Thank you, hon Deputy Speaker. Indeed, there is a long-standing principle of first safe country of asylum in international law in terms of which countries are expected to take refugees fleeing from persecution in their neighbouring states. South Africa, until now, has not been applying these principles strictly.
In line with South Africa's obligation resulting from its ratification of the Geneva Convention, the Department of Home Affairs has initiated a process of overhauling the asylumseeker management process, which seeks to address challenges relating to the management of asylum seekers in a holistic manner.
The overhaul of South Africa's asylum-seeker management process will result in revised standard operation procedures which will outline the processes for the implementation of the above. The department is in the process of consultations and discussions with the stakeholders after which we will be in position to take a decision as soon as the consultation process is finalised.
The other area, that is the definition of a refugee, has not really been strictly adhered to in South Africa. The definition of a refugee is the legal basis for the protection of refugees. Internationally, the definition is contained in the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, as amended by the 1967 Protocol. A refugee is defined as a person who:
... owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.
We can see that a lot of people who have been given refugee status do not fit this definition. That is why we are going to overhaul the system in its entirety so that we can really adhere to the international definitions and international procedures. Thank you.