Registration of refugees and asylum-seekers is a crucial protection tool which underpins a robust emergency response and the pursuit of solutions. Accurate information on persons of concern in emergency situations enables UNHCR to establish a reliable population baseline for planning purposes, effectively deliver protection and assistance, and identify the most vulnerable persons in need of specific protection. In addition, registration is key to quality and efficient Refugee Status Determination procedures and to achieving durable solutions. Registration is a continuous activity that requires ongoing updating and verification of data. However, the quality of existing information remains inadequate in many operations where the existing registration tools has not been fully and regularly updated. Furthermore, the increasing concerns from authorities around national security has led to a shrinking asylum space. Some of these concerns can be addressed by providing adequate support in screening of new arrivals and continuous registration to provide assurance to states. Increasing availability of data has led to some usage and privacy challenges for data-sharing between UNHCR and partners.

Education provides opportunities for refugee children to reach their full potential and requires a comprehensive response across the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Quality education gives children a place of safety and can reduce protection risks prevalent among adolescent girls and boys. These include child marriage, child labour, exploitative and dangerous work, and teenage pregnancy. Refugees should be included in national education systems with national curricula rather than pursue other courses of study that cannot be supervised or certified by the host country. The use of catch-up and accelerated learning programs, vocational training and other types of non-formal education are important to ensure children receive a level of education that will allow them to integrate into national education systems and/or to continue their education elsewhere. At the end of 2016, only 50 per cent of refugee children globally attended primary school, with secondary education attendance at 22 per cent and tertiary education at less than 1 per cent. Even when children of concern are enrolled in school, challenges about quality, retention rate, teacher/student ratio, and appropriate curriculum remain. In some countries, refugees face various restrictions on their enrolment in national schools and have access only to unregistered schools. The inclusion of refugees in national education systems requires strong partnerships and support to successfully integrate children and youth into the new system. Gaps in education limit its effectiveness as a key protection intervention for children and young people of concern.

Effective protection can be established only by preventing SGBV by identifying risks and responding to survivors using a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach. SGBV continues to be major protection concern across several situations in the Africa region. Sexual exploitation and abuse continue to be reported, particularly in protracted situations where resources have declined and food rations have been reduced or completely cut. Domestic violence and male survivors of SGBV must be taken into account during prevention and response measures.

Children constitute a significant number of persons of concern in Africa, and they are at greater risk of abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, trafficking, and forced recruitment into armed groups. The South Sudan situation has been labelled a ‘child protection emergency’ with 70 per cent of South Sudanese refugees being children under 18 years of age. In northern Ethiopia, children comprise 35 per cent of the total Eritrean refugee population present in the camps, with youth and children together representing 75 per cent. In northeastern Nigeria, the increasing use of young girls as suicide bombers has been recognized.

Statelessness remains a significant protection concern across the region. Large stateless populations remain in Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and DRC. Significant groups of persons are still at risk of becoming stateless in several countries including Sudan and South Sudan. There has been some progress in strengthening nationality laws and their implementation and improving birth registration and documentation systems; however, a lack of political will among Governments to prioritize the issue prevents further progress.

The Africa region continues to grapple with several emergencies. The scale and size of these emergencies remain context-specific and require a tailored timely response. Equally, the need for UNHCR’s planning processes including protection strategies to be agile, timely and quality assured has been highlighted as an area which could be further improved.

UNHCR is the Global Cluster Lead Agency for Protection. In this capacity, UNHCR has the responsibility to lead and coordinate other United Nations agencies, inter-governmental organisations and Non-governmental organisations participating in the GPC.

The Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework presents a comprehensive response designed to ensure rapid and well-supported reception and admission measures, support for immediate and ongoing needs (e.g. protection, health, and education), assistance to national and local institutions and communities receiving refugees, investment in the resilience capacities of refugees and local communities (livelihoods), and expanded opportunities for durable solutions. The elements of the CRRF elaborated in the New York Declaration draw on best practices from over 65 years of experience in international refugee protection, humanitarian assistance and the search for solutions.

The RCM is the basis for leading and coordinating refugee operations; it is an articulation of our shared duty towards refugees, and a statement of both an integrated humanitarian vision and a distinct responsibility. Together with the UNHCR-OCHA Joint Note on Mixed Situations, it provides the framework and the principles through which refugee and mixed situations are to be approached.

Self-reliance is the ability of an individual, household or community to meet essential needs and enjoy social and economic rights in a sustainable manner and with dignity. In rural dispersed settings the ability to lead active and productive lives is closely linked with access to natural resources and supported by the capacity to build strong social, economic and cultural ties with their host communities. In many refugee situations, including protracted situations, refugees continue to depend on dwindling and unsustainable humanitarian assistance. It is crucial that refugees are rendered more autonomous and self-reliant to meet their essential needs.

Our priorities are to promote conditions for voluntary repatriation, to ensure a free and informed choice, and to mobilize support for returnees. To allow this, we use various means such as organizing “go-and-see” visits for refugees, compiling updated information on their country and region of origin, engaging in peace and reconciliation activities, promoting housing and property restitution, and providing return assistance and legal aid to returnees.

Resettlement is the transfer of refugees from an asylum country to another State that has agreed to admit them and grant them permanent settlement. UNHCR is mandated by its Statute and the UN General Assembly Resolutions to undertake resettlement as a durable solution. Resettlement is unique in that it is the only durable solution that involves the relocation of refugees from an asylum country to a third country.

Local integration is a complex and gradual process with legal, economic, social and cultural dimensions. It imposes considerable demands on both the individual and the receiving society. In many cases, acquiring the nationality of the country of asylum is the culmination of this process. UNHCR estimates that, over the past decade, 1.1 million refugees around the world became citizens in their country of asylum.