At UN conference, East African States agree to tackle displacement regionally

Seven East African countries meeting in Nairobi have committed themselves to the development of regional strategies to deal with their 11 million displaced persons, the UN refugee agency reported today.

“Not only do the conflicts themselves often run across borders, but displacement is in essence a cross-border challenge,” Oluseyi Bajulaiye, Africa Bureau deputy director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told the week-long ministerial conference on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons.

The conference, organized jointly by UNHCR and the regional organization known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), was the first of its kind in the region.

The 11 million displaced persons shared by Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda make up close to eight per cent of the 150 million combined population of the seven countries, UNHCR said.

Those persons also represent 66 per cent of Africa’s internally displaced, and 30 per cent of global internally displaced, according to the agency.

In their recommendations, the ministers vowed to look at the root causes of displacement and develop adequate responses at political and humanitarian levels, with a view to developing a common vision and harmonizing their approach to donors.

Enhancing their national asylum systems – particularly for refugee status determination – was also high on their agendas, along with consulting each other on durable solutions strategies and jointly addressing situations such as that in Sudan, Somalia and Northern Uganda.

The ministers also agreed to facilitate access of refugees and displaced persons to education, training and development opportunities.

They also called attention to their need for urgent funding to support environmental rehabilitation of areas affected by large groups of displaced people as well as for eradicating landmines and small arms traffic.