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Child refugees book competes for top South African award
8 Jun 2007 A year after 'The Suitcase Stories' was launched to coincide with World Refugee Day, the book in which refugee children described their lives before and after arriving in South Africa is on the shortlist for South Africa's top non-fiction award. -
Inner city evictions leave Johannesburg refugees and asylum seekers homeless
11 Apr 2007 Johannesburg's inner city regeneration programme has led to the eviction of more than 100 refugees and asylum seekers. Some fear a flurry of evictions in coming months could see 70,000 people, including refugees and asylum seekers, expelled from 235 buildings. -
UNHCR helps prepare new guidelines for HIV treatment in southern Africa
3 Apr 2007 The UN refugee agency has jointly developed guidelines for managing antiretroviral therapy for displaced populations in southern Africa. The guidelines, initiated with the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, will help health workers in deciding the most appropriate treatment for uprooted populations. -
UNHCR joins task force aimed at easing tension between Somalis and locals in South African township
15 Mar 2007 Attacks on Somali traders mid-February in a South African township have focused attention on the problems of xenophobia and tension between the Somalis and locals. UNHCR has joined a task force aimed at finding ways to ease the situation and end violence. -
Somali refugee traders and their South African hosts struggle to get along
13 Mar 2007 UNHCR is concerned about the increase in the number of attacks on Somali refugees, which the Somali Association of South Africa claims have left more than 400 people dead in the past decade. -
Flow of asylum seekers to South Africa grows in 2006
2 Feb 2007 Growing numbers of asylum seekers entered South Africa in 2006, with more than a third of applications coming from Zimbabweans. The number of new applicants for refugee status exceeded the government's stepped-up efforts to clear the backlog that had existed from previous years. -
A decade on the run: Rwandan refugees' life mirrors the tumult of Africa's Great Lakes
26 Oct 2006 A Rwandan family's remarkable trek through the vast Congo reflects the genocide, numerous wars and other tragedies that have afflicted Africa's Great Lakes region over the past 12 years. Finally, for this family at least, there's the prospect of a happy ending. -
UNHCR prepares for Swaziland to take over all refugee services
9 Oct 2006 Nearly 30 years after UNHCR opened an office in the tiny mountain kingdom of Swaziland to help people fleeing apartheid in South Africa, the UN agency is preparing for the country to take sole responsibility for all refugee services. -
Tension in South Africa as refugees and residents compete
12 Jul 2006 In a poor settlement near Johannesburg, competition between local and refugee traders triggered a demand for the expulsion of all Somali businessmen - one of a number of incidents of xenophobia that UNHCR, the government and other organisations are tackling in South Africa.