How can we address xenophobia in an innovative, relevant way? Abdi, Western Cape head of the Somali Association of South Africa, recognizes that Somali shop-keepers’ entrepreneurial spirit is a ‘way of life’. At the same time, he sees that xenophobic tensions have roots in the South African economy itself. In reaction, Abdi started a Spaza Business Course, in which Somali shop-owners and South African entrepreneurs share business skills, tips and tricks of the trade.
[kc_row use_container=”yes” force=”no” column_align=”middle” video_mute=”no” _id=”804041″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”565746″][kc_column_text _id=”462485″ css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}”]
We hear from Laurence, a prosecutor from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), who has worked as a cleaner, cook and volunteer here in South Africa. Now, with the assistance of the Employment Access Programme, she is rising through the ranks, and reconnecting with her passion.
Fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo
Laurence is a strong woman. In DRC, she was driven to become a prosecutor because women “didn’t have a say in the family and in society.” Laurence explains that it was her goal “to target all men who abuse women”. It was ultimately also this fire and passion that forced her to leave. When Laurence sentenced one particularly powerful man to prison, she began receiving death threats. “In Congo, when someone promises to rape and kill you, you better take that threat seriously. You have to run for your life.” Laurence fled to another city in DRC. There, she was warned that she was still not safe – and so she started her journey to South Africa.
Solidarity with South Africa
Laurence remembers the way Congolese people had helped South Africans during apartheid. “We prayed for South Africa from afar. We could feel the pain of people in South Africa. Growing up, I thought we are one with South African people.” This bond and sense of solidarity with South Africa encouraged her to seek asylum here. The reality of South Africa was, however, rather different to what she had expected.
Faced with a new country and a new language, Laurence found work as a cleaner and then a pizza chef. She worked these jobs for nearly a decade. Deeply frustrated that she could not use her legal skills, Laurence quit her jobs and started to volunteer at a primary school. She has worked her way up and is now vice chairperson of the school board.
Connecting to opportunities
Laurence sought assistance at the Employment Access Programme, which connects documented clients to job opportunities through skill training and professional development.
Here, Laurence’s legal qualifications were submitted to the South Africa Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and, whilst awaiting the outcome, she was connected to opportunities in French-English translation – including at a legal conference hosted by the Bertha Foundation. Finally, Laurence is starting to re-grow connections into the legal world. She sees her experience as a refugee as a key aspect to her upcoming opportunities.
A dream of home
Once the violence has subsided, Laurence hopes to return home to DRC. She’d like to resume her role of prosecutor. For other people in a similar situation, Laurence says: “I understand the pressures of everyday life, but it is important to follow your dreams and not only concentrate on working for money, because sometimes we have to make sacrifices in our life to reach our goals”.
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row _id=”470165″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”915317″][kc_single_image image_size=”full” _id=”304777″ image_source=”media_library” image=”3703″ css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`image-style`:{`text-align|`:`center`}}}}”][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row _id=”149552″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”321096″][kc_video_play video_link=”https://youtu.be/SntvdexZmto” video_mute=”__empty__” video_width=”700″ loop=”yes” control=”yes” related=”__empty__” showinfo=”__empty__” _id=”558249″ source=”youtube” css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`typography`:{`text-align|`:`center`},`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}”][/kc_column][/kc_row]
[kc_row use_container=”yes” force=”no” column_align=”middle” video_mute=”no” _id=”724526″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”765679″][kc_row_inner column_align=”middle” video_mute=”no” _id=”908361″][kc_column_inner width=”50%” _id=”347887″][kc_single_image image_size=”full” _id=”807221″ image_source=”media_library” image=”3224″][/kc_column_inner][kc_column_inner width=”50%” _id=”862256″][kc_column_text _id=”683057″]
How many times have you been asked where you are from? It’s a common question – and it is usually easy to answer. For some of our clients, it is the most difficult question of all.
Watch our new video, made in partnership with B-Yond TV here.
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column_inner][/kc_row_inner][kc_column_text _id=”294813″]
What’s the problem?
The Scalabrini Advocacy Programme works with several cases of individuals who are at risk of statelessness. A stateless person is someone who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law. In other words, they have no nationality at all.
The effect of statelessness on youth is particularly devastating.
What’s the solution?
