Disputes – international

South Africa has placed military along the border to apprehend the thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing economic dysfunction and political persecution; as of January 2007, South Africa also supports large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (33,000), Somalia (20,000), Burundi (6,500), and other states in Africa (26,000); managed dispute with Namibia over the location of the boundary in the Orange River; in 2006, Swazi king advocates resort to ICJ to claim parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa.

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Refugees (country of origin): 10,609 (Democratic Republic of Congo), 7,548 (Somalia), 5,764 (Angola) (2006)

Trafficking in Persons

South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation; women and girls are trafficked internally - and occasionally to European and Asian countries - for sexual exploitation; women from other African countries are trafficked to South Africa and, less frequently, onward to Europe for sexual exploitation; men and boys are trafficked from neighbouring countries for forced agricultural labour; Asian and Eastern European women are trafficked to South Africa for debt-bonded sexual exploitation.

Illicit drugs

South Africa is a transshipment centre for heroin, hashish and cocaine, as well as a major cultivator of marijuana in its own right; cocaine and heroin consumption is on the rise. South Africa is also the world's largest market for illicit methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various east African countries, but increasingly producing its own synthetic drugs for domestic consumption. The country is an attractive venue for money launderers, given the increasing level of organised criminal and narcotics activity in the region and the size of the South African economy.