Section 5 - Establishment of Refugee Status Determination Committee

5. (1) There is established the Refugee Status Determination Committee which consists of the following members appointed by the Minister: (a) the Chairperson, who shall be a person with expertise in refugees matters; and (b) one representative each of the— (i) Attorney-General; (ii) Zambia Police Service; (iii) Ministry responsible for foreign affairs; (iv) Immigration Department; (v) Special Division of the Office of the President; (vi) Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship; and (vii) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as ex-officio member. (2) The members shall elect the Vice-Chairperson from amongst themselves. (3) The Commissioner shall assign officers to perform such secretarial and administrative functions for purposes of or in connection with the Committee as may be necessary for the performance of its functions. (4) The provisions of the Schedule apply to the Committee.

Section 6 - Functions of Committee

6. The functions of the Committee are to— (a) receive and consider applications for the recognition of refugees referred to the Committee under section 11; and (b) perform such other functions as may be assigned to the Committee by or under this Act.

Section 11 - Application for recognition as refugee

11. (1) An asylum seeker or a person who is within Zambia, whether that person has entered Zambia lawfully or otherwise, and wishes to remain in Zambia as a recognised refugee under this Act may, within seven days of entering Zambia, apply for recognition as a refugee to the Commissioner or an authorised officer. (2) The Commissioner or an authorised officer, shall, within thirty days of the receipt of an application made under subsection (1), submit the application to the Committee. (3) An authorised officer to whom an application is made under subsection (1) shall— (a) where the authorised officer is not an immigration officer, within five days of receipt of the application, notify an immigration officer that the applicant is within Zambia and has made the application; and (b) within thirty days of receiving the application, submit the application with any documents or information in support of the application to the Commissioner who shall, upon consideration of the application and determination that it should be referred to the Committee, submit it to the Committee. (4) Despite section 22 of the Immigration and Deportation Act, 2010, or any other written law, a person who applies for recognition as a refugee under this section and a dependant of that person has the right to remain in Zambia— (a) until that person is recognised as a refugee; or (b) where the application for recognition as a refugee is rejected, until that person has had an opportunity to exhaust that person's right of appeal under section 15.

Section 13 - Recognition of refugees

13. The Commissioner may, after considering the recommendation of the Committee made pursuant to section 12 on an application, recognise the applicant as a refugee if the applicant meets the requirements of this Act and shall, within seven days of the decision, inform the applicant accordingly, in writing.

Section 14 - Exclusion or refusal to grant recognition as refugee

14. (1) The Commissioner shall exclude a person or asylum seeker from recognition of refugee status under this Act if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person or asylum seeker— (a) has committed a crime against peace, a war crime or crime against humanity; (b) has committed a serious non-political crime outside Zambia before that person's arrival in Zambia; (c) has engaged in subversive acts against any State; (d) is receiving protection or assistance from an agency of the United Nations, other than the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; (e) is a combatant or continues to take part in armed activities; and (f) has committed acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations or the African Union. (2) Where the protection or assistance referred to in subsection (1)(d) ceases without the person's position being definitively settled, that person may apply for recognition as a refugee under this Act. (3) The Commissioner shall not grant a person or asylum seeker refugee status under this Act if that person or asylum seeker— (a) having more than one nationality, had not availed oneself of the protection of one of the countries of which the person is a national, and has no valid reason, based on well-founded fear of persecution; (b) has been granted refugee status or asylum in another country before that person's entry into Zambia, except that a person arriving from a territory where there has been serious breach of peace shall have that person's application for asylum considered; and (c) has before that person's entry into Zambia transited through one or more countries and is unable to show reasonable cause for failure to seek asylum in those countries. (4) The Commissioner shall, where the Commissioner refuses to recognise a person's status as a refugee, state the reasons for the refusal and shall inform that person of the right to appeal to the Minister.

Section 15 - Appeal against refusal of grant of recognition as refugee

15. (1) A person aggrieved with the refusal of the Commissioner to recognise that person as a refugee may, within fourteen days of the receipt of the decision of the Commissioner, appeal to the Minister, in writing. (2) The Minister may consider an appeal after the expiry of the period specified in subsection (1) where the Minister determines that the appellant was prevented by justifiable cause from filing the appeal within the specified period. (3) The Minister may, before reaching a decision on an appeal— (a) refer the matter to the Committee for further inquiry and investigation; or (b) make such further inquiry and investigation into the matter. (4) The Minister may, in determining an appeal under subsection (1), confirm or set aside the decision of the Commissioner, and shall notify the appellant of the Minister's decision in the matter and the reasons for the decision. (5) Where a person appeals against the rejection of an application for recognition as a refugee and the appeal is unsuccessful, that person may be allowed to remain in Zambia for a period not exceeding three months, and if that person is in detention, that person shall be afforded reasonable facilities to seek admission to a country of that person's choice. (6) A person may apply to the Minister to extend the period of three months specified in subsection (5), and the Minister may extend that period if the Minister determines that there is a reasonable likelihood of the person being admitted to a country of that person's choice within that extended period.

