UNHCR says its efforts to assist about 500 foreign nationals who face eviction in Cape Town are troublesome

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 The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says its efforts to assist about 500 foreign nationals who face eviction in Cape Town have been futile.

The occupants were relocated to Wingfield in Maitland and Paint City in Bellville after being evicted from Green Market Square in the city's CBD during the COVID-19 pandemic. 360 of the group have been documented as a mix of asylum seekers and refugees from the DRC and Burundi, while the rest remain undocumented.

Officers from the sheriff of the court handed eviction notices to the foreign nationals yesterday for them to appear in court next month.

UNHCR spokesperson Jan De Bisschop said the foreign nationals had been offered assistance to return to their countries and to reintegrate within South Africa but they declined those offers. De Bisschop said the occupants insisted on being resettled in Canada. "Resettlement is something which highly exceptional. It's absolutely for the most vulnerable people, refugees around. It's medical cases, and it's done on an individual basis, so we do not resettle a group."

De Bisschop said that only 0.6% of refugees internationally get resettled every year.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido