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Tag: UNHCR

  • UNHCR commends Nigeria for ‘effectively managing’ IDPs

    The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nigeria has commended the country for effectively handling the humanitarian crisis in the North East.

    The UNHCR’s External Relations Officer, Mr. Hanson Tamfu, gave the commendation during an interactive session with journalists in Damaturu, Yobe, on Thursday.

    “Nigeria has made great efforts in the management of the humanitarian situation in the North East that was bedeviled by insurgency, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the UNHCR official as saying to journalists at the session.

    “If this situation that happened in Nigeria were to be in any other country, it would have been a catastrophe because it is not easy handling two million displaced people.”

    He assured that the UN would continue to support the government and displaced people in Nigeria to live a dignified life.

    “Nigerian government will remain the driving force while the various UN agencies provide supplementary roles,’’ Tamfu added.

    He appealed to the media to support the UN agencies in executing their duties in the state.

    The officer said the agencies would partner with the media in accurately reporting issues to keep the public adequately informed.

  • Shettima lauds UNHCR for support to Borno households

    Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday commended the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for donating building materials to 2,000 beneficiaries in six local government areas of the state.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the beneficiaries were from Konduga, Bama, Gwoza, Damboa, Dikwa and Mafa local government areas.

    Shettima made the commendation at the flagging off ceremony in Konduga town on Tuesday.

    He said the gesture would enable victims of insurgency; particularly the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have shelter as they voluntarily return home.

    Shettima said the gesture was timely as the state government through the ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR) had commenced massive reconstruction process of destroyed communities across the 27 local government areas of the state.

    He called on other humanitarian agencies to assist Borno in its trying moment, specifically now that peace has returned and more IDPs were returning to their communities.

  • We are guided by international best practices on IDPs – Buhari

    We are guided by international best practices on IDPs – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday said Nigeria is guided by international best practices and standards in rehabilitating millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East.

    He spoke while receiving the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Phillipo Grandi, in the State House, Abuja.

    The President disclosed that Nigeria was making efforts to domesticate the Kampala Convention, which legally binds governments to protect the rights and wellbeing of people forced to flee their homes by conflict.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the President also lauded the military, which he said has created a safe passage that has made it easier to help the displaced persons.

    He said different mechanisms have been put in place to care for the displaced persons, in areas of nutrition, health, physical and spiritual rehabilitation, among others.

    “About 150,000 refugees have also come back home from across the borders. Our sleeves are rolled up to face the challenges head-on, along with our strategic partners,” the President said.

    According to him, Nigeria is appreciating the continued collaboration of the UN.

    Mr. Grandi, who had visited Cameroun, Niger, and Chad, as part of his tour of the Lake Chad Basin region, commended what he called “Nigeria’s determination to resolve the humanitarian crisis.”

    He said his visit to Maiduguri, in Borno State, afforded him the opportunity “to see the excellent work being done by the authorities, with support of the international community.”

    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said he was leaving Nigeria with the conviction that things were under control.

     

     

  • After Boko Haram, Nigerians return to devastated homes – UN

    Hundreds of Nigerians who fled Boko Haram in Borno State have returned to devastated towns and villages in recent days after the army seized back the militant group’s last remaining strongholds, said the United Nations.

    Families will return to find their homes and farmland destroyed, basic services wiped out and will live under the persistent threat of attacks by the jihadist group, Leo Dobbs, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

    “Many of the areas they are going back to have been completely devastated,” said Dobbs.

    Homes and healthcare, agriculture, and security services are in ruin after around two years of Boko Haram rule, he added.

    Despite the Nigerian army’s success in driving Boko Haram out of occupied territory that 18 months ago was the size of Belgium, the militants still manage to stage regular suicide bombings in Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon, Reuters reported.

    Since 2009, more than 15,000 people have been killed, 2.3 million displaced and the local economy decimated.

  • Displaced persons can live anywhere in Nigeria – UNHCR

    Ms Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s Deputy Representative on Protection, on Monday said that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had the right to live anywhere in Nigeria.

    Mukanga-Eno told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that since the situation in the North East had forced them from their communities, they could move to safer communities.

    ‘’The situation in the North East due to activities of Boko Haram has resulted in about 2.2 million Internally Displaced Nigerians.

    ‘’We need to know that these internally displaced persons are in vulnerable situation and do need support to survive.

    ‘’So, these internally displaced persons have the right to live in any part of Nigeria, because they are also Nigerians.