At Scalabrini, the Advocacy Programme assists individuals to establish their nationality through family tracing and visiting consulates. If it is established that an individual is stateless, there are applications that can be made to the Department of Home Affairs, but oftentimes this requires further legal assistance. Within South African citizenship and immigration law, some aspects speak to statelessness. If the Department of Home Affairs had a greater capacity to respond and process such applications, great headway could be made to address the issue of statelessness sin South Africa. Furthermore, if the South African government became signatories to the two international statelessness conventions, mechanisms could be put in place to deal with stateless persons and ensure their protection. We advocate that the South African government address the issue of statelessness within its borders. Indeed, groups of undocumented people are not conducive to a functioning state. Statelessness is therefore not only a problem for the individuals involved, but an issue the South African state has an interest in resolving.
Want to take action?
Share our video about Raibyah here!
Sign the petition to end statelessness in South Africa here.
If you have any questions pertaining to Scalabrini’s work on statelessness, please email lotte@scalabrini.org.za.
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row]
[kc_row][kc_column][kc_column_text _id=”936100″ css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}”]
Here at Scalabrini, one of our main goals is the peaceful integration between migrants, refugees and citizens. Integration is not only about how hosts treat foreigners; it is about how migrants and refugees integrate themselves in different ways.
This womens month, we asked two women from Zimbabwe their thoughts.
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row use_container=”yes” force=”no” column_align=”middle” video_mute=”no” _id=”380717″][kc_column width=”50%” video_mute=”no” _id=”94853″][kc_single_image image_size=”full” _id=”575304″ image_source=”media_library” image=”3973″][kc_video_play video_link=”https://youtu.be/XQ9KDip4l8A” video_mute=”__empty__” video_width=”700″ loop=”yes” control=”yes” related=”__empty__” showinfo=”__empty__” _id=”548470″ source=”youtube” css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}”][kc_single_image image_size=”full” _id=”160999″ image_source=”media_library” image=”3974″][kc_video_play video_link=”https://youtu.be/Xy3_Czqv_fE” video_mute=”__empty__” video_width=”700″ loop=”yes” control=”yes” related=”__empty__” showinfo=”__empty__” _id=”434572″ source=”youtube”][/kc_column][kc_column width=”50%” video_mute=”no” _id=”82066″][kc_column_text css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`50px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}” _id=”223350″]
Watch Stembile’s story, who sees her Daycare Creche as a central part of her integration within South Africa:
[/kc_column_text][kc_column_text css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`520px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}” _id=”740317″]
Watch Beatrice’s story as she reflects on integration in Cape Town:
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row]
[kc_row use_container=”yes” force=”no” column_align=”middle” video_mute=”no” _id=”603643″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”442869″][kc_column_text _id=”463966″ css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}”]
Did you know that, in international law, it is a child’s right to have a name, a nationality and immediate birth registration? South Africa is signatory to several international conventions that spell this out.* Here in South Africa, these rights are further enshrined in our Constitution, which confirms that all children in South Africa – regardless of nationality – have ‘the right to a name and a nationality from birth.’
The reality for some children, however, is very different. Regulations around birth registration in South Africa mean that children born to parents with expired documents and blocked or lost South African IDs cannot be issued a birth certificate. Watch this video and read this multi-organization press release to learn more.
But what does it actually mean for the child who does not hold a birth certificate? Here are just some of the impacts of being born an undocumented child.
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row _id=”671092″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”8110″][kc_single_image image_size=”full” _id=”302046″ image_source=”media_library” image=”3938″][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row][kc_column][kc_column_text _id=”310159″ css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}”]
1. Accessing services becomes increasingly difficult
Many schools in South Africa require that a learner produce a birth certificate to enroll at school. This seems to be an ever-stricter policy. Undocumented children without birth certificates cannot enroll in school and are denied their right to basic education. Parents with no recourse to documentation are caught in limbo as they are not able to document their child. Access to healthcare becomes increasingly difficult as the child gets older. Once the child becomes eighteen years of age, the child is liable to detention and/or deportation.
2. The child is at risk of statelessness
A stateless person is defined as ‘someone who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law’. In other words, a stateless person has no recognised nationality. An undocumented child is not able to prove who they were born to, or where they were born. They are therefore at risk of statelessness. You can watch a short film on a young man affected by statelessness here.
3. The child does not exist on any state system.
It is in the interests of a state to record how many children are born within its borders. Those without birth certificates are not entered into national population registers. This also means that the child without a birth certificate is more likely to remain undetected in terms of care and protection services. It was even found that some social workers within a South African context can be reluctant to take on cases of undocumented foreign children – which might be in part due to the complex issues around being an undocumented child.
