refugeeslatest news & developments
What’s driving anti-immigrant healthcare blockades? Sharon Ekambaram from Lawyers for Human Rights says it’s everything from the sky-high cost of Zimbabwean passports and corruption to South Africa’s institutionalised xenophobia — and a growing global intolerance of migrants. (Bhekisisa team)
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Court orders government, police to block vigilantes from two clinics — and put up warnings at entrances

The judgment complements a November ruling meant to stop groups such as Operation Dudula from blocking foreign nationals from entering government hospitals and clinics and denying their constitutional right to healthcare

US President Donald Trump. Photo: Supplied

Welcome to America

I find myself in Trump’s MAGA, which is more accurately MAWA – Make America White Again

The High Court has overturned a Home Affairs official’s decision to reject the asylum application of a man who fled his home country after he was imprisoned for homosexuality. Illustration: Lisa Nelson

Judge slams home affairs department for ‘unintelligible, illogical babble’ in gay case

An immigration official rejected the asylum application of a man from Chad who was jailed solely for homosexuality in his home country

US President Donald Trump. (File photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump order cutting aid, offering sanctuary to Afrikaners is premised on factual inaccuracies, SA says

The department of international relations and cooperation said the order failed to recognise South Africa’s ‘profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid’

The government must address the corruption surrounding the management of undocumented migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by home affairs officials, the police and the defence force

The dark underbelly of immigration fraud in state institutions

The government must address the corruption surrounding the management of undocumented migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by home affairs officials, the police and the defence force

People react to the fall of Syrian regime in Umayyad Square on December 8, 2024 in Damascus, Syria. Rebel forces in Syria claimed that they had retaken the capital from longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who was reported to have fled the country. Syria has been mired in a multi-party civil war since 2011, amid the Arab Spring uprisings. (Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)

Euphoria over regime change in Syria but it is fraught with danger

The Assad dynasty has fallen, but will it end Israel’s genocide in Gaza?

With nearly 2 500 people killed in recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon, nobody in the country is safe, and the only help for Africans is from other migrant workers. (Photo by Ahmad Kaddoura/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Africans trapped in Lebanon by ‘kafala’ labour system and Israel’s bombs

With nearly 2 500 people killed in recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon, nobody in the country is safe, and the only help for Africans is from other migrant workers

Without a boat: Seydou Sarr (left) and Moustapha Fall in a scene from
Io Capitano, which is on at the European Film Festival.

Io Capitano is a cinematic journey of hope and heroism

The brilliant Io Capitano, which opens the 11th European Film Festival, puts a human face on migration issues

Activists protest against the UK government’s recently passed Safety of Rwanda bill and plans for deportation flights outside the Home Office’s Lunar House immigration reporting centre on 4th May 2024 in London, United Kingdom. Speakers at the protest made particular reference to the deportation of Palestinian detainees. (photo by Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Beware UK ‘cash for asylum seekers’ deal with Rwanda

The ‘stop the ships’ law shows how countries like Britain can evade their international responsibility to host refugees by shipping them off to Africa in exchange for ‘development deals’

Renowned: Chilean-born, US-based Alfredo Jaar has a place in South Africa. Photo: Jee Eun Esther Jang

Conflict, migration exposed

Alfredo Jaar’s photo exhibition is of Rwandan, Sudanese, Afghani and Vietnamese refugees

Retrogressive: Black Africans fleeing violence as well as political and social upheaval already struggle to find refuge in South Africa and it is likely this situation will worsen, a move that flies in the face of the African Union and pan-Africanists. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee/Getty Images

Motsoaledi’s approach to refugee protection is anti-African

The home affairs minister’s attempted revision of South Africa’s progressive refugee protection policy is discouraging

In Africa, refugees struggle to enjoy human rights and freedoms.

African governments pay lip service to the human rights of refugees

Those on the fringes of society are too easily excluded from political and democratic affairs

Lies and stereotypes: A march against migrants in Pretoria. Photo: Alet Pretorius/Getty Images

Myths and realities: Are migrants really the problem?

Public figures are often quick to heighten negative stereotypes about migrants

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi .(Alet Pretorius/Foto24/Gallo Images)

Motsoaledi withdrawing South Africa from international refugees treaties is not a solution

The country must chart a humane policy for refugees that flows from the spirit and objects of the post-apartheid constitutional order