UNHCR South Africa regional representation

About this project

UNHCR's South Africa regional representation serves nine countries: Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and South Africa. Together they host approximately 260,521 people of concern to UNHCR, 250,250 of whom are hosted in South Africa. Countries of origin of refugees and asylum-seekers include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. In Botswana, 760 refugees and asylum-seekers live in the Dukwi Refugee camp located some 580 km from the capital Gaborone, managed by Botswana's Ministry of Defence, Justice and Security and supported by three UNHCR protection staff. A small number of the caseload is resident in the urban areas of Gaborone and Botswana's second-largest city, Francistown. Although many Zimbabweans returned voluntarily from Botswana last year, there has been a gradual increase in the population since April 2021 due to new arrivals – including onward movers - from the African Great Lakes region. In Namibia and Botswana, UNHCR worked with government counterparts on verification exercises for the 5,669 and 1,055 refugees and asylum-seekers in the respective countries to streamline population figures and ensure that refugees and asylum-seekers are correctly documented. Interest in voluntary repatriation is growing, and UNHCR has supported 394 people to return safely to their countries of origin from Botswana and South Africa since the start of the year. Ending statelessness,…

Goals

Sustainable Development Goals this project works towards

• 1No Poverty
• 4Quality Education
• 5Gender Equality
• 8Decent Work and Economic Growth
• 10Reduced Inequalities
• 16Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Published by

Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) · Multilateral

Countries

South Africa

Sectors

Material relief assistance and servicesEducation in emergencies

Focus

Gender equality · Also contributes

Funded by

Canada (Government of), European Commission - Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, Private donors, United States Department of State

Implemented by

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Accountable

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Published by Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), last updated 8 Oct 2026 and imported automatically. IATI identifier: XM-DAC-41121-2025-SA-ZAFMCO.

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