A refugee builds a traditional house in Moyo, northern Uganda. The country has been commended for its progressive refugee policy, allowing displaced people to settle and start a livelihood. Photo: LWF/ C. Kästner
UNHCR Standing Committee Meeting: LWF and other NGOs call for protection of refugees
(LWI) - Together with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) called for more efforts to implement the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in Africa. The CRRF aims to better integrate refugees in their host countries through increased development work.
The NGO statement on Africa was delivered by LWF on 6 March 2018 at the 71st Standing Committee meeting of the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. Speaking on behalf of more than 70 NGOs coordinated by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), it “recognized and welcomed the progressive refugee policies of some African countries, such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti”.
“Those countries are demonstrating that it is not only an obligation, but also ultimately beneficial for humanity to grant refugees their rights to asylum in dignity. [...] At a time when wealthy countries are seemingly folding back on their international obligations, these African countries are leading the way”, the NGOs state.
Those countries are demonstrating that it is not only an obligation, but also ultimately beneficial for humanity to grant refugees their rights to asylum in dignity. (...) At a time when wealthy countries are seemingly folding back on their international obligations, these African countries are leading the way.
In the statement, LWF and the other NGOs urge UN member states to support progressive refugee policies and to encourage “a further roll-out of the CRRF in other African countries that host refugees and stateless persons.” The organizations voice their concern about some countries backing out of some countries which had already started participating in the CRRF, such as Tanzania.
The statement also draws attention to some of the biggest humanitarian and human rights crises in sub-Saharan Africa, such as the conflicts in South Sudan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) and the “complex humanitarian disaster” in the Lake Chad Basin. The NGO also draw attention to statelessness in sub-Saharan Africa, often caused by protracted refugee situations and ethnic discrimination in some countries’ nationality laws.
Since its inception, LWF has been committed to the protection and support to forcibly displaced people. LWF World Service provides humanitarian and development aid to refugees in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, and has been supporting the implementation of the CRRF in Uganda, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
