Chairperson, hon members, following the pronouncement that we made last year, we present the Refugee Amendment Bill today for consideration by this House.
We took the decision as part of the work that is being done through the Turnaround Project that, in order to transform and streamline the process for status determination, certain legislation changes will have to be enacted.
The status determination process for persons claiming asylum in South Africa still remains a complex, tedious and contentious issue, both for asylum seekers and for the department itself. This created enormous inconvenience for asylum seekers, as their status remained uncertain for long periods and thus negatively impacted on their socioeconomic livelihoods. As a result of this, many asylum seekers have fallen victim to abuse by corrupt officials and uncaring and abusive employers.
Lack of understanding of the intricacies of the management of international migration within our communities has the potential to turn this issue into an emotive one, as we have seen with the recent spate of xenophobic attacks. Thus the current streamlining process is aimed at improving our system in terms of operational management, quality of determinations, case management, standardised procedures, organisation and technology.
This amendment Bill before you, therefore, is aimed at supporting these initiatives and ensuring that the new systems are in line with the law. It should therefore not be confused with the process for a review of the immigration policy that we referred to during our Budget Vote debate recently. Inevitably, the refugee laws will also be subject to vigorous scrutiny and changes as part of the overall policy review.
The basis for our refugee laws remains the United Nations, OAU and other related international instruments. We are certain that the amendments that we are presenting before you will enhance our capacity and ability to meet our obligations with regard to protection in line with these conventions.
In recent years South Africa has seen an ever-increasing number of asylum applications. The department has faced criticism for the slow pace of status determination, largely due to the systematic weaknesses we have referred to. We also continue to face the difficulty of mixed flows of migrants that create serious problems in our management of migration. These flows include refugees, as well as those who fall into the category of economic migrants who seek employment and to conduct informal trade.
Most of these migrants, however, enter the country irregularly and should they realise the need to regularise their status, they then seek asylum. This has resulted in the clogging up of the asylum system, creating huge backlogs that have made it difficult for us to process genuine cases on time.
We have therefore decided in this amendment to rationalise the number of administrative and appeal entities currently stretching the bureaucracy involved in status determination. The Bill seeks to establish a single Refugee Appeals Authority and provides for greater efficiency and flexibility. Unnecessary overlaps between the functions of the various entities will also be addressed.
During the discussions of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, we have also recognised the need for a fast-tracking provision to expedite longstanding cases. This was also made necessary by our experiences in dealing with the recent Refugee Backlog Project.
Chairperson, I hereby present the Refugee Amendment Bill for consideration by this House. Thank you very much. [Applause.]