Key Figures

72,23: Total number of persons of concern to UNHCR registered in urban areas
55,598: Are registered refugees
16,636: Are registered asylum seekers
66%: Women and children

Key highlights

• UNHCR in conjunction with the Ministry of Internal Affairs organized and facilitated a round table discussion on statelessness from 11th -13th September in Entebbe. The meeting sought to validate the Uganda national action plan (NAP) on statelessness, develop a road map for the ratification of the 1961 convention on statelessness, promote the use and domestication of the UNHCR Global Action Plan to end statelessness, capacity building and raising awareness, advocate for the review and alignment of the citizenship law of Uganda with international and regional standards.
  As a result, the NAP on statelessness was drafted and a road map for the ratification of the 1961 convention was agreed upon. During the meeting, the Government of Uganda reiterated its commitment to accede to the 1961 convention on the reduction of statelessness.

• On 20th September 2019, UNHCR accompanied a delegation from the ECHO. The objective of the mission was to assess the Information Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) project implemented by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and funded by ECHO. The Mission visited two centres in Kisenyi and Makindye where NRC conducts legal counselling, outreach and protection support for refugees and asylum seekers. Language barrier, limited feedback from service providers, support for education, livelihood and access to documentation among others were reported as major challenges affecting urban refugees. The need for improved information sharing with the community was noted. The ECHO mission also visited the OPM registration centre in Kampala where they observed registration activities and held focus group discussions with refugees.

Key Figures

261,095 (72%)
Number of refugee children attending Primary School

21,117 (15%)
Number of refugee children attending Secondary School

BOYS: GIRLS PRIMARY 76%:68% SECONDARY 19%:10% Percentage of Refugee boys and girls attending primary and secondary school education

Overview

UNHCR’s education programme reinforces access, quality and continuity of learning pathways for refugee and host community children. UNHCR works with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) at national level, and with the education functions of District Local Government (DLG), to improve education systems to better plan and respond to the educational needs of children. Guided by the Education Response Plan (ERP), and aligned with the Government of Uganda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) for 2017-2020 under the broader Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), the UNHCR programme plans to ensure improved learning outcomes for increasing numbers of refugees and host community children, adolescents and youth in Uganda.

In Uganda, a developing country where land is still relatively plentiful, refugees are encouraged to build their own houses and use their gardens to grow food to supplement their rations

By Claire Cozens

BIDI BIDI, Uganda, Dec 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - One of the few possessions refugee Emily Bronte carried with him when he fled war in South Sudan for Uganda was a battered copy of an aid agency booklet on how to run a farming cooperative.

The booklet, with its cartoon donkeys illustrating negotiation techniques and instructions to pray after every cooperative meeting, might not seem like the first thing you would grab if you were running for your life.

Yet its contents have helped the 46-year-old, who got his unusual name at the suggestion of an Italian missionary, to feed and educate his children, and given him hope for a future in which they do not rely solely on handouts.

Bronte is one of a number of refugee farmers in Bidi Bidi, a vast settlement in northern Uganda that covers an area more than twice the size of Paris, in a rare example of cooperation between refugees and their hosts.

Groups of refugees have formed cooperatives with local farmers who are unable to cultivate all their land and would rather see it farmed than lie fallow.

"I talked to the landlord and he gave me one acre ... He said he wanted the land to go to good use," Bronte told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in Bidi Bidi, home to about 230,000 South Sudanese refugees.

The landowners lend the refugees plots of land that they farm, either solely or in groups. Some charge rent, but most take only a share of the harvest - a generosity attributed to the fact that many have themselves been refugees.

"I didn't pay," said Bronte outside his mud-brick home, as small children played at his feet while older ones helped fetch firewood for cooking.

"He (the landlord) didn't even ask for money from me. He said that during the Ugandan war, they (Ugandans) ran to South Sudan and that in the place where he settled, the people helped him."

STRUGGLE

Uganda has been widely praised for its open-door policy towards refugees.

The country has about 1.4 million refugees, estimates the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), the third highest number in the world after Turkey and Pakistan.

The government allocates new arrivals a plot of land big enough to build a mud-brick house and plant a small vegetable garden, gives them freedom of movement – they live in settlements, not camps - and the right to work.

But like many host countries, it is struggling.

The South Sudanese who make up the bulk of the refugees in Uganda look unlikely to return any time soon, with a peace deal signed more than a year ago yet to be implemented.

Global aid budgets are being squeezed with the UNHCR warning this month that the "gap between needs and available funding continues to grow" and the United States, which once accepted large numbers of refugees for resettlement, now takes far fewer.

Although Uganda's refugees live relatively harmoniously with the host population, there are tensions over resources such as firewood.

Last week the UNHCR said two refugees and two Ugandans had been killed in clashes in Nyumanzi, a settlement near Bidi Bidi. It was not clear what sparked the violence.

Uganda's minister for disaster relief and preparedness, Musa Ecweru, said his country needed more funds to help refugees develop new skills and farm better.

But he said the world had a responsibility to create the conditions that would allow refugees to return home, calling the surge in numbers a "collective failure".

"It is the only durable solution," said Ecweru in an interview in Kampala. "For as long as they are persecuted, I will welcome them. But that does not suggest that I am capable of protecting them."

Ministers from around the world will gather at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva this week to address these challenges after a decade in which the UNHCR says the number of refugees worldwide has doubled to well over 25 million.

Among their goals is to increase the self-reliance of refugees, making them less dependent on U.N. aid and better able to sustain themselves.

