North Africa

Operational information on the North Africa subregion is presented below. A summary of this can also be downloaded in PDF format. This subregion covers the following countries:

Subregion: North Africa

{"longitude":13.2656,"latitude":27.6835,"zoom_level":4}

Latest update of camps and office locations 21 Nov 2016. By clicking on the icons on the map, additional information is displayed.

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Budgets and Expenditure in Subregion North Africa

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2016 {"categories":[2012,2013,2014,2015,2016],"budget":[170.300354998,167.92820629,177.198864558,181.220773542,173.67452757],"expenditure":[90.40952572,96.75212898,99.32585745,92.25388047,97.53519033]} {"categories":[2012,2013,2014,2015,2016],"p1":[153.305741688,162.87279954,174.738902408,178.952727542,168.62986455],"p2":[0.0688899,2.26498858,0.40996215,0.05,null],"p3":[null,null,null,null,null],"p4":[16.92572341,2.79041817,2.05,2.218046,5.04466302]} {"categories":[2012,2013,2014,2015,2016],"p1":[85.77810088,96.03934219,98.85414181,90.38762086,95.21022718],"p2":[0.06544535,0.39925112,0.08869164,0.03162106,null],"p3":[null,null,null,null,null],"p4":[4.56597949,0.31353567,0.383024,1.83463855,2.32496315]}

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People of Concern - 2016

[["Refugees",370640],["Refugee-like situation",26000],["Asylum-seekers",87408],["IDPs",174510],["Returned IDPs",449840],["Returned refugees",11],["Stateless",19],["Others of concern",3]]

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Plan Overview
Year-End Report

Response in 2016

Regional instability and insecurity affected countries in North Africa, notably in Libya and Mali as well as in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, including Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria). Countries in the subregion, including those of origin and transit also became countries of destination for increasing numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers.

The security situation in Libya was unstable, and political division had a severe impact on the civilian population, triggering internal displacement and hindering access to basic services. Against this backdrop, UNHCR is scaling up its operations in Libya and regularly updating its contingency plans in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia. Instability was the cause of further smuggling and trafficking networks in the subregion. Refugees and asylum-seekers were moving alongside migrants on the same dangerous routes from the Horn and West Africa to the Mediterranean. In 2016, over 180,000 people reached Italy by sea, 90 per cent of whom departed from Libya.

The refugee situations in Algeria and Mauritania remained protracted. In Algeria, UNHCR continued to support 90,000 vulnerable Sahrawi refugees, who have been living in five camps near Tindouf for the past four decades. In Mauritania, UNHCR assists more than 46,000 Malian refugees in Mbera camp, and in which there were 4,000 new arrivals at the end of the year. Despite renewed efforts to raise the profile of these protracted situations, funding shortfalls are hampering the delivery of life-saving assistance in an environment where resources and opportunities to enable self-reliance are scarce.

The remainder of the refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in North Africa are settled in urban areas, with the majority from Syria and large numbers coming from sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of funding limited the assistance UNHCR was able to provide to urban refugees and asylum-seekers, in particular cash assistance, shelter and livelihood opportunities.

Operations

UNHCR maintained minimum operational capacities in Western Sahara and Tindouf, Algeria, to restart the Confidence Building Measures (CBM) programme, suspended since June 2014, as soon as parties agree on resumption. More than 12,100 people were scheduled to benefit from UNHCR’s CBMs when activities were suspended.

Summary (ENG)

336	Number of personnel (international and national)
10	Number of offices
171 million	Overall funding requirements in USD (ExCom-approved 2016 budget)

Operational Environment and Strategy

Planning for 2016 is based on an overarching multi-year protection strategy that seeks to consolidate several years of work to develop national asylum capacity across the subregion. Priorities include assistance to long-standing urban populations of concern such as in Algeria and Egypt, and camp populations in Algeria and Mauritania.

UNHCR’s programmes in the subregion will be guided by irregular refugee or migrant movements to Europe, largely through Libya, by both land and sea. As part of the Special Mediterranean Initiative, the response to refugee protection and mixed movements will be centred on preventing refoulement; improving access to territory and to asylum; empowering refugees to make informed decisions; and enhancing protection space including the quality of stay arrangements and access to protection.

The Office will closely support the Governments of Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia to safeguard protection space, advance or enhance draft asylum laws and broaden relevant institutional architecture.

UNHCR will continue to support more than 200,000 registered urban refugees and asylum-seekers across North Africa, for 90,000 Sahrawi refugees in five camps near Tindouf, Algeria, and to the roughly 50,000 Malian refugees in M’bera camp, Mauritania.

Funding shortfalls will disproportionately impact smaller operations in North Africa. In all operations, UNHCR will remain guided by vulnerability criteria in prioritizing allocation of scarce financial resources.

Response and Implementation

Operations in Algeria, Egypt and Libya are presented in separate country chapters. For other countries where UNHCR operates in the subregion, please see below.

Mauritania

In 2016, the Office will ensure that refugees have access to documentation, such as birth certificates, maintain respect for humanitarian standards in the camp by meeting essential needs and reinforcing access to education. Self-sufficiency for refugees will be further enhanced through primary and secondary education, literacy and vocational training, and income-generating activities will be further enhanced. In addition to continued assistance for the 50,000 Malian refugees hosted in the remotely located M’bera camp (Bassikounou), UNHCR will increase support to the host population. This will be implemented through an inter-agency approach to maximise synergies and fill existing gaps.

Morocco

With the drafting of the asylum law and the first steps in establishing a national asylum system in Morocco, authorities and civil society have requested UNHCR support in the current transition phase. UNHCR will focus on two key areas: working with authorities to build the capacity of the various institutions that are or will be involved in the management of refugee affairs; and supporting other countries in the region to assume asylum responsibilities.

Tunisia

The Office will continue to focus on addressing mixed movements and protection at sea, as well as building asylum legislation and systems including the Special Mediterranean Initiative and concomitant donor attention on Tunisia; and, bringing the draft Asylum Law before Parliament. Further to this, the Libya conflict will continue to generate irregular movements beyond Libya and create greater protection needs in the coming year. UNHCR has developed a contingency plan in Tunisia for the Libya situation and, along with the UN Country Team is closely involved in responding to this evolving situation.

Western Sahara

UNHCR will continue to engage relevant parties in the implementation of Confidence Building Measures programme as stipulated in the 2012 Plan of Action.

Summary (ENG) or Résumé (FR)

Budget and Expenditure
Voluntary Contributions

2016 Budget and Expenditure in North Africa | USD

Operation		Pillar 1 Refugee programme	Pillar 4 IDP projects	Total
Algeria	Budget Expenditure	28,964,766 16,147,245	0 0	28,964,766 16,147,245
Egypt Regional Office	Budget Expenditure	82,276,790 45,615,645	0 0	82,276,790 45,615,645
Libya	Budget Expenditure	18,820,376 9,796,509	5,044,663 2,324,963	23,865,039 12,121,472
Mauritania	Budget Expenditure	19,532,361 14,176,433	0 0	19,532,361 14,176,433
Morocco	Budget Expenditure	6,465,549 4,539,494	0 0	6,465,549 4,539,494
Tunisia	Budget Expenditure	5,050,784 3,599,242	0 0	5,050,784 3,599,242
Western Sahara (Confidence Building Measures)	Budget Expenditure	7,519,239 1,335,660	0 0	7,519,239 1,335,660
Total	Budget Expenditure	168,629,865 95,210,227	5,044,663 2,324,963	173,674,528 97,535,190