Cape Town - The South African Government is committed to rising up to the challenge of meeting the needs of refugees with programmes already in place to offer much needed relief.
Speaking at the opening of the 8th World Conference of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ) on Wednesday, Deputy President Baleka Mbete said in showing the country's commitment, government had extended programmes such as the HIV and AIDS anti-retroviral programme to asylum seekers and refugees.
"We are also hard at work with our civil society and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to promote tolerance in our communities to ensure that the ugly face of xenophobia does not resurface," she said, referring to attacks last year in which foreigners were targeted.
She said the UNHCR recently released a report on the "Global Needs Assessment" based on case studies of eight countries, four of which were in Africa. The report found that 30 percent of the needs of refugees and other people of concern to the UNHCR were not being met.
It also found that a third of these unmet needs were in the domain of basic and essential services.
The deputy president empathised with refugees, herself having once been one when she went into exile at the age 24 and had to leave South Africa for Swaziland without her children.
She said Africa, in 2007, was home to over 30 percent of the total individuals that were of concern to the UNHCR, over two million of which were refugees, adding that South Africa at the time had over 40 000 refugees.
"This is mainly because of conflicts that are ravaging our continent from Darfur and Somalia in the East, through parts of West Africa and the Great Lakes Region, to Southern Africa," she said.
Ms Mbete said the South African government fully supported and endorsed the main purpose of the conference, which was to develop a common understanding of refugee law throughout the world, and to advance the principle of the independence of the judiciary.
The deputy president also commended the organisers for making the advancement of the principle of the independence of the judiciary, one of the objectives of the conference.
"Our Constitution recognises this fundamental principle. An independent judiciary is critical to the consolidation of our hard-fought-for democracy," she said.
The conference, entitled: "Where to Now? Charting the Future Course of International Protection", was the first time being held on the African continent.
Some of the delegates attending the conference included Chief Justice of South Africa, Justice Pius Langa, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Erika Feller, and President of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges, Justice North.
