Afrikaner genocide, persecution claims lack legal foundation

IMMIGRATION, asylum and refugee status have become controversial global issues and affect the politics of many countries. President Trump's decision to grant refugee status to white Afrikaners is unique and makes a general political statement about South Africa.

- 

In only one other country this issue has emerged, namely. At three different points in time South African families applied for refugee status in Canada. The first one was granted in 2009 but revoked in 2014, the second one was in 2010, when their asylum application was denied but refugee status later granted, and in 2016 when their refugee status was also denied.

The grounds on which refugee status is claimed are in all cases the same: the physical security situation is regarded as a threat to their lives, and it is because of their racial identity.

In the case of President Trump, it is worth looking at his executive order, “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa” on February, 7 2025 as an indication of what is the American motivation for this decision. Mainly three points emerged.

The first is South Africa’s new Expropriation Act. The order described the Act as a “shocking disregard of its citizens’ rights” and it enables “the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation”. Furthermore, it accuses the South African government of “government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation”.

The second motivation is “countless government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education and business”. The third point is “hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners”.