Memorandum submitted by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UNHCR'S MANDATE
AND INTEREST
IN THIS
INQUIRY
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) is a non-political humanitarian organisation
charged with leading international efforts to protect and assist
refugees. It seeks durable solutions for refugees, including voluntary
repatriation, local integration in their country of asylum, and
resettlement to third countries. The UN refugee agency currently
looks after some 17.1 million people worldwide, including refugees,
asylum seekers, recent returnees and other persons of concern.
THE UN REFUGEE
AGENCY'S
(UNHCR) INTEREST IN
THIS INQUIRY
INTO THE
ONGOING CRISIS
IN DARFUR
STEMS FROM
TWO MAJOR
CONCERNS:
1. Chad is already struggling to cope with
the influx of 200,000 refugees from Darfur and is facing the prospect
of even more arrivals if the violence and related humanitarian
crisis are not brought under control in western Sudan.
2. While effective emergency response is
essential for saving lives, the protracted maintenance of displaced
populations inside Darfur and refugees in Chad will not be sustainable
in the long term within the current political context. Sudan's
Darfur region must see the restoration of security and confidence
in governmental structures as well as the removal of obstacles
to access currently hampering the work of relief agencies before
the some 1.6 million displaced persons and 200,000 refugees can
return home.
In this submission, the UN refugee agency wishes
to address its experience with West Darfur's refugees going back
six years and their current protection needs to ensure the eventual
voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes.
BACKGROUND
The situation in Sudan's western Darfur region
is among the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 1.8
million people have been forced from their homes, with many brutally
assaulted by militia groups.
As early as May 1998 people have been fleeing
insecurity and fighting in the Darfur region, when some 8,500
Sudanese left West Darfur's El Geneina area and sought asylum
around Adré in eastern Chad. The UN refugee agency gave
the group emergency aid, as well as seeds and food to help them
through the rainy season.
In January 1999, UNHCR reported that 10,300
refugees had fled to Adré in eastern Chad and that a further
estimated 120,000 people were displaced as a result of fighting
in West Darfur.
Over subsequent years civilians, mostly from
sedentary agricultural groups like the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa,
were reportedly killed or wounded or saw their homes destroyed
and their herds looted by nomadic groups. Sedentary groups complained
that the Government forces were failing to protect them and suggested
that the attacks were an attempt to drive them from their lands.
The authorities reported that rebel groups were behind the conflict
in the region.
Despite this insecurity, there were no significant
refugee movements between 1999 and April 2003 and relatively little
information came out of the Darfur region. Meanwhile, peace talks
in Sudan between the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese People's
Liberation Army (SPLA) started in June 2002. Darfur's conflict
was not covered by the peace negotiations and the killings and
displacement were not investigated.
According to the Government of Chad, the latest
wave began in April 2003. By September 2003 more than 65,000 Sudanese
refugees from Darfur were in eastern Chad, where UNHCR and its
partner agencies mounted a major relief operation despite enormous
obstacles in the remote region. Three months later the number
of refugees had grown to 75,000 and an estimated 91,000 refugees
were in Chad by the end of the year. Many refugees arriving in
Chad alleged aerial bombardment of homes and "ethnic cleansing"
by Sudanese Arab militia, UNHCR reported in December 2003. Agencies
estimated that 600,000 people in Darfur were displaced by the
conflict.
Throughout early 2004, the number of refugees
fleeing the Darfur region continued to increase, forcing UNHCR
to construct additional refugee camps in Chad's remote desert
area.
Following a June 2004 request from the UN Country
Team in Sudan for UNHCR to share its expertise in protection,
camp management and site planning, the UN refugee agency dispatched
teams to the Darfur region and opened offices in Nyala on 6 June
and in El Geneina on 22 June.
CURRENT SITUATION
The current displacement crisis along the Sudan-Chad
frontier is extremely complex and requires a coordinated approach
on both sides of the border to stabilize the situation.
In Sudan, there are currently an estimated 1.6
million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in all three states
that comprise the Darfur region. Many say they will flee to neighbouring
Chad if they do not get the help and protection they require.
