Jesuit Refugee Services

Trauma counselling, advocacy and tracing of refugees, group therapy, face-to-face counselling Accompany, serve, and advocate for refugees and forcibly displaced persons - **Psychosocial support** — counselling and mental health support for refugees and asylum seekers, many of whom have experienced persecution, sexual violence, trafficking, and conflict-related GBV prior to and during displacement - **Emergency assistance** — food vouchers, shelter referrals, emergency material support (subject to assessment and eligibility; priority: in SA < 2 years, or vulnerable groups including women with serious chronic illness, people with disabilities, vulnerable children) - **Health and care assistance** — navigating access to free public health care; dental, eye care, and specialist referrals; medication support in exceptional circumstances - **Legal support** — asylum process support, documentation, qualification equivalence, refugee status navigation - **Livelihoods and vocational training** — sewing/cosmetology/skills training at the Arrupe Centre; small business development - **English Language Training** — 3-month beginner and intermediate courses (Johannesburg and Pretoria) for asylum seekers/refugees in SA < 2 years - **School fee assistance** — partial, subject to assessment; not for private schools - **Elderly programme** — activities and support for elderly refugees - **GBV within refugee community** — JRS's Arrupe Centre and Johannesburg operations are cited in research and human rights documentation as providing critical psychosocial support for refugee women experiencing GBV both in their country of origin and in South Africa. Refugee women in Johannesburg face extreme vulnerability to sexual violence, trafficking, and domestic abuse. **Priority groups:** Refugees and asylum seekers in SA < 2 years; persons with serious chronic illness; people with disabilities; vulnerable children; elderly refugees **is_24hr:** Not a 24-hour crisis service. For crisis: GBV Command Centre 0800 428 428 / SAPS 10111 / LHR (Lawyers for Human Rights — refugee legal assistance) 011 339 1960.

Education & Training GBV Support Health & HIV/AIDS Legal Aid & Justice

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Contact & Location

: 13, 5th Street, La Rochelle, Rosettenville, Johannesburg
: 0116149380
0113310037
011 838 0050
: jrs.sa@jrs.net
: https://jrs.net/en/country/south-africa)
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Opening Hours

Opening hours not available. Contact the organisation directly.

About

The South African and Southern African arm of the international Jesuit humanitarian organization JRS, which has been working with refugees and forcibly displaced persons on the African continent since the early 1980s. Johannesburg — home to what is widely described as the largest urban refugee population in the world — is the heart of JRS Southern Africa's operations, with a second office in Pretoria (Arcadia). JRS's foundational mission is to accompany, serve, and advocate for refugees and asylum seekers: not merely to deliver services but to walk alongside people who have been uprooted from everything they know. For GBV-affected refugees specifically — and refugee women in South Africa face exceptional vulnerability to sexual violence, trafficking, and domestic abuse, often both in their country of origin and again after arrival — JRS provides psychosocial support and counselling, emergency assistance (food vouchers, shelter referrals — subject to needs assessment), health care access navigation (public clinics, dental, eye care, specialist referrals), legal support for asylum processes and documentation, vocational training (sewing, cosmetology at the Arrupe Centre), English language training, school support, and elderly programmes. Assessment-based eligibility criteria apply to financial and material assistance: priority is given to those in South Africa less than two years and to vulnerable groups including women with serious chronic illness, people with disabilities, and vulnerable children. Not a 24-hour crisis service. GBV crisis: 0800 428 428 (toll-free, 24/7). Immigration/refugee legal crisis: Lawyers for Human Rights 011 339 1960.