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SA promises to improve processing of refugees on World Refugee Day

Source: Times Live, 20/06/2017

South Africa has offered hope for refugees and asylum seekers
promising to digitise its systems to make their lives easier.

Home affairs deputy minister Fatima Chohan said the department would
soon be introducing biometric smart cards for refugees similar to the
new identity cards for South African citizens.

At an event hosted by the department at Durbans Playhouse Theatre
Chohan said that South Africa had processed two million asylum seekers
since 1998.

If you compare that the fact that the whole of Europe 27 countries
have processed four million people during this latest crisis you can
see what a challenge this has been for us she said.

She added that not only did South Africa have a record low number of
asylum seekers last year but a record number of 35000 were
processed.

We have changed the way we process asylum seekers. We have gone
digital and it has improved our efficiency. This means that more
refugees are able to access assistance and services she said.

She said the hope is that the biometric card for refugees will start
being issued from Thursday this week.

It ends potential for fraud as every aspect is processed
electronically she said.

This comes as the United Nations Refugee Agency on June 19 the day
before World Refugee Day on Wednesday released its annual Global
Trends study. The report found that 65.5-million people were forcibly
replaced worldwide by the end of last year.

On average 20 people were driven from their homes every minute last
year or one every three seconds the agency said.

Syria was the largest producer of refugees for the seventh straight
year but it was the 737404 people displaced in South Sudan that pushed
the numbers up even more severely last year. Children make up half the
worlds refugees.

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