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New approaches needed to address essential needs of
long-term refugees.
UNHCR should change the way it manages long-term
refugee situations, says a new report. The
organization should seek to address the essential
needs of refugees rather than trying to meet minimum
standards as it does under current practice, says the
report, issued by the agency's Evaluation and Policy
Analysis Unit (EPAU).
*When a person flees for his or her life, a plastic
shelter, a jerrycan of water and a container of
maizemeal provided in a camp far from home may
be exactly what the person needs,* the report says in
its summary. *Five years on, though, and those same
minimum standards that once protected a life will, if
unchanged, contrive to stifle it.*
The 35-page report, *Minimum standards and essential
needs in a protracted refugee situation,* looks at the
case of Kakuma camp, situated in a remote and arid
part of north-western Kenya.
Kakuma's 65,000 residents live in growing despair.
After living in exile for up to a decade, their
essential needs have risen. But due to budget
cuts, UNHCR's capacity to meet those needs is
shrinking.
The report says that UNHCR should tackle this problem
by developing a comprehensive programme that its
partners and donors can support. In particular, the
agency should move away from emergency management
methods and place greater emphasis on community
development.
The Sudanese, Somali and Ethiopian refugees living in
Kakuma are at least permitted to stay in the country,
but they do not enjoy the same rights as Kenyans or
those written into the UN refugee convention.
They are mainly confined to the camp, denied access to
higher education and employment. While some refugees
engage in trading and other small-scale economic
activities, they depend largely on aid for survival.
Sadly, this represents relatively good treatment at a
time when many other countries bar refugees from entry
or forcibly return them to their country of origin.
This report is available on-line on the Evaluation and
Policy Analysis page of the UNHCR website,
<www.unhcr.ch>. The author, Arafat Jamal,
who has worked for UNHCR in Afghanistan, Central Asia,
West and Central Africa, can be contacted on
<[log in to unmask]>.
EPAU is committed to the systematic analysis and
assessment of UNHCR policies, programmes, projects and
practices. The unit was established in 1999, in a
drive to help the agency work more effectively on
behalf of refugees. It is guided by the principles of
transparency, independence, consultation and
relevance.
UNHCR, Geneva
1.2.2001
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