There is a significant increase in the number of unaccompanied minors coming across South Africa’s northern border and arriving in Louis Trichardt, according to a statement by the local office of the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) in Louis Trichardt.

The statement was issued in the wake of the local event that marked International Refugee Day in June.

The event was staged at the Maklhado Show Grounds by the JRS, in collaboration with various other stakeholders.

The JRS is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. JRS undertakes services at national and regional level with the support of an international office in Rome. Founded in November 1980 as a project of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on 19 March 2000 at the Vatican State as a foundation.

JRS programmes are found in 51 countries, providing assistance to refugees in camps and cities, individuals displaced within their own countries, asylum seekers in cities, and to those held in detention centres. The main areas of work are in the field of education, emergency assistance, health care, livelihood activities and social services. JRS has three projects in South Africa, which are situated in Johannesburg, Pretoria and in Louis Trichardt.

JRS has operated in South Africa since 1997 when it set up the Urban Refugees project in Pretoria and Johannesburg, primarily to cater for refugees fleeing the Grand Lakes region. JRS has been monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe as well as the realities facing “cross borders” when they arrive in South Africa, with a grave concern about the impact that the socio-economic and political crisis in Zimbabwewas is having on its citizens. It was with these facts that JRS Limpopo opened its doors on 01 March 2008 to provide support and material assistance to newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers moving South from Zimbabwe through the border crossing at Beit Bridge in Musina.

“The majority of the clients at the Louis Trichardt office originate from Zimbabwe, although we also get refugees and asylum seekers from countries like the DRC, Zambia and Somalia. While the majority of people presenting at the JRS office are young, single males, we have seen increasing numbers of family groups, women and children, with a significant rise in unaccompanied minors,” reads the statement.