Save children from statelessness in South Africa

Statelessness Unit Training and Workshops

During this period, Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) partnered with organizations like Centre for Child Law (CCL) and Save the Children to conduct empowering workshops for social workers in Mpumalanga. These sessions covered essential topics related to migrant children's rights, child trafficking, and legal frameworks.

Advocacy and Awareness

In collaboration with the South African Human Rights Commission, LHR played a pivotal role in the launch of a comprehensive booklet in June titled "How to get documented! A step-by-step guide to getting birth certificates, citizenship documents, and immigration visas for children in South Africa." The resource is intended for a broad audience, including parents, caregivers, social workers, and children, aiming to streamline the process of documentation for children in South Africa.

Legal Achievements

In April, the High Court of South Africa delivered a landmark judgment, invalidating the Gauteng Department of Health's 2020 policy which denied free healthcare services to certain vulnerable groups. This significant victory, championed by SECTION 27, has had reverberating impacts. Building on the strength of this judgment, LHR played a vital role in assisting multiple clients in securing access to healthcare, thus ensuring the effective implementation and realization of the judgment's intent.

LHR’s Statelessness Programme secured a birth registration order in June for a minor at the Tembisa Children’s Court. This achievement was pivotal in overcoming bureaucratic challenges and ensuring that the child could access her fundamental rights.

LHR's consistent advocacy and representation bore fruit in engagements with the Department of Home Affairs. Key settlements achieved included the resolution of statelessness issues and facilitating birth registrations. Among these were the issuance of a birth certificate to a previously stateless child and successful interventions in multiple cases where children had been left undocumented for prolonged periods.

Policy Advocacy

LHR was instrumental in providing feedback on the National Identification Registration Bill, focusing on its shortfalls. The emphasis was on ensuring the Bill is comprehensive, inclusive, and rights-centric.

Casework Overview (March 2023):

Education matters: 9
Birth Registrations: 2
Healthcare matters: 3
DNA applications: 19

Continued Focus and Challenges

Throughout this period, LHR maintained its firm stance on advocating for the rights of stateless children. A notable highlight was the judgment in favor of potentially stateless client by the Gauteng High Court, which bears significance for the landscape of statelessness cases in South Africa.

While the Southern African Nationality Network (SANN) marked pivotal advancements, challenges like limited resources, barriers from the Department of Home Affairs, and funding constraints persist.

Conclusion

From March to September 2023, LHR's relentless commitment and efforts have paved the way for significant progress. Despite the milestones, the path ahead is replete with challenges. Stateless children in South Africa still grapple with barriers to their basic rights. LHR, buoyed by its supporters and partners, continues to strive for a brighter, inclusive future for these children. The mission is ongoing, and every step taken brings us closer to achieving our goal.

Links:

• SUBMISSIONS THE NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION REGISTRATION BILL (2022)

LHR is pleased to present its GlobalGiving Report for the reporting period of October 2022 to March 2023, focusing on its efforts to help stateless children living in South Africa access their right to a birth certificate and citizenship.

A stateless child is a child who is not recognized as a citizen of any country in the world. These children face significant challenges in accessing basic rights such as education and healthcare, and are at risk of exploitation, abuse, and statelessness. LHR is committed to ensuring that these children are not left behind and are able to access their rights.

To achieve this, LHR uses legal representation, DNA testing, litigation, training, and outreach to help children get birth certificates and ID documents. These documents are crucial in preventing statelessness and allowing them to access basic rights. LHR focuses on helping orphaned or abandoned stateless children who are particularly vulnerable and face significant barriers in accessing their rights.One of the major highlights of this period was the ruling by the Gauteng High Court in favor of Tebogo Khoza, a stateless person who had been struggling to register his birth and secure a nationality for over a decade. The court ordered the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to register Tebogo's birth, declare him a South African citizen, and accept and adjudicate applications for citizenship made on behalf of stateless children on affidavit. The ruling is significant in highlighting the importance of birth registration and establishing clarity on the burden and standard of proof to be applied in statelessness cases.

During this reporting period, LHR has made significant progress in its efforts to help stateless children access their right to a birth certificate and citizenship. LHR has provided legal representation to numerous stateless children and facilitated seven (7) DNA tests during the reporting period.

In addition to this, LHR has launched an application in the public interest on behalf of certain clients who have had their IDs blocked or marked by the DHA without any due administrative process. LHR has been dealing with blocked ID cases against the DHA for a while and has assisted a number of individual clients in similar situations. However, the piecemeal approach and impracticality of providing a permanent solution for many affected by this conduct is not sustainable. LHR has intervened in this matter as an institutional applicant to seek a wider remedy on behalf of its many clients and similarly situated persons.

Furthermore, the Southern African Nationality Network (SANN) has continued to make significant progress in its efforts towards achieving universal access to the right to a nationality and preventing statelessness in Southern Africa.SANN which LHR coordinates looks to provide a region solution to birth registration and statelessness issue and during the reporting period trained young lawyers and journalists to improve rights awareness and access to justice for those affected by statelessness and its related discriminatory impacts, and launching a statelessness art competition to raise awareness of the statelessness challenge among the public, media, and relevant stakeholders in the region.

Despite the progress made, LHR continues to face significant challenges in its efforts to help stateless children access their rights. These include limited access to resources and funding, as well as ongoing barriers imposed by the DHA.

In conclusion, LHR remains committed to helping stateless children access their right to a birth certificate and citizenship. The progress made during this reporting period is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the LHR team and its partners. However, much more needs to be done to ensure that stateless children are not left behind and are able to access their rights. LHR will continue to work towards this goal and calls on its supporters to join in this important mission.

Links:

• Press statement on high court victory