In Uganda, a developing country where land is still relatively plentiful, refugees are already encouraged to build their own houses and use their gardens to grow food to supplement their U.N. rations.

Many have set up small businesses, but the remoteness of their settlements means work opportunities are limited. Although allowed to move freely, they need to stay close to the settlements to access food and medical assistance.

Victor Odero, regional advocacy director for the global aid agency International Rescue Committee (IRC), said there needs to be a shift in focus from standalone interventions in a crisis to economic empowerment of refugees.

"Humanitarian aid is short term and largely underfunded. Those long-term development goals are the first to be cut when budgets are reduced," he said, calling for a "total paradigm shift" in refugee aid.

'LIFE BECAME GOOD'

The IRC provides new farmers in Bidi Bidi with seeds, and funds the hire of a tractor to plough newly acquired land.

Among those who have received such help is Samuel Sokire, 61, who has had to flee his home in South Sudan for Uganda three times, most recently during a flare-up of violence in late 2016.

By January 2017, he had built a house in Bidi Bidi. But he wanted more.

"When people were still building, I was already begging a place to cultivate. That was in January and by the time the rains came (in March), I got more land. Life became good," said Sokire, who also borrowed land through a farming cooperative.

"The U.N. only gives 2.4kg of beans per person per month. It's not enough."

Sokire had two big advantages - his knowledge of Swahili, spoken by many older Ugandans in the area, and the grinding machine he had carried from South Sudan and could lend or hire out to neighbours.

The land he farms belongs to local landowner Ojobile Kennedy, who had his own reason for wanting to share his land with refugees - their presence has scared off the wild animals that used to destroy his crops.

"Before, the monkeys and warthogs would destroy everything, even if I spent half the night banging jerry cans to scare them off," said the 42-year-old, gesticulating to demonstrate.

"We let them (refugees) clear the land, let them do their own thing. We are happy about the refugees."

PRECARIOUS

Not everyone in the group is thriving though.

Single mother Buludina Sumure's asthma means she cannot walk far, limiting her access to farmland.

This year she paid to rent a small plot near her house, but it became waterlogged in the rainy season, and the sesame and maize seeds she had planted failed.

Asked if she hoped to find a better plot next planting season, Sumure raised her hands in resignation. "I don't know how the land will be," she said. "This land is not ours".

Even those refugees who are managing to make a go of farming know their situation is precarious.

Bronte has a good relationship with his landlord, who does not charge rent. But he fears that could change if the U.N. were to stop providing food to the refugees because they would struggle to give away a share of their harvest.

"Although you know your friend, you don't know what he is thinking," said Bronte, who supports his sister, nieces and nephews as well as his own wife and children.

"Being with a family, you have to think, tomorrow what is coming?"

(Reporting by Claire Cozens @clairecoz, Editing by Zoe Tabary. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)

December 14, 2019 (ADDIS ABABA) - The Italian Foreign Affairs ministry has donated €1 million to support humanitarian activities in response to the severe floods that affected parts of South Sudan.

Half of the contribution, it said in a statement, will be channelled through the World Food Programme (WFP), in the framework of WFP’s “Interim Country Strategic Plan (ICSP) 2018-2020”, and will be focused on food distribution in favour of the population displaced.

“The other half will be channelled through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in the framework of the urgent Appeal “South Sudan Emergency Floods Response”, and will be aimed at providing emergency shelter, water, sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) assistance as well as health assistance in favour of the population displaced by the abovementioned floods,” it added.

The donation, the ministry stressed, reaffirms Italy’s support to the South Sudan government and the population affected by the floods in the different counties in Eastern and Northern of the country.

According to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), more than 908,000 people have been affected by heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding, of whom 620,000 needed humanitarian assistance.

Late last month, the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir declared a state of emergency in the flood-affected areas of the country.

(ST)

In Summary

• Clashes between South Sudan refugees and the host community leaves one person dead.

• Fighting erupted in Nyumanzi refugee settlement after a mysterious death of a national the night before, the cause of which locals blamed on the refugees.

• Over 680 people from the host community have been displaced from their homes because of the skirmishes and are currently seeking refuge in nearby schools and government buildings.

By JONATHAN KAMOGA

One person has died, 12 others were left injured and 600 were displaced after violent clashes between South Sudan refugees and the host community erupted on Wednesday in Dzaipi sub country in the West Nile district of Adjumani in Uganda.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement it was closely monitoring the situation while the Office of the Prime Minister indicated security officials were on the alert as engagement with local leaders was also being undertaken to ensure the situation does not escalate.

The EastAfrican understands that fighting erupted in Nyumanzi refugee settlement after a mysterious death of a national the night before, the cause of which locals blamed on the refugees.

However, Josephine Angucia the West Nile police spokesperson said that according to the post mortem report, the deceased had died of heart failure.

Locals armed with bows and arrows on Wednesday launched what seemed to be a revenge attack on refugees in the area with the ensuing chaos injuring six who were rushed to Adjumani hospital for treatment.

Rumour spread in the camp Thursday morning that one of the critically injured, who was a refuge, had died in hospital prompting refugees to take up weapons and descended on the host community.

December 15, 2019 (JUBA) – South Sudanese government, through the National Pre-Transitional Committee (NPTC), has allocated $16 million for implementation of the country’s security arrangements.

