Government’s delay to assess the status of asylum seekers in the country has resulted in a significant backlog in asylum applications.
Currently, over 15,000 individuals have waited since 2021 to have their cases processed.
If these are to be approved, they will add to over 30,000 asylum seekers currently living in Malawi.
According to performance reports by the Department of Refugees, several factors have exacerbated the situation, among them being that the Refugee Committee responsible for final asylum decisions has not met since December 2021.
The committee is chaired by high-ranking officials in the government, including Secretary to the President and Cabinet.
Asked to comment on this inaction by the committee, spokesperson for the Office of the President and Cabinet Robert Kalindiza referred Malawi News to the Secretary for Homeland Security.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Homeland Security, Steve Kayuni, said the refugees committee will shortly resume operations and attend to these issues.
“We are looking into the matter,” Kayuni said.
The asylum seekers have been staying at Dzaleka despite the country’s laws, including the Encampment Policy, which stipulates that only individuals verified as genuine refugees or asylum seekers are allowed to reside in refugee camps.
Youth and Society Executive Director Charles Kajoloweka has called on authorities to expedite the processing of the applications.
“It is a sad situation. This inordinate delay is unacceptable. It has serious human rights implications, including delayed access to refugee status—denying asylum applicants access to basic needs that refugees are entitled to,” Kajoloweka said.
He blamed the delay on the composition of the committee, which he said is high-level and chaired by the Secretary to the President and Cabinet.
Kajoloweka said this is an area requiring reform to ensure that the committee is composed of individuals that could be readily available.
Matchona Phiri, Advocacy and Liaison Officer for Inua, an organisation which looks at the plight of refugees, said refugee and asylum management in Malawi has encountered numerous challenges, with refugee status determination being a significant issue.
He said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has provided funding and consultants to the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) department, but there have been little noticeable improvements.
“We recommend that the Refugee Department should hire an external auditor to assess their operations. This auditor could help realign their efforts by prioritising actionable tasks based on urgency and importance. By doing so, the department can direct its energy where it is most needed,” Phiri said
According to the report, the situation has created a bottleneck in the processing of asylum applications, delaying the resolution of many cases.
Asylum seekers in Malawi go through multiple stages of review, starting with the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Unit and a Refugee Committee Taskforce, before the Refugee Committee makes a final decision.
Recently, the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) removed 220 foreign nationals from the camp on suspicion of illegal residence and involvement in human trafficking.
At the time of the operation, MDF Commander Paul Valentino Phiri expressed concern over the influx of irregular immigrants, describing it as a risk to national security.
According to a recent UNCHR update, Malawi hosts over 52,678 ‘persons of concern’. The majority live in the Dzaleka refugee camp.
Dzaleka is a protracted camp with a monthly average of 300 new arrivals, with 62 percent from the DRC, 19 percent from Burundi, 7 percent from Rwanda, and two percent from other nationalities, according to the update.
About 45 percent of the persons of concern are women and 48 percent are children.
Of the total persons of concern population, 21,530 have refugee status, 30,910 are asylum seekers, with 238 others of concern, making the refugee situation protracted.
Activists say the protracted nature of the camp settlement and encampment policy increases the risks of its inhabitants to infectious diseases and lack of protection and self-sufficiency.
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