    ‘’We need to know that these IDPs are also citizens of Nigeria, and have the right to move to and settle wherever in Nigeria they wish to settle,’’ she said.

    The UNHCR official said that about 15,000 displaced persons had relocated from camps in the North-East to Abuja, while some others had moved to the South-West for survival.

    She said that many of the IDPs were already leaving their camps voluntarily, in search of means of livelihood and support, from their friends and family members.

    Mukanga-Eno, who added that most of the IDPs that were still in the camps because they had no means of livelihood outside the camps, said they urgently needed more support.

    She said that UNHCR and other UN agencies were working with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), National Commission for Refugees, and the National Human Rights Commission, in providing the IDPs with support.

  • Refugees at highest ever level – UN agency

    The number of people displaced by conflict is at the highest level ever recorded, the United Nations refugee agency has said.

    It estimated that 65.3 million people were either refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of 5 million in a year.

    This represents one in every 113 people on the planet, the UN agency said.

    Meanwhile, the UN refugee chief has said a worrying “climate of xenophobia” has taken hold in Europe as it struggles to cope with the migrant crisis.

    The influx of people, the biggest since World War Two, has led to greater support for far-right groups and controversial anti-immigration policies.

    In its annual report marking World Refugee Day, the UN said it was the first time the number of refugees worldwide had passed the 60 million mark.

    Over half of the total comes from just three countries – Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, the BBC reports.

    Despite the huge focus on Europe’s migrant crisis, the UN said 86 per cent of the world’s refugees were being sheltered in low and middle income countries.

    Turkey is the biggest host country for refugees worldwide, with 2.5m people, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon.

    More than 1,011,700 migrants arrived in Europe by sea last year, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), although other agencies put that number much higher.

    Some 35,000 arrived by land, the IOM said.

    The preferred destinations for most of them were richer northern countries like Germany and Sweden.

  • Northeast not conducive for return of IDPs – UN agency

    The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday said the Northeast t is not yet conducive for the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

    The UNHCR Regional Representative for West Africa, Ms Liz Ahua, said this at the opening ceremony of the Lake Chad Regional Protection Dialogue in Abuja.

    Ahua said the persistent threat from Boko Haram, presence of mines and absence of basic services constitute acute humanitarian and protection risks for the affected population.

    She said the situation was not only peculiar to Nigerians but all countries bordering the Lake Chad Basin.

    She explained that the regional meeting was meant to adopt a workable blueprint on regional protection of the Lake Chad basin and safe return of refugees and IDPs.

    “This meeting is meant to exploit how we can better ensure IDPs physical safety, access to asylum and protection, including protection from forced expulsions.

    “Many refugees and IDPs have experience high levels of violence, many suffer from trauma, and are in need of support in practical and systemic ways can we help them,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the UNHCR official as saying at the forum.

    She said over 2.7million people in the region had been displaced, while 20million people had been negatively impacted by insurgency in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

     

  • UNHCR and Agatu killings

    UNHCR and Agatu killings

    While addressing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Ugboko camp recently, the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States, Angele Dikongu Atangana, wailed that in her 20 years of working as a humanitarian she had never seen such a level of destruction as the Agatu killings. She was as appalled by the destruction in Agatu perpetrated by herdsmen claiming to be on a revenge mission as ex-Senate President David Mark was disgusted during his recent visit to the same area.

    If the UNHCR representative could be moved by what she saw, it is puzzling that the Inspector General of Police visited the area and returned to tell newsmen that all that bothered him was the exaggerated report of the mayhem. It is also puzzling that no other senior presidency official has visited Agatu, given the scale of the killings, and nothing but a bland statement regretting the destruction and promising permanent solution has been issued.

    What is even more appalling is the fact that despite everyone who has visited the killing fields being horrified, the security agencies have continued to play dumb. How many suspects have been hauled in for questioning? Those who perpetrated the horrific revenge killings have claimed responsibility, and have given account of what led to the massacre. Yet, the security agencies have pretended not to hear the confessions. There is no better efficient way to undermine a country than for crime to go unattended to; for, after all, in this case the matter of detection had been solved by those who committed the crime. And there is no better example of national bias than the government’s indifferent attitude to the Agatu killings. The government can have the assurance of everyone that Nigerians are paying attention, and noticing every of its moves.

     

  • US to support Burundi with additional $31m

    The U.S. Government on Friday announced its plan to provide additional life-saving humanitarian assistance worth $31 million for refugees in Burundi.