Speaking to reporters in the capital, Juba on Friday, the Cabinet Affairs, minister Martin Elia Lomuro said the incumbent government is committed to ensure that lasting peace is achieved in the young nation.

“The amount was already distributed among all mechanisms in the pre-transitional committee, including $16 million for security arrangement,” said Lomuro.

“There is delay but the mechanisms are committed to speed up now since they have the funds in their control,” he added.

Last month, President Salva Kiir and armed opposition leader Riek Machar agreed to delay key benchmarks in the September 2018 peace agreement by 100 days.

The delay in forming a transitional government by November 12 came after the main opposition group (SPLM-IO) threatened to boycott the process, until the security arrangements are completed.

The number and boundaries of the states and the security arrangements are among key tasks to be completed within the 100 days.

Meanwhile, president Kiir and Machar called on the security mechanisms to speed up the processes to be done in the pre-transitional period to ensure a unity government is formed in February.

Puot Kang, a member of the SPLM-IO, said two rival leaders held a meeting with members of the security committees in Juba on Friday and they were briefed by the different security committees on progress and challenges.

“We have to increase our speed to meet the deadline of 100 days,” he said, adding that the challenges will be overcome if all parties work together.

South Sudan descended into civil war in mid-December 2013 when President Kiir accused his former deputy Machar of plotting a coup, allegations the latter denied.

In September last year, the country’s rival factions signed a revitalized peace deal to end the civil war that killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

(ST)

Joint statement by 40 NGOs

The international community is failing in its commitment to share responsibility for responding to one of the world's biggest refugee crises, 40 international NGOs in Uganda warn ahead of the Global Refugee Forum that is taking place in Geneva this week.

Essential services that provide education, healthcare, protection and shelter for refugees and host communities in Uganda will shut down from January 2020 unless funding is urgently increased.

Uganda hosts more than 1.3 million refugees and more continue to arrive daily from eastern DR Congo and South Sudan[i]. Uganda is widely acknowledged to have one of the most progressive refugee policies in the world. However, the response is chronically underfunded. The 2019 Refugee Response Plan for Uganda is just 39 percent funded by December 2019.

"The lack of funding is already having a major impact on our ability to provide basic services to refugees in Uganda, many of whom have fled horrific violence and persecution, but we are now on the verge of a major crisis. Lives are at stake. By early 2020, funding will run out and force a number of vital services to start shutting down. There will be no money to pay teachers and health workers, and programmes that support some of the most vulnerable refugees will have to close," said Brechtje van Lith, Country Director of Save the Children.

· Education: Funds to pay salaries for more than 1,000 school teachers will run out in early 2020, jeopardising the education of up to 100,000 pupils. Schools are now dangerously overcrowded, with up to 250 children crammed into dilapidated classrooms that urgently need repair. Lack of funding for inclusive education means only 25 percent of children with disabilities are attending school.

· Healthcare: At least 200 health workers face losing their jobs from January 2020. Health clinics are already operating with shortages of medicine, trained staff and essential supplies. Cases of cholera have increased in recent months[ii], and health teams are working hard to prevent the further spread of Ebola.

· Protection: At least 89 Child Friendly Spaces - where conflict-affected children get a safe place to play, learn and socialise - will have to close from January, affecting 52,000 children. Protection staff are already extremely overstretched and dealing with an average of 99 cases at any one time - four times the global standard of 25 cases per worker. This is putting the most vulnerable refugees at increased risk of abuse and neglect.

· Nutrition: Malnutrition rates are rising again after improvement over the past two years. Latest assessments show Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in some refugee settlements has risen to 13.9 percent, approaching critical emergency levels[iii].

· Mental health: Agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support services will have to close up to half of the facilities from January 2020. This comes as recent research shows a rise in suicides in the refugee settlements over the past year[iv].

· Shelter: Funding for new shelters has almost dried up. More than 10,000 recently arrived refugees are particularly vulnerable and include people with disabilities, unaccompanied children, widows and elderly people. Lack of shelters is putting them at increased risk of theft and sexual violence. A recent assessment in one refugee settlement found 60 percent of highly vulnerable people do not have access to a safe latrine.

· Livelihoods: Funding for livelihoods has been significantly cut and young people are increasingly frustrated at the lack of opportunities and hope for the future.

· Environment: The lack of shelter and livelihoods support is also forcing many families to chop down trees and other natural resources, increasing environmental degradation and conflict between refugees and local communities.

· Water and sanitation: Families are often queuing for hours to get clean water as supplies run low. Several settlements have less than 50 percent of the latrines that are needed to safely serve the population. The shortage of sanitation facilities and options for menstrual hygiene means women and girls struggle to manage their periods.

"The lack of funding calls into question the commitment to share responsibility that is at the very heart of the Global Refugee Forum. In our daily work we see the devastating impact of the lack of funding on people's lives and futures. The international community must step up and ensure that vital services can continue. What happens next in Uganda will have global implications for how the world responds to refugee crises. Uganda is the global test case that must not be allowed to fail," said Jean-Christophe Saint-Esteben, Country Director of Danish Refugee Council.

As part of its commitments to the Global Compact on Refugees and its Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), Uganda has developed detailed costed plans for education, health, and water and environment, and has taken significant steps to develop plans for jobs and livelihoods and sustainable energy response. These plans set out exactly what international support is needed to meet the needs of refugees and host communities, but are critically underfunded. Increased support from both humanitarian and development donors is urgently needed to ensure that the Global Compact on Refugee and CRRF concepts hold water.

