UNHCR says efforts to assist hundreds of foreign nations facing eviction in CT have been futile

CAPE TOWN - The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says its efforts to assist about 500 foreign nationals who face eviction in Cape Town have been futile.

The occupants were relocated to Wingfield in Maitland and Paint City in Bellville after being evicted from Green Market Square in the city's CBD during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three hundred and sixty of the group have been documented as a mix of asylum seekers and refugees from the DRC and Burundi, while the rest remain undocumented.

ALSO READ:

• Hundreds of foreign nations living at 2 sites in Cape Town handed eviction notices
• About 500 foreign nationals facing eviction from two CT sites demand help

Officers from the sheriff of the court handed eviction notices to the foreign nationals on Wednesday for them to appear in court in October.

UNHCR spokesperson Jan De Bisschop said the foreign nationals had been offered assistance to return to their countries and to reintegrate within South Africa but they declined those offers.

De Bisschop said the occupants insisted on being resettled in Canada.

"Resettlement is something which highly exceptional. It's absolutely for the most vulnerable people, refugees around. It's medical cases, and it's done on an individual basis, so we do not resettle a group."

De Bisschop said that only 0.6% of refugees internationally get resettled every year.

He said the UNHRC was open to assisting the occupants to avoid being evicted, but they needed to make contact with the commission individually.