Refugee

He/She is a person who has been granted asylum status and protection in terms of the section 24 of Refugee Act No 130 of 1998.

Under the 1951 United Nations Convention, a refugee can be a “convention refugee” who has left his home country and has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or a membership in a particular social group.

Under the same convention, a refugee can also be a person “in need of protection” whose removal to his home country would subject him personally to a danger of torture or to a risk to his life or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

Role of the Government of the Republic of South Africa

The Government of the Republic of South Africa has an obligation to grant protection to refugees and other persons in need of protection under a number of UN Conventions such as the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

However, Convention refugees and persons in need of protection based on a risk to life, or a cruel and unusual treatment must have faced personally the risk all the way through in the country in question.

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