Blog #12: South Africa struggling with asylum seekers

South Africa has reported that they are struggling with the influx of refugees seeking asylum there as South Africa receives more individual asylum requests than any other country. The United Nations High Commissioner has welcomed the moves of refugees yet a spokeswoman from the agency for Southern Africa, Tina Ghelli, has expressed concerns that the people fleeing violence and oppression are finding it difficult to get help because economic immigrants are abusing and overwhelming the system in South Africa.
According to the UNHCR figures, more than 100k people sought asylum in the country last year, which is well above the the next highest number of applications received, some 74,000 in the United States. The highest number of immigrants are coming from Somalia, Zimbabwe, the Congo, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Xenophobic attitudes have led to an explosion of violence against foreigners, particularly those from elsewhere in Africa, in some of South Africa's poorest communities in 2008.
Delays in processing asylum requests have also become a huge issue with a backlog of over 150k applications. Despite a cold welcome and application delays, asylum seekers still keep coming with hopes for a better life. “Besides having the continent's biggest economy, South Africa has a liberal constitution that outlaws discrimination on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation, and that enshrines rights to join a union and have access to adequate housing, health care, food and water. While its promises may not always be fulfilled, the charter stands out not only in Africa, but in the world.”
Global migration and refugees seeking asylum is a global issue not only felt by South Africa. It is important to notice that what all of these articles concerning immigration and refugee issues have in common is that conflict and unrest is always caused by ethnic and religious tensions. Many people feel that their home is being invaded when immigrants appear or even when refugees seek asylum from violence and oppression. Not only is violence and social isolation a problem in these instances, but the economic downturn and stress that is being put on the host country is just as great.
Normally when we see an “influx” of large amounts of people trying to get in one place, there is always chaos, confusion, delays, and family separations, and it becomes difficult for the country to document, help, and tell these people apart, whether they are refugees or simply migrants. It causes systems to falter, conflict to arise, and sometimes can even cause a lack in security which ends up leading to another refugee case for the people that came there.  At any rate, most all countries around the world aren’t able to keep up with and take care of their refugees and immigrants and are finding it hard to support them economically. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120412/af-south-africa-asylum/