Gov�t to bear brunt of refugees� welfare
Baboki Kayawe | Thursday November 24, 2016 17:01
He was presenting his Ministry’s proposals for the National Development Plan 11. “The effect of this scaling down will result in a transfer of costs relating to welfare, health and education of refugees to the Botswana government,” he said. To deliver these services to over 2,000 refugees in the country, government will on average spend P20 million per annum.
Of the 2,113 asylum seekers at Dukwi Refugee Camp, majority are Namibians at 919, followed by 688 Zimbabweans, 312 Somalia nationals, 184 from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and10 from Eritrea.
“Our policy as government regarding refugee management is that refugee status should not be permanent, and that, eventually refugees should be facilitated to return to their respective countries as a lasting durable solution,” Kgathi said.
It is on this background that bilateral consultations have been held with Windhoek and Harare with a view to initiating the invocation of the cessation clause and starting the process to return refugees from the concerned countries, Kgathi said.
He added that this is premised on the provisions of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Cessation of refugee status applies when the refugee, having secured or being able to secure national protection, either of the country of origin or of another country, no longer needs international protection. “Regarding Namibians, consultations are ongoing with government of Namibia regarding the implications and opportunities arising out of the Court judgement relating to the assistance clause. I am also happy to inform this Honourable House that Namibians continue to register for voluntary repatriation,” Kgathi added.
Last March, the Lobatse High Court made an interim order preventing government from repatriating 732 Namibian refugees. The Namibian refugees, who live at Dukwi Refugee Camp, had taken government to court, challenging its decision to repatriate them by December 31, 2015.
He committed to improving management of refugees by enhancing the operational efficiency of the refugees Advisory Committee.
“This way we will ensure only genuine asylum seekers are granted refugee status, and the Refugee Recognition and Control Act will also be amended to support the envisaged improvement to the management of refugees in Botswana,” he added.