South Africa adopted a local integration settlement policy for refugees which formed the basis for the
reception of refugees into the country since the early 1990s. This policy also laid the foundation for
Refugee legislation that was subsequently developed to deal with the arrival of refugees including
the applications for asylum and the processes related thereto. The fact that South Africa decided on a
local integration policy in the early 1990s is an anomaly in that many countries in the Southern
African Development Community (SADC) region at the time and even now had encampment policies
where refugees are kept in camps and have minimal freedom of movement outside camp
settlements. Foreign policy sometimes plays a critical role in shaping domestic policy in various
spheres. This research study has determined that South Africa’s Foreign Policy Practice both during
the transition years between 1991-1994 and post 1994 played a major role in South Africa adopting a
human rights based settlement policy for refugees. This was initially informed by South Africa’s desire
to show the international community that the country was indeed adopting democratic principles
and thus denying any role in the destabilisation in the region. After 1994 South Africa had acceded to
international instruments on the protection of refugees without any reservations on the freedom of
movement. The focus of the study is on the decision-making process that led to the signing of both
the 1991 Memorandum of Understanding and the 1993 Basic Agreement between South Africa and
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and subsequent adoption of the
Refugees Act in 1998 to establish the role played by foreign policy and other foreign policy factors in
the final decision of adopting local integration. Findings from this research further highlight the role
of civic actors for both the pre and post 1994 periods. The study has implications for other countries
in the region and beyond which are promoting democratic principles while curtailing the right to
freedom of movement for refugees.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/12262 |
| Date | 10 January 2013 |
| Creators | Shange, Sicel'mpilo |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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