Over recent weeks, renewed violence in Darfur
has driven more people from their homes. On 16 October, the villages
of Abu Surug and Bir Seiba, north of El Geneina, were attacked
by Janjaweed militia, reportedly leaving 11 people dead. As a
result, movements by international aid agencies in El Geneina
and Abu Surug areas were suspended. IDP camps around the West
Darfur city of El Geneina are threatened by possible rebel attacks.
Access by relief agencies to Darfur's civilian
population is unsatisfactory. Continuing insecurity facing both
aid workers and civilians alike has been highlighted by the deaths
of two aid workers from Save the Children UK when their car was
destroyed by an anti-tank mine in North Darfur in early October.
UNHCR staff were recently forced at gunpoint by police to abort
a mission to assist potential returnees from Chad in the village
of Hasheba.
Along with other international organizations,
UNHCR field missions planned for early November have been cancelled
following the recent kidnapping of 18 Sudanese from a local bus.
The local authorities have blamed the SLA and SLM rebel movements
for the kidnapping and say the rebels continue to violate the
ceasefire and control and block roads used by humanitarian agencies.
Most displaced people cannot envisage returning
home because they do not trust the government to protect them.
Those still residing in Darfur's IDP settlements are often too
terrified to venture beyond their encampments to seek food, firewood
or fodder for their livestock for fear of attacks, including gang
rape, robbery and murder.
VISIT BY
THE UN HIGH
COMMISSIONER FOR
REFUGEES
Following his visit to Sudan's Darfur region
and western Chad in late September, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Ruud Lubbers said aid agencies can only speak of voluntary and
durable repatriation as an objective. He said that conditions
do not yet permit widespread voluntary and durable return movements.
Lubbers observed that while there is no longer massive, systematic
violence, the ceasefire in Darfur is not being respected.
Although hampered by continuing security incidents,
UNHCR's mobile protection teams are working in western Darfur
near the border with Chad to monitor internal displacement and
to assess the condition of abandoned and destroyed villages. This
work is vital in trying to help a complicated mix of internally
displaced Sudanese people, recent returnees from Chad and several
thousand Chadian refugees. The latter have been living in Darfur
for a number of years since fleeing droughts and border clashes
between Chadian and Libyan forces in the 1980s.
UNHCR's teams, together with staff of other
aid agencies, are working to protect internally displaced people
in Darfur and to build trust and confidence among the traumatised
victims of the conflict. High Commissioner Lubbers has noted that
one key element of the humanitarian presence in Darfur is simply
to be there with the displaced people who feel more secure given
the presence of international humanitarian personnel.
UNHCR currently has some 50 staff members working
in its operation in Darfur, facing enormous logistical obstacles
and security constraints. The High Commissioner announced on 21
October 2004 that UNHCR is to step up its operational activities
in Sudan's strife-torn West Darfur region as part of a collaborative
United Nations effort to provide protection and assistance to
hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people and refugees.
Acting on authorisation from Secretary-General
Kofi Annan, High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers said UNHCR would work
closely with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
in providing a more protective international presence in West
Darfur and preparing for the eventual voluntary return of internally
displaced people and refugees. UNHCR will work closely with the
International Committee of the Red Cross in this protection effort.
In West Darfur, UNHCR is planning in early 2005
to open seven satellite offices (in Zalingi, Mukjar, Suleah, Masteri,
Habila, Beida and Foro Baranga) and increase its staff presence
with approximately another 18 international staff. The refugee
agency has also requested WFP to position and dedicate a helicopter
to facilitate movement and access to areas of displacement and
villages of origin and potential return. Currently, UNHCR is in
discussions with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to conclude
a Letter of Understanding on the voluntary return of internally
displaced people to and within West Darfur which will allow for
protection standards that are absent in GoS/IOM/UN agreement.
CHAD
Nearly 200,000 Sudanese refugees—mostly
from West Darfur—have fled across the border to Chad, where
they are housed in 11 newly built refugee camps run by UNHCR and
its implementing partners. The massive influx of desperate refugees
together with their livestock has placed enormous strains on Chad
and led to growing animosity between the local population and
the refugees.
