South African Department of Home Affairs

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Organisation > Statutory Bodies

Refugee Appeal Board of South Africa

Acting Chairperson
Mr. T. Damstra

Members
Adv. M. Hassim
Ms. M. Morobe
Mr. M. Mohale

Contact Mrs Sarie Brits for more information

[t] +27(0)12 320 1191
[f] +27(0)12 320 1297

Postal address
The Secretary: RAB
Pretmed Building
Private Bag X500
Pretoria
0001

Physical address
16 floor Sanlam Center
352 Cnr Andries and Pretorius Street
Pretoria

The Refugee Appeal Board is an independent body established in terms of section 12(1) of the Refugees Act 1998.

An Appeal Board for Refugee Affairs was established following an agreement between the Republic of South Africa and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The purpose of the Board was to consider all the appeals made against the decisions of the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs. A chairperson for the Board was appointed on 6 September 1995 as the sole member of the Board.
On 1 April 2000 the Refugees Act (No 130 of 1998) was promulgated and this Act established the current Appeal Board.

The Appeal Board consists of a Chairperson and five members duly appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs. The members of the Appeal Board are appointed for a period of five years in terms of the Act.

Mandate of the Board

The mandate of the Refugee Appeal Board is contained in section 14(1) of the Refugees Act 130 of 1998. The Appeal Board must:

hear and determine any question of law referred to it in terms of this Act;
hear and determine any appeal lodged in terms of this Act;
advise the Minister or Standing Committee regarding any matter which the Minister or Standing Committee refers to the Appeal Board.

The Board’s mandate includes its role as an independent statutory Appeal Board with quasi–judicial functions to either sustain,substitute or set aside a decision of the Status Determination Officer.

Mission

The mission of the Appeal Board on behalf of all South Africans and all Appellants is to make well reasoned, timely decisions on appeal, and carry out this mandate efficiently, fairly and in accordance with the Act determining refugee status.

Vision

We will strive to create confidence in our system and excel in everything we do.

Objective

To meet our obligations as defined in the Refugees Act 130 of 1998 and in terms of the relevant conventions including inter alia:

1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees
1967 Protocol to the Convention
1969 OAU Convention governing aspects of refugee problems in Africa
Other International Conventions

Strategic Priorities

The Refugee Affairs Appeal Board has four main priorities:

to improve the processing time for appeals;
to reduce the number of claims in the pending inventory;
to strengthen the case management process;
to deal with current appeals whilst simultaneously working towards the systematic reduction of the pending caseload to realistic levels.

The critical challenge acknowledged by the Board is to place the greatest emphasis in terms of its approach to grant protection to those who comply with the relevant provisions of the Conventions and to deny those who merely use the protection regime for economic motives or manifestly unfounded reasons.