    The African Media Hub of the Department of State said in a statement that the pledged fund would provide assistance for refugees in Burundi and Congolese refugees living in Burundi, who were “food insecure’’.

    “The U.S. announces more than $31 million in additional life-saving humanitarian assistance for refugees from Burundi, Congolese refugees living in Burundi, and others in Burundi, who are food insecure.

    “This new funding brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for the regional response to the Burundi crisis to more than $86 million since the start of the crisis in 2015,’’ it said.

    The statement said about $23million of the additional fund would be given to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Burundi Situation Emergency Appeal.

    It also said about $8million of the fund would be devoted to support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

    According to the Statement, the additional funding will allow the UNHCR to provide new refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia with basic life-saving assistance.

    It said that the fund would provide the refugees with shelter, clean water and sanitation facilities, healthcare, essential household items, programmes that protect children and activities that protect and respond to gender-based violence.

    “The US will continue to support those affected by this crisis, while working closely with humanitarian organisations and with countries in the region,’’ the statement added.

    More than 210,000 people have fled Burundi since April when Pierre Nkurunziza announced his bid for a third term in office.

    Nkurunziza won the disputed election in July but opposition continues, raising concerns that Burundi could descend into deadly violence.

    Of the 210,000 refugees in the DRC (14,300), Uganda (15,800), Rwanda (70,900), Tanzania (110,300), and Zambia (700), 56.2 per cent of their number are aged 17 and under.

  • UNHCR seeks US$545 million for Nigeria, CAR crises

    UNHCR seeks US$545 million for Nigeria, CAR crises

    The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners have called on donor nations for more than half-a-billion US dollars this year to help hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee conflicts in Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR) and the host communities providing them with shelter and other basic services.

    The two Regional Refugee Response Plans (RRRP), presented at a donor briefing in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on Monday include US$198.76 million for 230,000 Nigerian refugees and another 284,300 members of host communities in Niger, Chad and Cameroon as well as US$345.7 million for 476,300 CAR refugees and some 289,000 people hosting them in Chad, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Republic of Congo.

    Both RRRPs cover needs in sectors such as protection, education, food security, health and nutrition, livelihoods, shelter, basic aid and water, hygiene and sanitation. The CAR appeal is being made by 25 organizations, including UNHCR and other UN agencies as well as NGOs.

    The Nigeria appeal is made by 28 organizations. UNHCR alone is seeking US$189.54 million under the Central African Republic RRRP and US$62.33 million for Nigeria.

    “These two humanitarian crises must not be forgotten; they are not going away. The suffering is great and the needs acute among both the displaced and host communities,” said Liz Ahua, UNHCR’s Regional Refugee Coordinator for the CAR and Nigeria situations.

    Ahua said violence occurs on almost a daily basis in North-East Nigeria and CAR, generating fear and new displacement in the region, citing as examples suicide attacks, kidnapping, indiscriminate killings and massive human rights abuses.

    “There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we won’t see it unless there is a much stronger commitment from African governments and the international community to help re-establish stability and peace,” Ahua said, urging donors to give more generously.

    In 2015, the Nigerian RRRP received 52 per cent of its financial requirements whilst the Central African Republic RRRP received just 27 per cent.

    Despite important steps towards restoring peace in both North-East Nigeria and CAR, there were also reverses and continuing significant population displacement in 2015. In Nigeria, the government rolled back Boko Haram gains, but the insurgent group turned to terror tactics that spread into neighbouring countries.

    In CAR, relative peace was punctuated by waves of violence that triggered flight within the country and into the DRC, but the first round of the presidential election passed peacefully in late December with the participation of tens of thousands of refugees in Chad, Republic of Congo and Cameroon. The second round is due in February.

    The crises in Nigeria and CAR will continue to provide major challenges throughout 2016 in countries such as Cameroon, which provides sanctuary and assistance to refugees from both Nigeria and CAR.

    For just this country, the appeals seek US$130.8 million to help 234,500 CAR refugees and almost 216,700 host community members and US$56.36 million for 100,000 Nigerian refugees and 20,000 hosts in Cameroon.

    Highlighting some of the needs, Ahua said: “We need funding to prevent malnutrition among children; to run schools, build up proper sanitation systems and provide clean water; and to make sure that families have shelter over their heads.”

    The Nigeria and CAR regional response plans are part of the wider 2016 humanitarian appeal, asking for US$20.1 billion to reach 87 million people around the world, launched last December.