Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon Deputy Ministers and hon members, being part of the global village and enjoying a relatively stable democracy and economy, South Africa is not unaffected by people's movement. This movement has in the main been, and continues to be, from poorer countries into developing areas and into what are perceived to be rich countries. Among the people migrating are those who are refugees and asylumseekers running away from conflicts and persecution.
The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees a person who has fled his or her country of origin the right to be recognised as a refugee in any United Nations, UN, member state, South Africa not excluded. The African Charter of Human and People's Rights provides for the same. Pursuant to the aforegoing obligations, our Constitution guarantees refugees enjoyment of all human rights, with the exception of the right to vote.
According to the principal Act, and not changed by the Bill, a person qualifies for refugee status if he or she -
owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted by reason of his or her race, tribe, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country, or, ... owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it ... According to the 1969 Organisation of African Unity, OAU, Convention, a refugee can also be a person who has left his home -
owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part or the whole of his country of origin or nationality ...
Chairperson, the main objectives of the amending Bill are: to improve the capacity, effectiveness and efficiency of the status determination system; to seek to correct the technical error contained in the Refugees Amendment Act, Act 33 of 2008; to make provision for the establishment of the Status Determination Committee which introduces a collective approach to decision- making; to further make provision for the establishment of the Refugee Appeals Authority; to make provision for the registration of a child born of an asylum seeker in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, Act 51 of 1992; and to provide that any asylumseeker or refugee must, after registration of a child born in the Republic, submit the certificate issued in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act at any refugee reception office, in order to have the said child included as a dependant of such an asylum-seeker or refugee.
The function that was vested in the director-general to certify that a person will remain a refugee indefinitely now vests with the Minister. The function to withdraw the refugee status is with the Minister. Every Appeals Authority has to comply with public policy ensuring justice, fairness and reasonableness. The principles ensure the protection of inherent human dignity and equality. In order for every appellant to enjoy the right to a fair hearing and unprejudiced adjudication, the composition of the Appeals Authority is to have a form suitable for purpose. It is reasonable, therefore, to limit the risk of any factor that could diminish the justice, fairness and reasonableness of the decision.
In some Western countries there has been a notable tendency for political parties to use refugee issues as rallying points in their campaigns. Needless to say, some of these parties have exploited repressed conservative and xenophobic feelings, resulting in the tacit, and at times express, undermining of the obligation that countries have to asylum seekers.
Political affiliation has the potential to affect the quality of decisions of the Refugee Appeals Authority by the extent to which it differs according to the amount of political power a member holds. Therefore, clause 4 of the Refugees Amendment Bill lessens the burden imposed by section 8(e) of the Refugees Amendment Act, Act 33 of 2008. Whereas the Refugees Amendment Act provides for a total exclusion of persons from membership of the Refugee Appeals Authority, the Bill qualifies the condition of exclusion.
We deem it reasonable, and we would like to commend the House for its support, that those political office bearers who hold a position in the national executive structure of any political party be excluded from membership of the Refugee Appeals Authority.
Our concept of an asylumseeker, as per our jurisdiction, is anyone who has fled his or her country of origin and seeks recognition as a refugee in the Republic of South Africa, and whose application is still under consideration, whereas a refugee is one who holds and enjoys asylum status. This material difference is most significant when we recognise the abiding fact that seeking asylum does not guarantee its granting. However, section 28(2) of the Constitution states:
A child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.
Section 36 limits the rights in the Bill of Rights, including the right to a nationality and citizenship; however, it does so when it is reasonable and justifiable to do so. It is, in our view, in the interests of an asylum seeker's child to be duly registered as such. Registration will facilitate access to appropriate state support wherever possible and according to statutory regulations thereto.
We therefore solicit your support, hon members, in extending section 21B to provide for the registration of a child born of an asylum seeker within one month of its birth in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, Act 51 of 1992. The parents of such a child have an obligation to submit the certificate issued in terms of the Act to any refugee reception officer so that such a child is duly included as a dependant of such an asylum-seeker or refugee.
It is not unreasonable to expect an adult person to have dependants; however, it would be unrealistic not to limit registration of dependants to a defined category. Even those who seek asylum are not immune to economic pressure that could lead them to bring strangers into the country under the guise of dependency. In order to establish the bona fides of any refugee or asylumseeker's intention, it is only fair that it be assumed that one's knowledge of one's own dependants precedes one's application for asylum. In other words, when a person decides to apply for asylum, that person should reasonably be deemed to possess adequate knowledge of who his or her dependants are.
In this regard the definition for dependants covers an unmarried child or destitute, aged or infirm member of the immediate family of an asylumseeker or refugee who is financially dependent on him or her. However, it would be unfair for children that arrive after the principal applicant has been in the country not to have been declared in the eligibility form when the principal applicant applied for asylum.
May I remind hon members that section 2 of the Constitution states:
This Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic;...
Ke a leboha Modulasetulo. [Thank you, Chairperson.] [Time expired.] [Applause.]