The statement is made by 40 NGOs in Uganda: Action Against Hunger, ADRA, American Refugee Committee, AVSI, AAR Japan, Ayuda en Acción, CAFOD, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Cesvi, ChildFund, Cordaid, Dan Church Aid, Danish Refugee Council, Diakonia, Farm Radio International, Fida International, Finn Church Aid, Finnish Refugee Council, Food for the Hungry, HEKS/EPER Swiss Church Aid, Horizon T3000, Humanity & Inclusion, International Justice Misson, International Rescue Committee, Jesuit Refugee Service, Malteser International, Médecins du Monde, Norwegian Refugee Council, Plan International, Save the Children, Soleterre, Street Child Uganda, The Johanniter, Trocaire, Tutapona, Welthungerhilfe, World Vision, Windle International Uganda, ZOA

[i] More than 85,400 refugees and asylum seekers arrived in Uganda between 1st January and 31st October 2019, at a rate of more than 280 a day, according to the UNHCR/OPM Joint Border Monitoring report

[ii] More than 240 cases have been recorded in and around refugee settlements western Uganda, according to the Ministry of Health

[iii] From latest UNHCR and interagency assessments in Palabek, northern Uganda

[iv] UNHCR Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the Uganda refugee response, briefing note, November 2019

Food security remains stable despite slightly lower than the normal Jibraka harvests

Jibraka harvests in the SPLM-N controlled area of South Kordofan have ended and farmers are now concentrating on far farms. In Blue Nile, harvesting in far farms will start in December and extend until February 2020. According to the November Secretariat of Agriculture (SoA) pre-harvest assessment report, poor harvests were experienced in Thobo, Western Kadugli and Delami Counties of South Kordofan as a result of heavy rain and floods. In addition to floods, pests and diseases were the causes of lower near farm harvests in Yabus and Komo Ganza Payams of Blue Nile region. As a result, households are dependent on fish from stagnant water of the October floods that became breeding grounds for fish. Fish is for both consumption and additional cash income. At the time of reporting, part of the remaining food relief from Maban to vulnerable communities in Wadaka had not yet been delivered due to logistical challenges related to recent flooding.

As the dry season begins, communities mainly in Wadaka and Yabus Payams have resorted to gold mining in exchange for food and other products.

Markets resumed to full operation after the rainy season, but with high influx of returnees, prices of basic food commodities in Delami and Western Kadugli Counties have increased. For example, the price for sorghum as the main staple food is currently between 40 and 60 SDG compared to same time last year when the price of sorghum was between 40 and 60 SDG.

According to the latest FSMU quarterly report, “Despite a slightly below normal harvest, moderate and severe hunger decreased in every monitoring area compared to the same season in October 2018. This was reflected in the total population suffering from severe hunger, which reduced from 52,420 in July 2019 to 15,562 in October 2019”.

‘Delivering the Global Compact on Refugees: Local approaches to Inclusion’, a regional government-to-government Conference, was held from 31 October – 1 November 2019 in Addis Ababa, hosted by the Government of Ethiopia. The Conference brought together six governments of the East and Horn of Africa region - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, as well as Representatives from the AU, IGAD and ECA, and stakeholders from donor governments, UN agencies, and NGOs.

The conference was held with the objective to foster cross-national sharing of experiences and identify forward-looking opportunities for the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and roll-out of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) throughout countries in the Horn and East Africa. It served as an opportunity to take stock of good practices, lessons and opportunities in advance of the Global Refugee Forum in December 2019.

The countries of the Horn and East Africa have, despite national challenges, shown impressive commitment and leadership in tackling the challenges of forced displacement. Since their initial commitment to the implementation of the CRRF, pilot countries are now in different stages of roll-out, where some have presented a road-map for its implementation, established coordination mechanisms, and begun regional and local implementation. In all countries, development partners have engaged positively to support various initiatives that are inclusive of refugees and host communities. Experiences are emerging that chart the transition to sustainable development-oriented support to refugees and to host communities, through strengthening refugee access to essential social services and phased transition away from exclusive and parallel humanitarian assistance.

Within the context outlined above, participating governments deliberated on three specific themes:

• Theme 1: Investing in national services to support host communities and the inclusion of refugees
  
• Theme 2: Advancing the self-reliance agenda for refugees and their host communities
• Theme 3: Expanding the whole-of-government approach, ensuring local ownership and adequate financing to the Global Compact on Refugees

In deliberating on the topics, governments identified several good practices. The creation of favourable legal frameworks and the introduction of several new initiatives have facilitated integration of refugees within the national education system of respective governments and access to civil documentation for refugees. Progressive policies, laws, directives and interventions such as making land available to refugees, ensuring freedom of mobility of refugees, putting inclusive programmes in place, investments in skills development and education, private sector participation, financial inclusion whereby refugees access commercial financial services, and investments in infrastructure are helping advance the self-reliance and inclusion agenda for refugees and their host communities. Governments carrying out consultations for National Plans at district and national levels, the use of data and evidence, and creating common projects between host and refugee communities and opening space for inclusion are among some of the good practices contributing to expanding the whole-of-government approach, ensuring local ownership and adequate financing to the Global Compact on Refugees.

Among the challenges hampering integration of refugees within the national education system were high dropout rates, the language barrier, a lack of recognition of qualification and certification, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of multi-year, predictable and sustainable funding. Inadequate harmonization of national civil registration systems, a backlog of birth registration for refugees and host communities, and limited awareness of refugee documentation by other stakeholders such as banks and the private sector need attention.