Section 12 - Consideration of application by Committee

12. (1) The Committee shall, within sixty days of receiving an application for refugee status, forwarded to it under section 11, consider the application and make recommendations to the Commissioner in relation to that application as it considers fit. (2) The Committee may, within the period referred to in subsection (1), inquire into or investigate the applicant as it may consider necessary for purposes of this Act.

Article 18 – Provisions to secure protection of law

(1) If any person is charged with a criminal offence, then, unless the charge is withdrawn, the case shall be afforded a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law. (2) Every person who is charged with a criminal offence— (a) shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved or has pleaded guilty; (b) shall be informed as soon as reasonably practicable, in a language that he understands and in detail, of the nature of the offence charged; (c) shall be given adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence; (d) shall unless legal aid is granted to him in accordance with the law enacted by Parliament for such purpose be permitted to defend himself before the court in person, or at his own expense, by a legal representative of his own choice; (e) shall be afforded facilities to examine in person or by his legal representative the witnesses called by the prosecution before the court, and to obtain the attendance and carry out the examination of witnesses to testify on his behalf before the court on the same conditions as those applying to witnesses called by the prosecution; and (f) shall be permitted to have without payment the assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand the language used at the trial of the charge; and except with his own consent the trial shall not take place in his absence unless he so conducts himself as to render the continuance of the proceedings in his presence impracticable and the court has ordered him to be removed and the trial to proceed in his absence. (3) When a person is tried for any criminal offence, the accused person or any person authorised by him in that behalf shall, if he so requires and subject to payment of such reasonable fee as may be prescribed by law, be given within a reasonable time after judgement a copy for the use of the accused person of any record of the proceedings made by or on behalf of the court. (4) A person shall not be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and a penalty shall not be imposed for any criminal offence that is severer in degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have been imposed for that offence at the time it was committed. (5) A person who shows that he has been tried by a competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted shall not again be tried for that offence or for any other criminal offence of which he could have been convicted at the trial for that offence, except upon the order of a superior court in the course of appeal or review proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal. (6) A person shall not be tried for a criminal offence if he shows that he has been pardoned for that offence. (7) A person who is tried for a criminal offence shall not be compelled to give evidence at the trial. (8) A person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty is prescribed in a written law: Provided that nothing in this clause shall prevent a court of record from punishing any person for contempt of itself notwithstanding that the act or omission constituting the contempt is not defined in a written law and the penalty therefore is not so prescribed. (9) Any court or other adjudicating authority prescribed by law for determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation shall be established by law and shall be independent and impartial; and where proceedings for such a determination are instituted by any person before such a court or other adjudicating authority, the case shall be given a fair hearing within a reasonable time. (10) Except with the agreement of all the parties thereto, all proceedings of every court and proceedings for the determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation before any other adjudicating authority, including the announcement of the decision of the court or other authority, shall be held in public. (11) Nothing in clause (10) shall prevent the court or other adjudicating authority from excluding from the proceedings persons other than the parties thereto and their legal representatives to such extent as the court or other authority— (a) may consider necessary or expedient in circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice or in interlocutory proceedings; or (b) may be empowered by law to do in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, the welfare of persons under the age of eighteen years or the protection of the private lives of persons concerned in the proceedings. (12) Nothing contained in or done under the authority of any law shall be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of— (a) paragraph (a) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question imposes upon any person charged with a criminal offence the burden of proving particular facts; (b) paragraph (d) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question prohibits legal representation before a subordinate court in proceedings for an offence under Zambian customary law, being proceedings against any person who, under that law, is subject to that law; (c) paragraph (e) of clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question imposes reasonable conditions that must be satisfied if witnesses called to testify on behalf of an accused person are to be paid their expenses out of public funds; (d) clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law provides that— (i) where the trial of any person for any offence prescribed by or under the law has been adjourned and the accused, having pleaded to the charge, fails to appear at the time fixed by the court for the resumption of his trial after the adjournment, the proceedings may continue notwithstanding the absence of the accused if the court, being satisfied that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it is just and reasonable so to do, so orders; and (ii) the court shall set aside any conviction or sentence pronounced in the absence of the accused in respect of that offence if the accused satisfies the court without undue delay that the cause of his absence was reasonable and that he had a valid defence to the charge; (e) clause (2) to the extent that it is shown that the law provides that the trial of a body corporate may take place in the absence of any representative of the body corporate upon a charge in respect of which a plea of not guilty has been entered by the court; (f) clause (5) to the extent that it is shown that the law in question authorises a court to try a member of a disciplined force for a criminal offence notwithstanding any trial and conviction or acquittal of that member under the disciplinary law of that force, so, however, that any court so trying such a member and convicting him shall in sentencing him to any punishment take into account any punishment awarded him under that disciplinary law. (13) In the case of any person who is held in lawful detention, clause (1), paragraphs (d) and (e) of clause (3) shall not apply in relation to his trial for a criminal offence under the law regulating the discipline of persons held in such detention. (14) In its application to a body corporate clause (2) shall have effect as if words "in person or" were omitted from paragraph (d) and (e). (15) In this Article "criminal offence" means a criminal offence under the law in force in Zambia.