Unaccompanied and Separated Children in South Africa: is Return the Only Option?

Abstract

Despite recent legislative amendments aimed at stricter border control,
migration by undocumented migrants, including unaccompanied and separated
children, continues to occur. Once in South Africa, no mechanism exists for the
identification or registration of undocumented migrant children. Due to
statutory restrictions, the births of children born to undocumented foreign
parents in South Africa are not recorded. Therefore, the presence of
unaccompanied and separated children in the Republic goes mostly unnoticed.
Under the migration framework, documentation to regularise a foreign child’s
stay is either derived from a parent, or requires significant financial support,
and/or legal intervention, to obtain. The article finds that unaccompanied and
separated children struggle to meet the requirements set to regularise their stay
once in the Republic. In a society where the ability to exercise basic human rights
is intrinsically linked to identification documentation, the few options available
to unaccompanied and separated children make this group highly vulnerable to
exploitation, destitution, abuse, neglect, statelessness and under-development,
due to restricted access to education and essential services.