From global to community: The availability of protection mechanisms for refugees in South Africa

Protection mechanisms aimed at assisting refugees emerge at different scales, from the global to the local. In host countries such as South Africa, formal mechanisms are meant to support refugees in finding various forms of protection, including legal and social protection. Yet, research over the last few decades has repeatedly shown that in regions such as southern Africa ‘current mechanisms are not offering effective and efficient access to refuge for those in need’ (Papademetriou, 2015). As a result, refugees and other forced migrants are regularly required to locate more informal mechanisms at the ground level, through social networks
and civil society. This paper is interested in the range of formal and informal protection mechanisms available to refugees in South Africa, and how these mechanisms interact with each other. Specifically, using a multi-scalar approach, the paper investigates the reality of protection for refugees in South Africa, and the role different key scales of analysis (the global, the national and the ground) play in how refugees locate forms of protection.

The paper asks three pertinent questions i) what is the relevance of formal protection mechanisms for refugees in South Africa today?; ii) what is the relevance of informal protection mechanisms that exist outside of formal state structures?; and iii) what is the relationship between these different formal and informal mechanisms at the different scales of analysis? There is real value in adopting this approach to exploring refugee protection in South Africa. Firstly, it develops existing research by exploring the availability of different forms of protection for refugees in South Africa, and importantly investigating where they are located. Secondly, in doing this, the paper is also able to highlight serious protection gaps in both the national and global refugee regime. Thirdly, by taking a multi-scalar approach, the research also examines the interconnectedness and complexity of the relationships between each scale.3 Finally, by investigating these issues before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, the paper can scrutinise the stability and reliability of such mechanisms (both formal and informal) during a period of national emergency.