ReliefWeb Published on 21 Nov 2012
Malian refugees play football in Mentao refugee camp
© Marc-André Boisvert/IRIN
JOHANNESBURG, 21 November 2012 (IRIN) - Refugee crises appear to come and go. In 2011, all eyes were on the Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya as it received hundreds of thousands of Somalis fleeing famine and conflict. This year, attention has shifted to the refugee exodus from Syria, even though the majority of Somalis who arrived at Dadaab last year are still there.
In fact, most refugee and displacement crises continue long after public attention and donor interest wane, and others never make it into the spotlight. This often leaves the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and aid organizations with the difficult task of assisting large populations of refugees, forced migrants and internally displaced people (IDPs) without sufficient funding, political will or support from the international community.
Below, IRIN takes a look at some of the most neglected refugee and displacement crises around the world.
- Sudanese refugees in Chad: Nearly a decade of conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region displaced some 1.8 million Sudanese. Of these, more than 264,000 fled into neighbouring Chad, where they continue to live in 12 camps along the country’s eastern border with Sudan. Chad is one of the world's poorest countries and, according to UNHCR, the working environment is “extremely challenging” due to the region’s lack of infrastructure and natural resources. Women in the camps report they sometimes have to walk all day to find firewood, and lack of access to arable land has made the refugees almost entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. Several peace accords between the rebels in Darfur and the Sudanese government have failed to calm the region’s volatility, leaving the refugees reluctant to return home. Meanwhile, humanitarian workers say the long-running nature of the crisis has led to donor fatigue.
- Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan: Eritreans have been crossing into eastern Sudan since their country started to agitate for independence from Ethiopia in the 1960s and, more recently, to escape Eritrea’s policy of indefinite military conscription. Currently, about 66,000 Eritreans are living in refugee camps in Gedaref, Kassala and Red Sea states, which are among the poorest parts of Sudan, and a further 1,600 cross the border every month. Many of the newer arrivals view Sudan as a transit country, continuing north with the goal of reaching Europe or Israel. This has made them a target for abuse by smugglers and human traffickers. Those who remain in Sudan cannot legally own land or property and struggle to find jobs in the formal sector. In 2002, refugee status was revoked for those who had fled the independence war and subsequent conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, but repatriation was halted in 2004 after widespread international criticism of Eritrea's human rights record. FULL STORY>>>
