New York Declaration for Refugees, Migrants welcomed

Source: SA Migration, 08/10/2016

Pretoria – South Africa has welcomed the adoption of the New York
Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and applauded the commitment by
states to protect the human rights of all refugees and migrants
regardless of status.

"We are convinced that this Declaration marks a turning point in our
history as nations in dealing with persons on the move," said Home
Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba, on Monday.

Addressing the 67th Session of the Executive Committee of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in Geneva, Minister
Gigaba told delegates that South Africa commits herself meaningfully
to contribute to the development of the framework and other
commitments related to safe, orderly and regular migration.

"In line with the New York Declaration, South Africa has the greatest
pleasure to announce that as early as 2005 we met the call to support
early childhood education for refugee children…promote tertiary
education, skills training and vocational education.

"We do this knowing very well that young people have the capacity to
make considerable contributions to their communities and as future
leaders, they must be empowered with skills and knowledge, as well as
al-round competencies, to prepare them for their future role as the
leadership of our societies and future," he said.

The Minister told delegates that in South Africa, asylum seekers and
refugees are accorded these rights immediately on applying for asylum.

"In turn, this serves as a contribution to the development of their
countries of origin so that when they return home, or in any other way
they pursue their future, they can contribute in the reconstruction of
their countries.

"South Africa supports all efforts, in particularly regional and
continental programmes that address developmental challenges," he said.

He said states must heed the call to maintain high level of ambition
to ensure collective efforts to save lives, protect rights and share
responsibility on a global scale.

"We wish to reiterate the appeal to all nations to ensure that we
spare no effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate the forcible
movement of people both within and between nation-states.

"We must make every effort to ensure that we treat all peoples equally
and regard every forcible movement of people as equally urgent," the
Minister said.

Minister Gigaba said whilst poverty and underdevelopment are widely
regarded as key drivers of the displacement of people and in turn lead
to armed conflict and instability, cross border destabilisation of
countries must not be neglected, as people tend to follow development
and stability stolen from their countries by migrating to the
countries or regions they view as culprits.

"We must always strive to resolve conflicts between nation-states
peacefully, through negotiations and resist the temptation to embark
on cross-border, trans-national activities that would plunge
nation-states into destabilisation. We must heed the call of the
Agenda for Humanity and leave no one behind," he said.

According to the Minister, Africa continues to bear the brunt of
hosting vast numbers of forcibly-displaced persons, with South Africa
being one of the largest single recipient of asylum seekers over time.

"Every effort should be made to comprehensively address the root
causes as they also tend generally to lead to armed conflict and
instability due to competition for scarce resources," he said.