In and around the 11 camps a major problem is
water. Some of the camps will shortly run out of water, leaving
thousands of refugees in an extremely precarious situation. Eastern
Chad is one of the driest places on earth and finding enough water
has been a huge logistical challenge from the start of this operation.
The total rainfall this year has been about one third of what
was expected which means that efforts are being increased to find
and establish new sites.
In eastern Chad's Iridimi refugee camp, the
water table is decreasing much faster than foreseen, with the
current supply likely to last for only two more weeks. UNHCR plans
to truck water into this site, but this is not a long term solution.
Due to the influx of refugees and their livestock, there is a
danger that the region's water table may soon be exhausted. UNHCR
is therefore looking into the possibility of moving some 7,000
refugees from Iridimi to Kounoungo where they have wells already
supplying water to 12,000 refugees. Three other sites for camps
have been suggested by local authorities but studies must be undertaken
to determine their feasibility.
In addition, problems have arisen due to other
limited local resources such as firewood. There is tension between
refugees and the local host population who feel that high levels
of assistance are being provided to refugees, bypassing local
communities. The UN system has become more active in addressing
this problem and is investigating how better to provide help.
A number of local Chadian host communities are now benefiting
from wells and health care services initiated by UNHCR.
Maintaining the civilian nature of Chad's refugee
camps whilst improving security is essential. This is being addressed
through an agreement made by UNHCR with the Chadian government
to deploy gendarmes. More efforts are needed to register refugees
to give a better picture of who is in the camps, an effort that
will also help to facilitate their eventual voluntary repatriation.
In the absence of peace and security in western
Sudan, Chad's refugee camps may have to be maintained for years.
The refugees are not unaware of this possibility, and subsequently,
tensions are mounting in the camps.
Eight refugees were arrested by Chadian gendarmes
in late October after causing serious problems. Subsequently other
refugees seeking information on the detainees threatened aid workers
with knives. At the heart of the problem is a fear among refugees
that the camps may become long-term settlements for many months
or even years if a solution is not found inside Darfur. These
sentiments has been exacerbated by the perception among refugees
that aid agency efforts to establish income generating activities
within the camps are signs of complacency and an inability to
help them return to Darfur.
FINAL COMMENTS
The vast majority of the 200,000 refugees who
have arrived in Chad, mainly over the last year are now grouped
in the 11 refugee camps constructed by UNHCR and its partner agencies.
These people are arriving from appalling situations where they
have been surviving in poor conditions. This has made it necessary
to introduce a blanket feeding programme and special medical attention
for the most needy. UNHCRs relief operation is underway but in
one of the most challenging climatic environments; there are frequent
dust storms and seasonal rains that disrupt transport in one of
the most remote regions of Africa's Sahel.
Due to the fragile security situation in western
Sudan, it is too early to consider assisting refugees to return
to Darfur. It may even be too optimistic to hope they will be
home by next year. This is a serious concern, if the refugees
are not able to return home in time for the planting season, vital
for their food security over the coming months, their repatriation
will be even further postponed.
High Commissioner Lubbers has suggested that
in Sudan's Darfur region, teams of female police officers or civilian
specialists working in support of the police be fielded to help
handle reports of violence against women and girls, stressing
that these efforts complement the work of other agencies, including
the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and monitors from the
African Union.
The financial requirements of relief agencies
operating in the refugee camps of neighbouring Chad and in western
Sudan's Darfur region are not yet fully met, despite the dramatic
and well publicized needs. To care for the 200,000 refugees in
Chad and to fund its protection and assistance operations in Darfur,
UNHCR currently requires $115 million, of which $83 million has
already been received; $5.48 million of this has come from the
UK. The UN refugee agency is now drafting a revised operations
plan and re-assessing its funding needs in view of its expanded
role in West Darfur.
Security in Sudan's Darfur region is the most
pressing issue and the main constraint to the delivery of protection
and humanitarian assistance. UN Security Council resolutions have
called on the Sudanese government to stop the violence so that
humanitarian aid can reach those who need it.
UNHCR welcomes this opportunity to submit written
evidence to the International Development Committee's inquiry
into the ongoing crisis in Darfur, Sudan and remains available
to provide further clarifications as required.
Anne Dawson-Shepherd
Representative to the United Kingdom
November 2004
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