South Africa plans to withdraw from UN conventions so it can restrict immigration and send refugees back to countries not deemed dangerous

South Africa plans to withdraw from the UN conventions so the government can restrict immigration and return refugees to countries not considered dangerous.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has announced plans to tighten the country’s asylum and immigration laws as part of his bid to ‘overhaul’ South Africa’s migration system.

One of the most important proposals, included in the government statement ‘White paper’is that the South African government is temporarily withdrawing from the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.

This would allow South Africa to opt out of certain clauses restricting immigration and not granting socio-economic rights to migrants, as enshrined in the 1951 Motsoaledi Convention. said.

It comes as the British government suggested it could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to allow it to implement its plan to send migrants to Rwanda on deportation flights.

The suggestion came after Britain’s Supreme Court unanimously concluded that the plan to immediately deport arrivals would be against the law. It is a crushing blow to the government, which has already allocated £140 million to Rwanda.

Under Motsoaledi’s proposals, South Africa would rejoin the UN conventions after restricting refugees’ rights to work, education and citizenship.

New laws would also allow South Africa to return refugees to countries not considered dangerous.

The government would also establish a border management authority primarily to “reduce the risk of foreigners entering the country illegally,” Motsoaledi said, pointing to how immigration officials deport 20,000 illegal migrants every year at “enormous costs.”

Motsoaledi said the ruling African National Congress (ANC) had made a “serious mistake” when it signed international agreements without seeking exceptions to certain clauses. Other countries had chosen not to give refugees the same rights as citizens.

The minister said current liberal laws, which saw the ANC open South Africa’s borders to migrants and asylum seekers at the end of apartheid rule in 1994, are now outdated and need a “radical overhaul”.

Motsoaledi is now pushing for people seeking asylum in South Africa to remain in the first safe country they enter – a proposal that will largely affect people from other African countries.

The national statistics office said last month that there were more than 2.4 million migrants in South Africa last year, with the highest percentage coming from neighboring Zimbabwe at 45.5 percent, followed by Mozambique and Lesotho.

“Migration between countries is largely driven by the search for economic opportunity, political instability and, increasingly, environmental hazards,” Statistics South Africa said.

Motsoaledi said countries’ outdated immigration laws need a massive overhaul as they target vulnerable groups.

He said in the White Paper: ‘The policy and legislative gaps within the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) have created fertile ground for violent clashes between foreigners and citizens, including the rise of warring groups, siding (for) or against the current migration system.’

The proposals come as South Africa is set to hold its national elections next year, amid high levels of illegal migration and an official unemployment rate of 33 percent.

Analysts say the official unemployment rate doesn’t even take into account those who have given up finding work and dropped out of the labor market, and that a more accurate estimate would be that almost 42 percent of South Africa’s working-age population is unemployed.

A United Nations report on unemployment in South Africa presented to Vice President Paul Mashatile last month described the situation as a “ticking time bomb”.

“We have to ask ourselves why this was allowed to happen,” Frye said.

The UN specifically referred to a week in 2021 when more than 350 people were killed in rioting and looting in South Africa, the worst violence since the final days of apartheid.

Migrants and asylum seekers are seen as controlling the local economy and taking the jobs of locals, fueling hostility towards the foreigners, experts say.

Casual workers display posters advertising their skills at an intersection in Kempton Park, near Johannesburg, South Africa, in October 2020

Paddy Harper, a journalist at the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian, told the BBC: ‘Immigrants – especially Somalis and Bangladeshis – are seen as controlling the economy of townships and are accused of taking the jobs of locals. It has led to attacks on migrants and the rise of anti-migrant groups, such as Operation Dudula.”

Harper said Motsoaledi would have had this growing anger – and the upcoming election – in mind when he unveiled his anti-immigration proposals.

‘Some opposition parties are likely to make migration an important campaign issue. The ANC fears losing support and wants something to be done about it,” he said.

Critics of the government say it is only using immigration to compensate for its own failures. They also say the anti-immigration rhetoric risks further fueling hostilities.

Stephen Friedman, a political analyst, said migrants in South Africa were “scapegoats.”

He told South Africa’s Financial Mail: ‘It is not true that the law just welcomes everyone.

“The government simply does not recognize that the vast majority of foreigners in South Africa have skills, work hard and contribute to society.”

Meanwhile, the British government has suggested it could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to allow it to carry out its plan to send migrants to Rwanda on deportation flights.

It came after the UK Supreme Court unanimously concluded that the plan to immediately deport arrivals would be contrary to the law. It is a crushing blow to the government, which has already allocated £140 million to Rwanda.