Lawyers for Human Rights NGO Statement Submission at the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) Dakar, Republic of Senegal | Public Session: 12-21 October 2026

Date: 05/11/2026


“Lawyers for Human Rights at the Margins of the 89th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights”

Statement

To be delivered by Zekhethelo Cele, Attorney at Lawyers for Human Rights, South Africa, under the agenda item on the Human Rights Situation in Africa / Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Migrants and Statelessness, 89th Ordinary Session, Dakar, Senegal.

Honourable Chairperson, Honourable Commissioners, distinguished delegates,

I make this statement on behalf of Lawyers for Human Rights, a South African non-governmental organisation.

South Africa has long been one of the continent’s destinations for people seeking safety and opportunity, and its constitutional and refugee protection framework remains among the most progressive in the region. We come before this Commission at a moment that offers real promise, alongside challenges that South Africa shares with many States in our region.

On the promise: we welcome the Department of Home Affairs’ Draft Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection, which for the first time proposes a formal statelessness determination procedure and a special visa category for persons awaiting that determination. This is a progressive step. Lawyers for Human Rights represents children and young persons who are stateless or at risk of statelessness, children of refugees, asylum seekers, irregular migrants and stateless persons, born and raised in South Africa, with no legal or social connection to any other country. For them, South Africa is the only home they know, yet without secure documentation they cannot forge a meaningful existence within it. The introduction of a statelessness determination mechanism, and the retention of the jus soli principle underlying section 4(3) of the Citizenship Act, are essential safeguards to ensure that no child born on South African soil is left without a recognised legal identity.

On the need for clarity: However, It also remains unclear whether the new statelessness determination process and special visa will preserve the right to work and study while a determination is pending, or whether they may operate as additional eligibility hurdles inconsistent with this Commission’s own jurisprudence and with the settled case law of South Africa’s courts on the recognition of citizenship. We respectfully urge the Department, and this Commission in its engagement with the State Party, to ensure that any reform strengthens, and does not dilute, existing statutory protections for stateless children.

On the regional context: these legal gains cannot be assessed in isolation from the social environment in which they will be implemented. Across Southern Africa and the continent more broadly, economic pressure, unemployment and strained public services have contributed to rising intolerance towards migrants, and at times unlawful conduct by non-State actors. This Commission is already seized of this matter. On 27 April 2026 and again on 25 June 2026, the Commission, through its Country Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Republic of South Africa, Honourable Commissioner Solomon Ayele Dersso, expressed concern about incidents obstruction of access to public health facilities and public calls for migrants to leave, and recalled the relevant obligations under Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12(4) and (5), 14 and 28 of the African Charter. We note that the Government of South Africa has itself condemned such conduct, and we recognise the many South Africans and communities who continue to welcome and stand alongside non-nationals.

Migrant intolerance is not unique to any one country. It is a regional phenomenon rooted in shared pressures: mixed and irregular migration flows, conflict and instability in countries of origin, climate-related displacement, gaps in documentation systems, and uneven economic opportunity across the region. Its solutions must therefore also be shared. Receiving States should not carry this burden alone, and countries of origin, transit and destination each have a role to play through other regional mechanisms.

Climate change and environmental harm are an increasingly significant driver of these movements. Where extractive activities cause environmental degradation that ultimately contributes to displacement, holding the responsible actors to account remains extraordinarily difficult. This is, in significant part, a consequence of persistent gaps in the legal and regulatory framework governing corporate accountability. Such gaps can enable multinational corporations to evade meaningful responsibility for environmental harm and its human rights consequences, perpetuating patterns of displacement and vulnerability that cross national borders and place further pressure on host communities.

We therefore respectfully urge this Commission to:

  • Continue its constructive engagement with South Africa on the implementation of the recommendations issued in April and June 2026, including measures to prevent violent conduct and to hold accountable those who organise or incite violence against any person;
  • Encourage the Department of Home Affairs to finalise the White Paper’s statelessness provisions without diluting section 4(3) protections, and to clarify the socio-economic rights (work, study, healthcare access) attached to the proposed special visa;
  • Promote regional cooperation on migration governance, so that countries of origin, transit and destination share responsibility for addressing the root causes of migration, strengthening civil registration and documentation, and fostering social cohesion in host communities;
  • Encourage Member States to ratify and implement the relevant regional instruments, including the Protocol to the African Charter on the Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa.
  • Consider a regional study or promotional mission examining migrant intolerance and statelessness across Southern Africa, drawing on the experiences and good practices of several States, including South Africa’s legislative reform process;
  • Support public awareness and social cohesion initiatives, in partnership with States, national human rights institutions and civil society, that address misinformation about migrants and highlight their contributions to host communities; and
  • Invest in the creation of a legally binding instrument on business and human rights to regulate the activities of multinational corporations within the region, so as to have a regional mechanism and position on how to address the human rights violations of multinational corporations, including those that drive displacement.

Lawyers for Human Rights remains at this Commission’s disposal to provide further evidence, casework documentation, and technical input in support of these efforts.

I thank the Commission for its attention.

Lawyers for Human Rights Observer Status: Granted at 11th Ordinary Session in Tunisia in 1992 under observer status 63: https://achpr.au.int/sites/default/files/files/2022-09/achpr11fincom1992eng.pdf

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