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SA refugee seekers decry corrupt officials, harassment

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The 20th of June marks World Refugee Day. This year, World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee.

On this day, the United Nations calls on the international community to commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees.

Many foreign nationals seeking refuge in South Africa face many challenges such as corruption, harassment and arrests.

These are sentiments shared by some foreigners at Desmond Tutu Refugee Centre in Pretoria. The United Nations says, 68.5 million people are forced to seek refugee around the world.

However, refugees or refugee seekers encounter many challenges, as these South African-based Zimbabweans explains.

“The first problem is that when we want to renew our papers, they don’t want us to renew our papers.  There’s too much corruption here. There is another guy who want us to pay some money so that we can renew our papers. Another challenge is basically to get what we need. Like here at Home Affairs, they don’t help us and  when we come here, basically inside at Home Affairs it is free. But when we come here it is not free. There is too much corruption here. They are beating people, they’re taking money.”

According to the United Nations, every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. SABC reporter Ofentse Setimo is at the Desmond Tutu Refugee Centre in Pretoria in light of World Refugee Day.

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68.5 million displaced people in  2017

In its annual Global Trends report for 2017 released this week by the United Nations Human Rights Council or UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency said 68.5 million people were displaced as of the end of 2017.

Refugees who have fled their countries to escape conflict and persecution accounted for 25.4 million of the 68.5 million. This is 2.9 million more than in 2016, also the biggest increase UNHCR has seen in a single year.

Congolese musician Tresor Riziki is UNHCR LuQuLuQu High Level Influencer and Senior External Relations Officer and Spokesperson of the United Nations Refugee Agency Regional Office for Southern Africa, Markku Aikomus explained…

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