Landmark pledging conference to support Somali refugees going home starts
Press Releases, 21 October 2015
Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake, Kenya's Minister of Interior and Coordination of National Government H.E. (Rtd) Maj. General Joseph Ole Nkaissery, Europe's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and UN High Commissioner António Guterres will open a pledging conference this morning to mobilize more international support for creation of conditions for voluntary return and sustainable reintegration in Somalia as well as the security and resilience of refugees and host communities in Kenya.
Delegates from more than over 40 countries and organizations will discuss how to concretely prepare for voluntary returns of Somali refugees from the region and enhance absorption capacity in areas of return in Somalia by strengthening humanitarian and development actions. The main focus will be on improving security and law enforcement, rehabilitation of infrastructure and the environment, expansion of access to education, water and sanitation services, health care provision, shelter, agriculture and the creation of job opportunities. The initial plan of action, which is aligned with the Somalia New Deal Compact framework, requires a total of US$500 million and will run for two years until the end of 2017.
"We need to invest in Somalia so that some of the refugees who are currently stranded in refugee camps can go home and participate in rebuilding their country", Guterres said. "That would benefit not only Somalia and the Somali refugees, but the entire region".
UNHCR and partners have helped some 5,300 refugees to voluntarily return to Somalia since December 2014; while a significant number have returned spontaneously. Over 2 million Somalis remain displaced in the region, including some 1.1 million in their own country and 967,000 as refugees in the neighbouring countries. The majority (420,000) are living in Kenya, mostly in the five refugee camps in Dadaab in the north-east of the country. Nearly 250,000 Somali refugees are living in Ethiopia and a similar number in Yemen.
For more information, photos and video (and B-roll) please see our media page:
http://www.unhcr.org/somalia-ministerial/
For more information on this topic, please contact:
- In Brussels, Karin de Gruijl on mobile +41 79 255 9213
- In Nairobi, Duke Mwancha on mobile +254 722 207 863
- In Geneva, Adrian Edwards on mobile +41 79 557 9120
- For the European Commission in Brussels Stacey Vickers on mobile +32 2 29 94153
Returnees in Myanmar
During the early 1990s, more than 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled across the border into Bangladesh, citing human rights abuses by Myanmar's military government. In exile, refugees received shelter and assistance in 20 camps in the Cox's Bazaar region of Bangladesh. More than 230,000 of the Rohingya Muslims have returned since 1992, but about 22,000 still live in camps in Bangladesh. To promote stability in returnee communities in Myanmar and to help this group of re-integrate into their country, UNHCR and its partner agencies provide monitors to insure the protection and safety of the returnees as well as vocational training, income generation schemes, adult literacy programs and primary education.
Returnees in Myanmar
Lebanese Returnees Receive Aid
UNHCR started distributing emergency relief aid in devastated southern Lebanese villages in the second half of August. Items such as tents, plastic sheeting and blankets are being distributed to the most vulnerable. UNHCR supplies are being taken from stockpiles in Beirut, Sidon and Tyre and continue to arrive in Lebanon by air, sea and road.
Although 90 percent of the displaced returned within days of the August 14 ceasefire, many Lebanese have been unable to move back into their homes and have been staying with family or in shelters, while a few thousand have remained in Syria.
Since the crisis began in mid-July, UNHCR has moved 1,553 tons of supplies into Syria and Lebanon for the victims of the fighting. That has included nearly 15,000 tents, 154,510 blankets, 53,633 mattresses and 13,474 kitchen sets. The refugee agency has imported five trucks and 15 more are en route.
Posted on 29 August 2006
Lebanese Returnees Receive Aid
Crossing the Gulf of Aden
Every year thousands of people in the Horn of Africa - mainly Somalis and Ethiopians - leave their homes out of fear or pure despair, in search of safety or a better life. They make their way over dangerous Somali roads to Bossaso in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
In this lawless area, smuggler networks have free reign and innocent and desperate civilians pay up to US$150 to make the perilous trip across the Gulf of Aden.
Some stay weeks on end in safe houses or temporary homes in Bossaso before they can depart. A sudden call and a departure in the middle of the night, crammed in small unstable boats. At sea, anything can happen to them - they are at the whim of smugglers. Some people get beaten, stabbed, killed and thrown overboard. Others drown before arriving on the beaches of Yemen, which have become the burial ground for hundreds who many of those who died en route.
Crossing the Gulf of Aden
Return to Somalia
Ali and his family are ready to return to Somalia after living in Dadaab refugee camp for the past five years. We follow their journey from packing up their home in the camp to settling into their new life back in Somalia.
Kenya: High Commissioner Visits Dadaab Refugee Camp
Last week the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres completed a visit to Kenya and Somalia where he met with the Presidents of the two countries, as well as Somali refugees and returnees.
Kenya: High Commissioner Visits Dadaab Refugee Camp
Last week the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres completed a visit to Kenya and Somalia where he met with the Presidents of the two countries, as well as Somali refugees and returnees.
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