Taking Stock of Progress Made in the Implementation of the International Recommendations on Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and Statelessness Persons Statistics

Ntsieni I. Itani, Statistics South Africa
Moses Choeu, Statistics South Africa
Lebohang Molapo, Statistics South Africa
Vivian Marapjane, Stats SA
Job Mothiba, statssa
Dorothy Bokaba, Stats SA

As of December 2021, South Africa hosts over 242,000 refugees and asylum-seekers mostly originating from different African countries including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. As there is no encampment policy, refugees and asylum seekers reside amongst host communities primarily in the country’s urban areas. Given the complex environment of mixed population flows in the broader migratory context, getting a clear picture of the refugee situation in the country can be challenging. Taking the opportunity of the recent 2022 Population and Housing Census, Statistics South Africa decided to include the following questions to identify refugees and asylum seekers using the International Recommendations of Refugee Statistics as guidance. In addition, on an experimental basis, identification of IDPs and stateless persons was also trialled.

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See paper.