Challenges affecting the advancement of the self-reliance agenda for refugees and their host communities include security concerns, a shortage of funding despite increasing refugee influx, inconsistency of data and information between organizations, existing high unemployment rates amongst nationals, land tenure issues, and the private sector’s common perception that refugees are a high-risk population to invest in. Limited coordination and alignment of humanitarian and development responses to national policies, and the failure of some organizations to work with existing local government structures were also identified as obstacles. The ‘whole-of-government approach’ is also affected by inadequate alignment of development partners to national and local development plans. This indicates the need for ensuring local ownership through government led planning, the mapping of existing interventions, and joint assessments.

In identifying opportunities for the future, in relation to service inclusion, participants highlighted the development of costed plans with adequate funding, the more effective use of coordination structures (national-local-donor community), increased development funding, and reviewing regional systems, such as for the recognition of qualifications and certification in relation to integration of refugees within the national education system. Refugee access to civil documentation contributes to the development of the national economy and strengthened access to social services. Working to ensure the acceptability of issued civil documents within IGAD countries, the use of existing systems and processes are some of the opportunities identified to access to civil documentation.

Opportunities related to advancing the self-reliance agenda for refugees and host communities in the region include progressive refugee legal frameworks, initiatives that facilitate refugees’ engagement in businesses and the participation of the private sector, and increased funding for country-based robust jobs and livelihoods response plans. Area-based approaches which holistically consider refugees, hosts, internally displaced persons (IDP) and returnees should be further explored. The inclusion of refugees in national statistical collection, household surveys, and vulnerability mapping are considered opportunities in implementing the GCR and contributing to the whole-of-government approach.

In conclusion, it was noted that several overarching elements were necessary for the successful roll out of the GCR and the CCRF approach, notably enabling legislation and polices as well as political will to take commitments forward. Joint initiatives between host and refugee communities and the engagement of the private sector are encouraged. Coordination is key, not only within government (among line ministries and at national to local levels) but also between all relevant stakeholders for the effective realization of the whole-of-government approach. The use data and evidence are key to the implementation of the GCR.

Fulfilling national commitments to further its duty of care to refugees, relative to existing national resource constraints of governments in the East and Horn of Africa, will be dependent on further equitable responsibility-sharing by the international community. In this regard, new financing models of assistance, in addition to the engagement of new actors, should be prioritized. The upcoming Global Refugee Forum (GRF) is an opportunity to further strengthen responsibility-sharing in the spirit of the GCR, which was called for by all participating governments.

By Christelle Cazabat, Researcher at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, and Tichafara Chisaka, Project Manager of the Inclusive Data Charter.

Obaid is a nine-year-old boy from Yemen. Because of conflict in the country, he has been living in a displacement settlement for two years. Rather than going to school, he spends his days collecting empty plastic bottles to earn some money.

“If we collect one full, large bag, we get 150 Yemeni Reals,” says Obaid. That is around half a dollar.

Simon, on the other hand, is a boy who lives in a displacement camp in South Sudan where he is able to go to primary school, and where his father, Daniel, is also receiving an education.

Obaid and Simon, children of a similar age, have similar needs around access to education and other essential provisions, but experience internal displacement very differently.

This is true of internally displaced children around the world – internal displacement can affect children’s education, health, well-being, and ability to grow into their full potential. But often, internally displaced children are not affected in the same way.

The first step in providing internally displaced children with adequate support is to ensure that each child is counted, and their needs are accounted for, by being accurately represented in the data.

The data challenge

On Universal Children’s Day 2019, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) released the first ever estimates on the number of children displaced as a result of conflict and violence in 53 countries.

There are 17 million children living in internal displacement because of conflict or violence around the world. Around 6.6 million of these children, like Obaid and Simon, are of primary school age. These staggering figures are likely to be under-estimates.

The report, which was launched at the United Nations in Geneva, shows that internally displaced children are largely invisible. The reason is that, firstly, internally displaced people (IDPs) of all ages are often unaccounted for in data. Secondly, there is limited age disaggregation of any kind of development data.

There is a global lack of investment in statistical and reporting capacities to collect this data. Within the countries and territories for which IDMC is able to estimate the number of IDPs, only 14 percent provide this information by age, and only 1 in 4 of those do so systematically.

The number of IDPs recorded in 2018, 41 million, was higher than ever before. Internally displaced children are often at higher risk of neglect, abuse, and harm. They require specific support, but without quality data, we do not know how many IDPs are children and we cannot plan adequately.

In order to protect and support these children, we need data to help us fully understand the different ways displacement is impacting their security, safety, education, health, and well-being.

What can be done to address these gaps?

Ideally, information on IDPs’ age, sex, and needs should be collected at the local level. This, however, requires significant financial, technical, and human resources, as well as time. In some cases, it is not even feasible. For example, sometimes we are unsure where IDPs have found refuge.

One of the ways IDMC is addressing this knowledge gap is by using national age distribution data and applying it to its records of the internally displaced population in each country. This resource-extensive approach gives a sense of the scale of the issue and can be useful to start planning and raising awareness on children-specific programs on internal displacement.

These initial estimates can be further refined using other sources of information, including surveys of a sample of the internally displaced population and administrative data from organizations working in displacement camps. Different groups already collect this data. Putting them together with improved data interoperability and partnerships, for instance through the Inclusive Data Charter, could enable better support for internally displaced children.

