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Life-changing Court Order for refugees’ spouses and children handed down, day before World Refugee Day

Source: SA Migration, 01/06/2019

The Order, confirmed by the court following successful negotiations
between the Department of Home Affairs and civil society, pertains to
children and spouses of asylum seekers and refugees living in South
Africa.
Wives, husbands, children and other dependents of asylum-seekers and
refugees are able to document themselves in South Africa as
‘dependents’ of the principle asylum applicant in a process commonly
known as ‘family-joining’. This aspect of the Refugee Act �` outlined
at section 3(c) �` means that refugee families can be documented
together, ensuring their rights to family unity and dignity in South
Africa. As refugees cannot return to their country due to conflict or
persecution, maintaining a family unit that is documented together is
an important part of building stability and ensuring proper refugee
protection in South Africa.
However, many applicants had experienced barriers when trying to join
family members in this way. Wives, husbands, children, and other
dependents of asylum applicants and refugees have been left with no
way to document themselves in South Africa. They have been forced into
an undocumented state, placing them in a position that is vulnerable
to exploitation, detention and arrest.
In reaction to this, civil society organisations Scalabrini Centre of
Cape Town represented by the Refugee Rights Unit at UCT, and Advocate
Suzanna Harvey, took the matter to court in 2016.
The order confirms a set of Standard Operating Procedures which have
been agreed on between DHA and the applicants. As such, dependents are
now able to apply to be documented as either through family joining or
in om their own grounds, upon provision of certain documents, where
possible, such as a marriage certificate or birth certificate �`
regardless of where the marriage or birth took place. Affidavits are
to be submitted in the absence of such documents. This family joining
is to be completed regardless of whether the dependents were included
in the applicant’s original asylum application or not. Should there be
“serious doubts` about the validity of a parents’ claim over their
child, DHA can request a DNA test, which will then be assessed and
possibly funded by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR).
Administrative nuances aside, the ultimate success of this case is
that asylum-seeking and refugee families can now fulfil their right to
access documentation in South Africa. With documentation, these
families no longer need to fear arrest and detention, can work
legally, and can enrol their children in school without administrative
barriers

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