PRESS STATEMENT ON WORLD REFUGEE DAY – 20 JUNE 2007

‘Perseverance’ – a message on Refugee Day

DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights joins the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the other nations of the world in commemorating World Refugee Day on 20 June 2007. This year, Botswana has ‘Perseverance’ as the theme for World Refugee Day.

Botswana has long been a safe haven for refugees fleeing turmoil elsewhere in Southern Africa, whether civil war in Angola, liberation struggle in Namibia, or apartheid violence in South Africa. Today, political unrest and economic decline in neighbouring Zimbabwe have sparked a new influx of refugees and economic migrants to Botswana.

While the Government of Botswana’s cooperation with UNHCR and implementation of the 1951 Refugee Convention is generally commendable, processing applications for refugee status or asylum is often a slow process. Applicants may be detained at the Centre for Illegal Immigrants while their applications are pending, and children detained with their parents generally lack access to adequate education. Those who succeed in establishing new lives often owe more to their own ingenuity and hard work than to national and international aid. Refugees and economic migrants must apply for an array of permits in order to establish homes to begin new lives in Botswana. Pulling up roots and laying new ones indeed takes patience and courage.

While the international community often neglects the plight of economic migrants, these migrants regularly face obstacles when establishing their lives in new countries of residence. In Botswana, economic migrants are part of an invisible underclass. They increasingly face intolerance from employers, and impatience from both government officials and local citizens. As they fall outside the legal definition of ‘refugee’, economic migrants do not have the same rights and yet face the same obstacles as refugees in establishing their new lives.

DITSHWANELO encourages the Government of Botswana and its citizenry to maintain the political and humanitarian commitment to refugees, which they have shown since independence in 1966. The Government of Botswana should refrain from placing asylum-seekers in detention and protect the rights of those whose status is still pending. ‘Perseverance’ #should mean an open and continuing dialogue between refugees and the government so that human rights may be protected. Understanding between citizens and immigrant communities is essential in order to best protect the rights and obligations of both. Botswana should strive to be a safe haven for those fleeing political persecution – thus putting into effect the fundamental human rights principles of ‘botho’, dignity and respect for one another.

Gaborone

20 June 2007