Making IDPs count

There is growing momentum behind the issue of internal displacement and recognition of IDPs’ specific needs, for example, through the recent establishment of a UN High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement. A lot more still needs to be done, particularly in understanding the ways in which different population groups are affected by displacement.

Through initiatives like the Inclusive Data Charter and the work of IDMC and others, we can continue to mobilize support to address gaps in data collection that will enable us to shine a spotlight on those who are often invisible and most vulnerable. The joint call to action from UNICEF and IDMC invites others to join forces to improve data collection, analysis, and dissemination on internally displaced children.

To respond to the needs of internally displaced children, we must begin by knowing how many children are displaced and where they are. We can then disaggregate data by other dimensions, such as disability and gender, to understand children’s specific needs. With this better data – and importantly, improved coordination and sharing of data – we will be able to take effective action.

Only by ensuring that all population groups are visible in data, can we truly live up to the Sustainable Development Goals’ promise to leave no one behind.

World Vision pledges to support 43,000 refugees on a pathway towards self-reliance in 8 countries

World Vision is a member of The Poverty Alleviation Coalition, launched in July 2019. It comprises UNHCR, The World Bank Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI) and 13 non-governmental organisations. The NGOs are BOMA Project, BRAC, Caritas Switzerland, Concern Worldwide, the Danish Refugee Council, HIAS, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), GOAL, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Trickle Up, Village Enterprise, & World Vision.

1. The Coalition will work towards the common vision of increasing self-reliance, economic and social inclusion of refugees and host community households by sustainably increasing income-earning opportunities. Specifically, the Coalition aims to alleviate the poverty of 500,000 households (refugees and hosts) in 35 countries within the next 5 years (2020-2025). The Coalition will use the well-proven ‘Graduation Approach’ through an 18-36 month programme.

2. World Vision’s aim is to support 85,000 those refugees on a pathway towards self-reliance in 22 countries at a cost of $113 Million over five years 3. World Vision’s Pledge is to scale up programmes to support 43,000 of those refugees across 8 countries to the value of $68 Million in collaboration with coalition partners in the following countries: Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia,
   Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 66 events in the region. This week’s main articles cover key new and ongoing events, including:

• Yellow fever in Mali

• Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Floods in Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Humanitarian crisis in Cameroon.

For each of these events, a brief description, followed by public health measures implemented and an interpretation of the situation is provided.

A table is provided at the end of the bulletin with information on all new and ongoing public health events currently being monitored in the region, as well as recent events that have largely been controlled and thus closed.

Major issues and challenges include:

Several countries, especially those in east and central regions of Africa are currently experiencing severe floods following heavy rains, causing many casualties, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and ravaging physical infrastructure and livelihoods. Most of the affected populations are already vulnerable and deprived, either due to pre-existing humanitarian situation, poverty, food insecurity or limited access to social services. In addition to the immediate impact, the adverse weather condition is bound to predispose the affected communities to water- and vector-borne diseases, including cholera, typhoid fever, malaria, dengue fever, etc. While the national authorities and partners in the affected countries are responding to the urgent life-saving and immediate needs, it is important to put in place adequate preparedness and readiness measures for potential disease outbreaks, as well as early-recovery interventions to quickly restore the livelihoods of the affected communities.

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo continues, with the incidence of cases recorded during the reporting week sharply rising. The impact of the disruption of response operations at the peak of insecurity and unrest in the past weeks has started manifesting. With the security situation relatively normalizing (though remaining precarious), there is a need to restore and intensify outbreak response interventions in order to reverse this concerning trend.

Out of the 25.9 million refugees in the world today, 15.9 million—representing 78% of all refugees—are housed for years or decades in stagnant, segregated refugee camps or settlements that restrict their mobility and ensure only abridged human rights (UNHCR 2019a, 22). Even worse, 5.8 million have been living in these protracted situations for over 20 years (UNHCR 2016). According to UNHCR, the estimated average duration of protracted refugee situations (PRS) is between 18 and 26 years—an unconscionable length of time in which refugees are, in effect, warehoused pending alternative, durable solutions (UNHCR 2019a, 22).

In the early 1990s, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) launched its global anti-warehousing campaign, objecting to the practice of warehousing and asking where, in international or domestic law, does it propose refugee encampment for decades. In 2004, USCRI gained support for its campaigns with the endorsement of over a hundred humanitarian rights organizations. For over 15 years USCRI has led the global public awareness campaign to challenge encampment and call out the failure recognizing the human rights of refugees living in protracted situations. Since then, human rights organizations have sought to address the crisis of PRS and refugee warehousing, and numerous reports—surging in the early and mid 2000s—focused attention to the crisis. However, these discussions have not sustained the momentum necessary to galvanize change.

In 2018, nine additional PRS have occurred (totaling 49 PRS worldwide as of last year), where the displacement of more than 25,000 refugees extended beyond five years, including South Sudanese refugees in Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda, Nigerians in Cameroon and Niger, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Somalia in South Africa, Pakistani refugees in Afghanistan, and Ukrainian refugees in the Russian Federation(UNHCR 2019a, 22). In Pakistan, over 5 million Afghan refugees have been living in PRS since 1979, Sahrawi refugees in south-west Algeria since 1975, and Eritrean refugees have been living in protracted situations in Sudan since 1968 (Khan 2017; Coello 2018; “Eritrean Refugees” 2013). Further, despite mounting protests to stop the creation of additional camps, countries continue seeing encampment as a durable solution.

