The African Observatory for Migration and Development: for the benefit of whom?
During the 28th summit of the African Union (AU), as soon as Morocco returned to the AU after thirty years of absence, the country’s sovereign, King Mohammed VI, was appointed Africa’s leader for migration. Part of this decision was based on the positive development of the 2013 Moroccan policy on national immigration and asylum which aimed at regularizing the situation of many migrants and which benefited 25,000 migrants in 2014 alone. The King started working towards an African Agenda on...
Migration-Security Nexus vs Migration-Development nexus. Is decolonization of migration a third way?
The shift towards the securitization of migration is complete and this is not a news. However, so far, the debate around security and migration has involved countries in the Global North, while on the African continent discussions have privileged the migration for development paradigm and its agenda. Nonetheless, the security paradigm is gaining consensus amongst African states, some of which receive financial aid from the European Union to stop irregular migration. Countries such as Niger, Ethiopia and Sudan have put in place interventions aiming...
Caught in a Catch-22: Child Migrants in South Africa – Are short-term plans and implementation gaps putting foreign children at risk?
In 2004, a court case brought by the Centre for Child Law reflected the severe challenges and restrictions that children face in the South African migration landscape. Responding to the detention of over 100 children at Lindela, including some who were illegally held with adults, the Pretoria High Court ruled that such detention of minors was unlawful and a shameful transgression against the children’s rights and interests. In spite of this, approximately 50 children have been discovered at Lindela since...
Spazas, Foreigners, and Crime – It’s More Complicated than That
In May 2008, the world watched in shock as xenophobic violence raged across South Africa. Nationals violently attacked foreign nationals, displacing tens of thousands of migrants and brutally killing over 60. Migrants’ properties and businesses were destroyed in great numbers, with over 550 foreign-owned shops looted or burned to the ground. This storm of attacks ushered in a decade of rising awareness of xenophobic violence among South Africans, and it has become widely assumed that this violence and accompanying xenophobic...
Voluntary repatriation as a durable solution or reshape the notions of return?
Angola is just a picture in my mind Voluntary repatriation can be accompanied by a whole range of practical, identity and post-conflict related problems. Sergio Carciotto, the associate director of the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) , gives us insight into the process of voluntary repatriation in South Africa after Angolan refugees had their refugee status ceased in 2013. This came to be known as the ‘Angolan Cessation’. The findings of his article, “Angolan...
The Cape Town RRO in Comparative Perspective: Accessing Rights and Cities
So far, the Cape Town Refugee Reception Office (RRO) has failed to comply with final court orders to accept all new asylum applicants by the end of March 2018 and in response, civil society organizations have staged public protests to put pressure on the Department of Home Affairs to fully open the office. This incident around the RRO in Cape Town is only the most recent example of restricting access to asylum in South African...