Violence against women in South Africa: an event that disturbs public order in terms of the oau refugee convention?
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Date
2024
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Universty of the Western Cape
Abstract
The OAU Refugee Convention incorporates and expands upon the refugee definition outlined in the 1951 UN Convention, with the aim of addressing the unique challenges faced by refugees in Africa. Despite this, little is known about the implementation of the expanded refugee definition outlined in OAU Refugee Convention. This thesis critically analyses the OAU Refugee Convention, particularly the enumerated refugee producing ground of “events seriously disturbing public order” (ESDPO). Despite its ambiguous nature, the ground of ESDPO is becoming increasingly significant in asylum applications. This thesis acknowledges that ESDPO encompasses a series of international or domestic instances of war, violence and climatic events that grossly violate the fundamental human rights of an indeterminable number of individuals within their country of origin. These fundamental human rights include the right to life, human dignity, freedom and security of person. Violence perpetrated against women is a clear infringement upon the fundamental human rights of women worldwide. South Africa is known as the femicide capital of the world. Furthermore, the prevalence of violence against women in South Africa has reached epidemic proportions, posing a significant societal problem. Against this backdrop, this thesis examines the extent to which violence against women in South Africa constitutes ESDPO in terms of the OAU Refugee Convention.
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Keywords
Asylum, African law and jurisprudence, Events seriously disturbing public order, Gender-based violence, Persecution