In this paper, the USCRI examines the issues currently facing PRS globally, the role of the aid model in its continuance, and the need for the international community to adhere to the principles of the 1951 Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and not operate in its omissions on encampment. Additionally, using a rights-based framework, USCRI offers recommendations as part of a long-standing campaign to address warehousing and call attention to the continuing crisis in a new decade. Refugee warehousing cannot be a viable solution in the absence of alternatives— not when its temporality is measured in generations and in the indefinite restriction of fundamental human rights.

Last week, Africa experienced a marked increase in political violence, largely a result of renewed conflict activity in its Eastern and Western regions. The hotspot of violence remains the Sahel, the hotbed of a prolonged Islamist insurgency that regional governments are struggling to contain. Burkina Faso and Niger are increasingly bearing the brunt of the violence, as non-state armed groups continue to inflict heavy casualties on army troops and on the civilian population.

A day after a raid on a military base in Tahoua region, 600 km north-east of Niger’s capital Niamey, militants affiliated with the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) carried an attack on a military complex in In-Ates, Tillabéri region, using mortars, suicide car bombs and heavy weaponry. At least 128 people, including 71 Nigerien soldiers, were killed in the assault, the deadliest ever recorded against the Nigerien military. The base is located in the historical Liptako-Gourma region, the epicenter of the insurgency stretching across Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Illicit activities conducted in the region, including weapon and drug trafficking, cattle rustling, and artisanal gold mining, provide armed groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State with financial resources and increasing access to local communities.

Militant activity also remained high in Burkina Faso, largely as a result of several attacks attributed to the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) against local communities in the Centre-Nord and Est regions of the country. Between December 10 and 12, at least eighteen civilians were killed in three separate raids, while a few days later unidentified Islamists – either JNIM or ISGS militants – raided the village of Kantari in the Est region, clashing with Koglweogo militiamen and killing an additional seven people. Raids against Koglweogo constituted a relatively new development since they coexisted peacefully until recent months.

In the other front of the insurgency, Mali experienced relatively lower levels of violence, despite renewed intercommunal violence in the east of the country. On December 9, suspected Fulani pastoralists attacked Dogon communities in Mopti region, killing at least three civilians and ransacking villages. In last week’s most violent event, the Malian army claimed to have killed four militants near Seguemara in Mopti, a narrative challenged by a local Fulani organization which claimed that the victims were young herders guarding their livestock. In a separate development, the Malian government declared the head of MINUSMA in Kidal ‘persona non grata’, after his remarks at the congress of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) at the beginning of December.

Clashes between the army forces and Boko Haram were reported in several areas of Nigeria’s Borno State, including with the use of air strikes targeting training camps of the group in Sambisa Forest. Additionally, suspected Boko Haram announced the execution of four aid workers held hostage since July, and of three security officers kidnapped in the previous week around Maiduguri. Despite the counter-insurgency efforts of the Nigerian military, conflict activity in Borno State decreased only by 7% compared to the past year, highlighting the persistent threat posed by Boko Haram in the region.

Elsewhere in Western Africa, Mauritania and Ivory Coast experienced high protest activity last week, often turning violent in the latter case. Following a general strike on December 10, teachers, health workers and other categories held sit-ins and demonstrations in the Mauritanian capital Nouackhott and across the country demanding higher salaries and better working conditions. In Ivory Coast, at least three students were killed amid nationwide riots, prompting a violent crackdown by the security forces.

Somalia also experienced an uptick in violence compared to previous weeks, with at least 85 deaths recorded over the past week. The increase is largely attributed to clan-based violence in Mudug region, where the Saad and Dir clan groups allegedly clashed over land disputes resulting in at least 40 dead and 50 injured. Separately, Al Shabaab took credit for a grenade attack against the SYL hotel in central Mogadishu, sparking a prolonged battle with the Somali military that killed at least five people, including unarmed civilians. Al Shabaab claims to have inflicted heavy losses on the military, but these estimates cannot be verified at the time of writing. Clashes between Al Shabaab and the Somali army have increased over the past weeks, resulting in the takeover of villages and other populated areas by either side.

Violent skirmishes also continued to occur intermittently across Ethiopia, with at least three university students being killed during the week. Ethnic tensions have run high in recent weeks, and students of an ethnicity from outside the region they are attending university in, are sometimes subject to attacks and beatings. Additional security measures have been taken, including placing university security in the hands of the federal police. Ethnic clashes between Karrayyu Oromo and Argobba militias, and between the Amhara and Gumez, also left an additional six fatalities in the Oromia and Benshangul-Gumaz regions respectively.

Further, a string of attacks attributed to the Dahalo militia killed at least four civilians in Madagascar in the past week. Dahalo’s activity is often linked to cattle rustling and poaching, and often targets exposed and inadequately protected local communities. Attacks by the Dahalo have killed an estimated 141 civilians in 2019, increasing by 50% compared to the past year.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) continue to attack villages in the region of Beni, further exposing the endemic insecurity plaguing the area. Machete-wielding militiamen killed an estimated 16 people, although the toll might be higher. Another militia known as Cooperative for Development of Congo (CODECO) killed an additional 9 people in Ituri, abducting many others.