There are many more effects of being an undocumented child. If you want to learn more about the work Scalabrini does around foreign children, you can read more here. Should you require advice on an undocumented child, please contact Scalabrini or visit our Advocacy Team, from 9am – 12pm, Tuesdays – Fridays.
*The international conventions that include a child’s right to a name, nationality and birth registration are: the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 7), the 1966 Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 24) and the 1999 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Article 6).
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row _id=”315585″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”956510″][kc_video_play video_link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJezBncyXU&t=3s” video_mute=”__empty__” video_width=”700″ loop=”yes” control=”yes” related=”__empty__” showinfo=”__empty__” _id=”51387″ source=”youtube” css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`typography`:{`text-align|`:`center`}}}}”][/kc_column][/kc_row]
[kc_row _id=”2642″][kc_column _id=”616470″][kc_column_text _id=”888498″]
Hundreds of children are forced into undocumented lives and denied their basic rights simply due to their parents’ documentation status. The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resources Centre are calling for the South African government to change regulations around birth registration to ensure that a child’s right to birth registration is not contingent on their parents’ documents.
Read more here
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row][kc_row _id=”139120″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”895499″][kc_video_play video_link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGJezBncyXU” video_mute=”__empty__” video_width=”700″ loop=”yes” control=”yes” related=”__empty__” showinfo=”__empty__” _id=”42751″ source=”youtube” css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`typography`:{`text-align|`:`center`}}}}”][/kc_column][/kc_row]
[kc_row use_container=”yes” force=”no” column_align=”middle” video_mute=”no” _id=”213497″][kc_column width=”12/12″ video_mute=”no” _id=”673747″][kc_column_text css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit 10px inherit`}}}}” _id=”146946″]
Hundreds of children are forced into undocumented lives and denied their basic rights due to their parents’ documentation status. The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resources Centre call for the South African government to amend regulations around birth registration to ensure that a child’s right to birth registration is not contingent on their parents’ documents.
The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Legal Resources Centre are releasing a video on this issue to raise awareness and advocate for the amendment of the regulations on birth registration relating to children born to undocumented parents.
[/kc_column_text][kc_video_play video_link=”https://youtu.be/iGJezBncyXU” video_mute=”__empty__” video_width=”700″ loop=”yes” control=”yes” related=”__empty__” showinfo=”__empty__” _id=”971743″ source=”youtube”][kc_column_text css_custom=”{`kc-css`:{`any`:{`box`:{`padding|`:`20px inherit inherit inherit`}}}}” _id=”935024″]
A birth certificate is a vital document. It establishes a child’s identity, nationality and existence in a state. It is required to access services such as education and health. Without a birth certificate, a child does not ‘exist’ in the state’s eyes. This child cannot access school, is at risk of statelessness and is vulnerable to falling under the radar of child protection services. Hundreds of children exist in this shadow-state, due to the restrictive rules around birth registration in South Africa.
Children are being penalised and are denied their constitutional right to birth registration – simply because their parents hold expired documents.
Regulations that govern the application of the Birth and Deaths Registration Act require that a parent wishing to register the birth of their child must hold a valid document in South Africa. Whilst this might seem like a logical requirement of foreigners in South Africa, ensuring valid documentation in South Africa can be complex and, sometimes, impossible. For example, the ongoing closure of the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office has forced asylum seekers into travelling long distances to remain documented. Long queues, denied access and corruption exasperate the difficulties around extending permits.
As a parent with an expired permit, you are not able to register the birth of your child. As Sindisiwe Moyo of Scalabrini explains in the video, this means that ‘the country is sitting with a huge number of children who are not known to exist in South Africa’.
Recent Developments
In early July 2018, the High Court of South Africa, Grahamstown Division, declared the birth registration regulations unconstitutional in that they denied birth certificates to those children whose parents could not fulfil documentation requirements. The case, brought by Lawyers for Human Rights, Legal Resources Centre and the Centre of Child Law, is welcomed by the civil society sector. The judgement echoes the calls of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which officially recommended that South Africa change the regulations around birth registration.
With this video, we are calling on the South African government to urgently repeal and edit the regulations around birth registration in South Africa. Birth registration is a constitutional right of a child and cannot be dependent on their parents’ documentation status.
[/kc_column_text][/kc_column][/kc_row]
World Refugee Day, celebrated on 20 June, is the perfect time to reflect on the future for refugees in South Africa. Watch our new film, Sanctuary Lost, which explores the future plans of the South African government.
Scalabrini has released a new documentary, Sanctuary Lost, which explores the history and future for South Africa’s refugees.
