Day: June 20, 2022

Further food ration cuts are imminent for refugees as humanitarian needs multiply around the world while funding struggles to keep pace, the UN food relief agency warned on Monday, World Refugee Day.

Each year on June 20, the world celebrates World Refugee Day. This year, the focus is on the right to seek safety.

“As global hunger soars way beyond the resources available to feed all the families who desperately need WFP’s help, we are being forced to make the heartbreaking decision to cut food rations for refugees who rely on us for their survival,” said David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP).

The sombre warning comes as WFP has already been forced to significantly reduce rations to refugees across its operations.

Ration cuts of up to 50 per cent are affecting three-quarters of all refugees supported by WFP in Eastern Africa, with those living in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda most affected.

Some 1.6 million people are internally displaced, and 2.2 million South Sudanese are refugees in neighbouring countries.

Radio Tamazuj caught up with South Sudanese refugees living in northern Ugandan and Sudan to speak about their situations amid escalating needs.

Several refugee families complained that they are living in poor conditions, saying they lack food and healthcare.

Angelo Donata, a refugee at Dar es Salaam camp in Khartoum, said that for more than a year, they have not received humanitarian aid from any organization and that their humanitarian conditions in the camp are worsening.

“We hope that the government, the host community and the United Nations will look into our situation by providing the most basic necessities of life for food,” he said.

Manal Abdullah Akol, head of Our Family Association in Wad al-Bashir camp, west of Omdurman, said: “Cases of night blindness and malnutrition are on the rise. Night blindness is prevalent due to the lack of food, and the majority of families in the camp eat one meal a day,” she explained.

Ramadan Odok, the coordinator of Upper Nile refugees at Naivasha camp in Omdurman, said that there is an acute food shortage, besides the spread of diseases among the South Sudanese refugees. Adok pointed out that they have not received relief from humanitarian organizations for a long time.

“Children are suffering from malnutrition, and the rainy season has exacerbated our conditions because we live in makeshift houses,” he said.

Adeng Juma, a mother of seven from the Borole camp in northern Uganda, said that the reduction of food rations by humanitarian organizations has worsened their humanitarian situation.

“Food is not enough, we don’t have the money to buy food, and the children are hungry,” she said.

Nyoka Abraham, a mother of ten, says she has resorted to farming and small businesses to provide for her family at the Borole camp. “Since last year, the organizations reduced food rations, so I decided to embark on farming, because my family consists of 10 members, and my husband is not here in the camp,” she said.

Source: Radio Tamazuj

Many South Sudanese refugees who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries from violence in their own country are worried due to insecurity incidents in the camps.

Some 1.6 million people are internally displaced, and 2.2 million South Sudanese are refugees in neighbouring countries.

Each year on June 20, the world celebrates World Refugee Day. This year, the focus is on the right to seek safety. “Every person on this planet has a right to seek safety – whoever they are, wherever they come from and whenever they are forced to flee.”

Refugees in Sudan

Kongo Lam, head of Um Sangour refugee camp in Sudan’s White Nile state, told Radio Tamazuj that the South Sudanese refugees are concerned about their safety. He says the camp’s inhabitants have been experiencing recurrent conflicts with the host community.

“The refugees in at Um Sangour camp do not feel safe because of the recurring conflicts from time to time with the host community,” he said.

Kongo pointed out that the lack of water at the refugee camp in White Nile is one of the issues that create conflicts between the local host community and the refugees.

He says humanitarian workers are continuing to provide basic services such as health, food, water and sanitation, but most of those services are inadequate.

Yohanna Anyong, head of the Al-Jamaiya refugee camp in White Nile, said the security situation is relatively stable. However, he complained about the lack of humanitarian aid, saying many refugees now consider going back home due to the worsening humanitarian situation.

The refugee said rape and other sexual violence remain among the most serious problems facing women refugees in the camp. “In some cases, the perpetrators were arrested in coordination with the refugees and the host community, but there is no justice for rape survivors,” he said.

