UNHCR Niger

At the launching ceremony of the documentation campaign, Mr Idder Adamou, President of the National Eligibility Commission and Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior, delivers a refugee certificate to a Nigerian family who fled the violence in northern Nigeria. © Arnaud, UNICEF

With smiles on their faces, the first group of men and women received their ID documents on Tuesday, 11 February in Diffa. An estimated 40,000 persons have fled the violence in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States in northeastern Nigeria since May 2013 and sought refuge in neighbouring Niger. Most of them came empty handed just carrying the clothes and a few belongings they could grab.

There are no camps in Diffa region and this displaced population lives across a large stretch of land in 80 to 100 villages along the common border between Nigeria and Niger. They have sought shelter in host families while waiting that aid agencies, such as UNHCR and the Niger Red Cross, build temporary houses for them. The World Food Programme and the ICRC are providing food to this population that has settled in an area that is suffering chronically from dry weather conditions, poor harvests and food deficits.

But something else is also missing in most cases: a document which could identify the bearer. While living in their villages at peacetime most of them did not see the need to get themselves an ID document or a birth certificate for their children. Now, living in another country, next to a civil war zone, the lack of documentation poses a real protection risk: No ID document can mean restrictions in movement or temporary arrest in order to verify the identity of a person.

Unicef has been supporting the regional registry department for some years now, concentrating on local children and the need to provide them with birth certificates. The massive influx of displaced persons has not only overwhelmed the local host but also the administration. Hence, UNHCR has committed itself to help the government in documenting the population: Niger citizens previously living in Nigeria and displaced by the fighting will receive Niger ID-cards and so will the families which host them. Refugees, i.e. citizens from Nigeria, will receive refugee attestations.

The launch ceremony last Tuesday went well but the overall campaign is going to be difficult. There is first of all the lack of birth certificates on which to base the issuance of ID-cards. And then there is in many cases no clarity on the nationality of the person given that people use to marry across the border choosing a spouse of a different nationality than his or her own. Polygamy is also widespread and many women have returned with their children to Niger because their Nigerian husband has either died in the violence or - for the safety of his wife and children- has sent them back to their native Niger. And so it is likely that courts and judges will also be involved to make sure that the displaced population which has lost already so much will not suffer further because of a lack of identity papers.

A Niger citizen aged 56, proudly holds for the first time in his life his national identity card, together with the court auxiliary birth decision that helped him prove his nationality. ©Arnaud, UNICEF

To shed light on the lives of refugees like Chakma, UNHCR, Cheil Worldwide and the Seoul Museum of Art have joined hands to hold a 3D refugee figurine exhibition in Seoul. Titled “Invisible People”, the exhibition is aimed at making refugees in and outside South Korea “visible” using advanced technology that helped create the miniature figurines.

Organized as part of Cheil Worldwide’s corporate social responsibility activities, UNHCR and the firm together met refugees in South Korea and Niger over the last two months. The refugees had their photographs taken and three-dimensional mini-figurines were produced based on their images. In-depth interviews with the refugees were also captured on video.

The results – dozens of figurines, each no larger than a handspan – are displayed in hidden places such as stairways, shelves and windowsills of the Seoul Museum of Art. Visitors who find the figurines can listen to the refugees’ stories by connecting their mobile phones with the QR/NFC codes inserted in each figurine.

To reflect the widespread indifference towards refugees, several large screens have been displayed in the main exhibition hall showing real-time video of people walking past the refugee figurines nonchalantly.

The small size of the figurines and the unusual places where they are displayed are in line with the goal of the exhibition to help visitors find refugees and “make the invisible, visible”, organizers explained.

“Instead of telling people about refugees in a straightforward message, we were hoping to help visitors think and understand the difficulties and needs of refugees while finding them and listening to their stories one by one,” said Song-ha Lee, a copywriter at Cheil Worldwide and co-director of the exhibition.

South Korea became signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention in 1992 and recognized its first refugee in 2001. A growing number of people have been seeking asylum in the country, seeing it as the homeland of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a country with advanced human rights.

By the end of 2013, more than 6,600 people had sought asylum in South Korea from countries such as Pakistan, Syria and Myanmar. Some 370 of them were recognized as refugees by the Korean government.

During an interview with UNHCR and Cheil Worldwide in Niger, Ouda Ag Mohamad, a refugee from Mali, wished that people in Korea and around the world would “never have to leave their homes and become refugees” like himself. “I hope you can live in dignity and security throughout your life,” he said. “I also hope peace will be restored in my country as soon as possible so that I can return home.”

Dirk Hebecker, Representative of UNHCR Korea, asked people to never forget that “refugees leave their homes and family not because they want to, but because they have to”. “I hope more people will get to know about the plight of refugees in and outside Korea, and recognize them as visible people,” he said. “We are thrilled to be part of such a great exhibition made possible by a creative, dynamic team of young advertising professionals.”

The exhibition of 3D refugee figurines opened on February 7 and will run through March 2 at the Seoul Museum of Art in central Seoul.

For more information, please watch the video
By Heinn Shin in Seoul, the Republic of Korea

A Niamey, 1500 enfants réfugiés fréquentent les écoles publiques. Comme leurs camarades nigériens beaucoup d'entre eux sont obligés d'apprendre assis à même le sol comme ici à l'école Bobiel 1 (premier Arrondissement). Le 7 février dernier, le HCR et son partenaire CADEV ont remis 200 table-bancs à l'école Bobiel 1 et les autres écoles du même quartier. Ensuite, le Représentant du HCR Mr Karl Steinacker accompagné de l'administratrice principale de protection Mme Yvette Muhimpundu et de la chargée de l'éducation Mme Wanjira Muthoni ont chanté ensemble avec les élèves pour fêter l'événement.