Organisation for Migration, United Nations Children’s Fund and many others made their voices heard and made constructive comments,” Motsoaledi said.
“Public comments on the White Paper reaffirmed the urgent need to adopt effective policy measures and legislative interventions dealing with migration in South Africa.” “There are people who seem to take offence when we refer to this fact, that we actually hate the fact that our Citizenship Act passed in 1995 after democracy resembles that which was passed by 1949 by the British Government when South Africa was a union.”He said these existing legislations clashed in practice and piecemeal amendments were made without any policy or framework in place.
“Asylum seekers were not recognised in South Africa until 1993. During the apartheid regime South Africa did not accede to any international conventions related to the status of refugees and asylum seekers,” Motsoaledi said. “The refugee protection and immigration legislation must provide for reservations and exceptions as contained in the 1951 Convention and 1961 OAU Convention, particularly in that South Africa does not have the resources to grant all the socio-economic rights envisaged in the 1951 Convention.”While the department has no idea how many illegal immigrants are living in South Africa immigration services report between 15 000 and 20 000 illegal immigrants every year, and the number increases.
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