UNHCR engaging with asylum seekers in Woodstock

Lusanda Bill
26 February 2013

South Africa has continued to be the highest recipient of the annual number of asylum applications worldwide. 

Asylum seekers in the country are mostly from Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia and Zimbabwe. 

United Nations Refugee Agency’s mandate is to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.

Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.

For eight days about 2,000 refugees have lined up outside Community House in Woodstock, in the hope of being assisted by the United Nations Refugee Agency. 

The UNHCR meet with community leaders and presented them with tokens which they would distribute to families who have been affected by xenophobic attacks in the country and are asylum seekers.  

UNHCR Alphonse Munyaneza said they were targeting about 1,000 to 2,000 families to be interviewed, but they did not expect the kind of influx of people they saw. 

Munyaneza said they have been embarking on a countrywide project to sample information about refugees in the country. He added that the information would then be distributed to government and stakeholders. 

There were allegations made that some community leaders were selling the tokens to families and promising them a green card if they went to the community house.  UNHCR Alphonse Munyaneza said they were aware of this and he wanted to make it clear that the UNHCR will never give people green cards to live somewhere else. 

 

Munyaneza said it was up to the community to demote corrupt community leaders.

Woodstock Police’s Gert Khan they have been minor incidents with no arrests.