Refugees in Kenya

Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees in Kakuma, one of the largest refugee camps in Kenya, complained that refugees and the host community often enter into conflict, saying this causes insecurity to them.

Manhal Juma and Mahila Tutu, who fled from conflict in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan eight years ago, complained about poor living conditions and security challenges in the camp.

“We are experiencing injustice here in Kakuma camp, and this is one of the challenges of life in exile, that’s why we do not enjoy our full rights.”

Meanwhile, Mahila Tutu said: “I am not sure when I will return to my homeland despite the poor living condition here in Kakuma. But I will definitely go back when there is peace in Sudan, I did not give up.”

A refugee who only identified himself as Ibrahim said the security situation in Kakuma is relatively stable despite the conflicts that occur between the host community and the refugees. “We cannot say that there is complete stability for people in a country other than their own, but the important thing here is respect for the laws of the host country,” he said.

Ibrahim says it has been a challenge for the refugees to find an immediate response from the police who protect the camp when problems arise. He added, “We have local police stations around the camp, but their response is very slow, but we try to educate the refugees to avoid problems.”

Source: Radio Tamazuj

The theme of this edition of *Humanitarian Exchange *is protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment (PSEAH) in humanitarian action, co-edited with Wendy Cue, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Senior Coordinator on PSEAH. It has been 20 years since the shocking West African sex- for-food scandal came to light. Since then, humanitarians have made considerable efforts to address such abuses and support victims and survivors by creating policies, tools and guidance, including codes of conduct and complaint channels, and improving investigative approaches and procedures. But have we made as much progress as we should have and what more needs to be done? Contributors to this edition critically reflect on measures taken so far, what other changes are necessary, and share country-level experience of how principles and policies are being interpreted and implemented in practice.

In the lead article, Martin Griffiths, Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, outlines the three priority commitments of the new multi-year IASC PSEAH strategy. Moira Reddick, author of the 2021 PSEAH 10-year review, follows with a discussion of the review findings and recommendations. Andrew Morley, the 2022 IASC Champion for PSEAH, calls for a culture change that recognises that the absence of reports of abuse may be a cause for concern. Asmita Naik, a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children team that uncovered the 2002 West Africa abuse, argues that to achieve cultural and behavioural change the sector must set standards, enforce them and create deterrents. Drawing on his leadership experience across a range of crises, David Gressly makes the case that humanitarian operations need formal structures with full-time staffing to address sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) effectively, rather than relying on focal points and goodwill. Based on their experience as safeguarding incident investigators, Hannah Clare and Carolyn Bys challenge humanitarians to stop producing more tools and guidance and focus instead on investing in the right expertise. In a related piece, Carolyn Bys interrogates the Western ‘feminisms’ that are driving approaches to addressing sexual misconduct.

Gang Karume Augustin and Thérèse Mapenzi explore the potential role of national and local non- governmental organisations in safeguarding efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Irene Coello and Maria Alvarez compare and contrast their experiences working as PSEA coordinators in Mozambique and Venezuela, while Husni Husni reflects on lessons from collective PSEA and accountability to affected people initiatives in Ethiopia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Jane Connors explains the roles of Field Victims’ Rights Advocates in high-risk contexts, a cornerstone of the UN strategy to give voice to victims. Diane Goodman, Blanche Tax and Zuhura Mahamed tell the story of UNHCR’s journey towards adopting a victim-centred approach. Laurens Kymmell and Taryn Kurtanich share recommendations from a global Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Community of Practice initiated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2020. Heike Niebergall-Lackner and Paulien Vandendriessche explain how the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ‘bystander conversations’ are helping to instill confidence in staff to speak up and raise concerns. The edition ends with an article by Clara Satke, Madison Jansen, Nina Lacroix and Noor Lakhdar-Toumi, which focuses on the ways in which the IASC’s Six Core Principles relating to SEA are adapted, interpreted and applied by IASC members.

Source: ODI – Humanitarian Practice Network