In North Africa, the week was marked by the presidential elections in Algeria, which saw a low turnout on Thursday. Protesters demanded the boycott of the ballots, and rejecting the results as rigged. It is still unclear whether protesters will escalate tactics in an effort to force further concessions from the regime, and whether the army will crack down on demonstrations should these impose further political and economic pressure. In Egypt, confrontations between Islamic State militants and the Egyptian military intensified at the beginning of the week, as the Islamists claimed a series of attacks against military targets in North Sinai on Sunday and Monday.

In Sudan, deposed President Omar al-Bashir was sentenced to two years imprisonment in a correctional institute for elderly prisoners, on charges of corruption. Bashir also faces charges relating to the 1989 coup that brought him to power, as well organizing violence against protesters. Meanwhile, armed pastoralists, Rapid Support Forces and paramilitaries conducted several attacks in Darfur. In Abyei, suspected Misseriya nomadic militiamen killed three people as they attacked a Ngok Dinka community in Lou area. Fighting flared up once more in Port Sudan, causing 29 injuries, following deadly violence in the city between the Beni Amer and Nuba over the past months.

Finally, violence continued in South Sudan, with a number of clashes involving irregular youth militias. In the disputed Tonj state, fighting over the renaming of a county on December 11 killed at least nine, while three more died in clashes between the Pakam and Rup Dinka clans near Rumbek on December 8, where youth militia fired upon the vehicle of the governor who was attempting to mediate. Fighting also occurred in Maiwut county close to the Ethiopian border, as Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) forces guarding a barge transporting goods from Nassir to Jikou were engaged by Cie-waw militia, resulting in at least 7 deaths. The area has been a hotspot for intra-rebel violence this year, and culminated in the defection of a commander to the government in early Autumn.

SITUATION UPDATE

As of 1 December 2019, a total of 3,313 EVD cases, including 3,195 confirmed and 118 probable cases had been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of which 2,204 cases had died (overall case fatality ratio 67%). Of the total confirmed and probable cases, 56% (1,866) were female, 28% (936) were children less than 18 years, and 5% (163) were healthcare workers. During the last three weeks of November new cases were reported from four health zones, mainly from Mabalako, Mandima and Beni. While good progress continued in limiting the rate of new cases, towards the end of the month renewed violence at various locations - during which three EVD responders were killed - led to the suspension of some activities in North Kivu Province, raising concerns about the potential for increased transmission.

In South Sudan, eight new alerts were reported and verified during November, bringing the total since the onset of the outbreak in DRC in August 2018 to 108. All laboratory tests have proven negative, with no confirmed cases. Over the same period, the cumulative number of primary screenings of incoming travelers reached 3.7 million. The handover from WHO to IOM of the oversight of screening sites in Nimule, and at international airports in Juba and Wau, was completed. Operations were resumed at two screening sites in Yei River State on the border with DRC, out of five where activities were suspended in October due to insecurity. In early November, a workshop was conducted with representatives of the Ministry of Health and partners to consolidate arrangements for coordination of training, including the standardisation of curricula and training materials for different cadres of trainees.

WEEKLY OVERVIEW

● DTM and MHU jointly facilitated two participatory mapping workshops led by Ministry of Health officials in Juba and Yei, with the aim of informing the 2020 National Preparedness Plan for EVD. The workshops validated Flow Monitoring Point (FMP) findings on the key mobility channels at risk of EVD transmission and gathered qualitative data that was used to prioritize PoEs and points of congregation from a mobility and public health perspective.

● Lasu and Tokori FMPs remain temporarily inactive due to security concerns. DTM continues to operate 22 additional EVDdedicated FMPs on the borders with DRC, Uganda and CAR, of which six operated in cooperation with DTM Uganda on the Ugandan side of the border.

● Two refresher trainings were carried out in Morobo and Yambio to roll-out an improved kobo questionnaire for data collection.

● Health facility EVD-Preparedness Assessment conducted in three facilities of Kaya PHCC, Rodoba PHCU and Morobo PHCC.

● IOM team continued to support IPC/WASH activities at the 12 PoEs (Yei Airstrip, SSRRC, Kaya, Salia Musalla, Morobo, Bazi, Kerwa, Pure, Khorijho, Khor kaya, Bori and Berigo) as well as seven supported Health facilities; (Yei state hospital, Kaya PHCC, Rhodoba PHCU, Panyume PHCC, Kerwa PHCC, Khorijho PHCU and Morobo PHCC).

● IOM has continued with EVD screening in 16 PoEs it supports in Yei river, Jubek, Wau and Torit states. 16 PoEs were operational in this epidemiological week out of the 19 IOM supported PoEs.

A massive fire broke out in a refugee camp for South Sudanese in Khartoum Bahri (North) on Saturday. More than 100 homes burned to the ground.

The fire, which was caused by an explosion of a gas pipeline, lasted more than one hour. Several camp residents sustained serious burns and some children went missing in the panic. The material damage is huge.

The Governor of Khartoum state, Ahmed Abdoun, visited the camp, located near El Takamol in Sharg En Nil locality, on Sunday. He told reporters after the visit that 150 families were affected.

He claimed he ordered that the injured would be treated in government and private hospitals, and said the affected will receive new shelters and food supplies.

Gas explosion

Two weeks ago, at least 23 people were killed and more than 130 injured in a gas explosion and subsequent fire that ‘completely gutted’ the Sila ceramics factory and impacted on surrounding buildings in Kober district in Khartoum Bahri (North).

The catastrophic chain explosion was sparked while a gas tanker lorry was transferring its load to underground storage facilities at the ceramics factory. It was so strong that it impacted neighbouring buildings, which increased the death toll.