Mauritania

Working environment

• In 2015, Mauritania maintained its open-door policy, and refugees and asylum-seekers continued to enjoy freedom of movement in the country.
• In urban areas, UNHCR in Mauritania continued to undertake its protection and assistance programme for more than 1,500 refugees and asylum-seekers from some 15 countries.
• UNHCR also continued to protect and assist around 50,000 Malian refugees in Mbera camp in the south-east, some of whom had been living in exile since 2012. 
• In Mbera camp, the refugee and host populations continued to coexist peacefully, despite scarce resources in the area. 
• The situation in northern Mali, where the majority of the camp’s population were from, remained unstable, thus preventing large-scale repatriations.

Population trends

• A verification exercise for the camp’s population, conducted between December 2014 and October 2015, allowed UNHCR and its partners to obtain more reliable data on the refugee population. A decrease in the number of registered refugees (from approximately 55,400 to 50,200) was found.
• In 2015, renewed violence in the Nampala area, Mali, triggered an influx of some 400 Malian refugees into Mauritania. In parallel, some 350 individuals in Mbera camp chose to voluntarily return to Mali in December 2015.
• In addition to the camp population, there were more than 1,500 urban refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR. 
• The number of registered Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers rose in the course of 2015 from 95 to over 320.

Achievements and impact    

• UNHCR worked with the authorities on a draft national asylum law that had not yet been presented to Parliament for adoption.
• In cooperation with partners, UNHCR sensitized refugees in Mbera camp on the importance of a formal education, including for girls; the number of children aged between 5 and 11 who were enrolled in primary school subsequently increased from 50 per cent to 60 per cent in 2015.
• UNHCR continued to strengthen refugee self-reliance initiatives in Mbera camp through income-generating projects, and to support farming perimeters and livestock, as well as literacy/numeracy classes.
• 15 projects were implemented in host villages around Mbera camp with a view to promote peaceful coexistence between the refugee and host communities.

Unmet needs

• Due to funding constraints, 1,500 vulnerable persons of concern did not benefit from assistance to carry out income-generation activities.
• Despite high demand, 150 of the most vulnerable refugees could not attend adult literacy/numeracy classes in Mbera camp.
• 70 per cent of shelters in Mbera camp still need to be replaced.

Working environment

In 2015, UNHCR will protect and assist some 48,000 people of concern in Mbera camp, located some 50 km from the Malian border in a remote, arid and poor area.

Mauritania is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and is developing a national asylum system, with UNHCR’s assistance.

The Government provides land for Mbera camp and security for Malian refugees and humanitarian workers. It facilitates access to basic services for urban refugees.

In the absence of a national asylum system, UNHCR conducts registration and refugee status determination (RSD); works to strengthen the asylum capacity of national authorities; provides assistance targeting refugees with speci­fic needs; and seeks durable solutions for refugees.

The situation in northern Mali remains fragile, preventing mass returns of refugees residing in Mauritania. While there were more than 2,000 spontaneous returns in 2013, the first half of 2014 witnessed just 418. Consultations with the refugees indicated that the majority remain opposed to return until certain conditions are met.

Veri­fication and biometric registration in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou revealed there were 523 refugees and 687 asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR at the end of August 2014. In addition, some 26,000 Sahrawi people were considered to be in a refugee-like situation. They have not approached UNHCR as they are well integrated in Mauritania.

Needs and strategies

The situation in northern Mali remains fragile and is unlikely to allow a large-scale return of Malian refugees residing in Mauritania in the short to medium term. UNHCR and its partners will therefore continue to maintain a humanitarian response for some 48,000 Malian refugees in Mbera camp.

The camp now has basic infrastructure and refugees can access essential services, such as health, water, sanitation and education.

In 2015, UNHCR and partners will continue covering refugees’ essential protection and assistance needs. Emphasis will be put on strengthening Malian refugees’ self-reliance and improving their social and economic well-being, by investing more in education, vocational training and livelihood support.

Efforts to promote peaceful coexistence between the refugees and host population will be enhanced and UNHCR will implement community-based projects in refugee areas. Awareness sessions between refugee and host-community leaders will encourage dialogue and promote non-violent conflict management and resolution.

The volatile security situation in northern Mali requires emergency preparedness measures to ensure a rapid response to any new refugee influx.

Since the establishment of biometric registration in Mbera camp in April 2013, efforts have been ongoing to effectively manage refugee data. In 2015, UNHCR will continue to regularly update its database, to provide accurate population data, and produce disaggregated refugee population statistics. This will help to adapt humanitarian interventions to refugees’ needs and to target activities at the most vulnerable.

To protect and assist urban refugees and asylum-seekers, UNHCR will continue to advocate the adoption of a national asylum law and the provision of civil status documentation for refugees, particularly birth certi­ficates for refugee children born in Mauritania. The Offi­ce will continue to conduct registration and RSD, while building the authorities’ capacity to deal with asylum issues.

Given urban refugees’ diffi­cult social and economic conditions, UNHCR will continue covering their basic necessities, focusing on individuals with specifi­c needs.

In parallel, it will scale up activities, such as literacy classes, vocational training and microfinance projects, while a durable solution is sought.

Some 13,000 Mauritanian refugees who did not join the voluntary repatriation operation completed in March 2012 are registered in Senegal. Of these, some 700 have expressed the wish to return to Mauritania. Once an agreement on the future of Mauritanian refugees in Senegal is reached with Mauritanian and Senegalese authorities, UNHCR will help facilitate individual returns.