22/06/2026
*THE TREATMENT OF REFUGEES ON CHE GUEVARA ROAD VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW*
The treatment of refugees on Che Guevara Road violates international refugee law, international human rights law and South Africa’s own legal obligations.
For more than five weeks hundreds of documented refugees have remained outside government offices after being driven from their homes and communities by xenophobic threats, intimidation and violence. Instead of receiving protection, they have been told that they must either return to communities where they continue to face danger or accept transfer to the Lindela Repatriation Centre and possible deportation.
This violates the fundamental principle of non-refoulement, one of the central principles of international refugee law. The principle of non-refoulement prohibits the return of refugees to countries where they face persecution, violence or serious harm. It is protected by the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention and South African law.
Recognised refugees cannot legally be deported to the countries from which they fled. Threatening recognised refugees with detention and deportation is therefore contrary to both international and domestic law.
International law also places a clear duty on states to protect refugees against violence, intimidation and persecution. The South African state is aware that refugees have been violently displaced, that people remain unsafe in the communities from which they fled, and that xenophobic organisations and local mobs continue to operate with impunity. The failure to provide effective protection constitutes a violation of these obligations.
Forcing refugees to choose between returning to communities where they face violence and intimidation or facing detention and deportation amounts to constructive refoulement. Refugees cannot be compelled to return either to countries from which they fled or to local conditions in which their safety cannot be guaranteed.
The prolonged exposure of hundreds of refugees, including children, to unsafe conditions without adequate shelter, security, healthcare or social support violates basic human rights, including the rights to dignity, security and equal protection under the law.
The responsibility of the state is to protect the victims of xenophobic violence and to act against those responsible for intimidation, assault, displacement and the destruction of livelihoods. Instead, refugees themselves have been threatened with removal and deportation while those responsible for xenophobic violence continue to act with impunity.
South Africa has binding obligations under international refugee law, international human rights law, the Constitution and the Refugees Act. These obligations require the state to protect refugees, guarantee their safety and uphold their rights and dignity.
The treatment of refugees on Che Guevara Road is therefore not simply a humanitarian failure. It is a violation of international law and of South Africa’s legal obligations to refugees and asylum seekers.
