UNHCR in Namibia faces cash crunch

AS refugees around the world prepare to commemorate a day in their honour tomorrow, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Namibia (UNHCR) says it faces a financial crisis in supporting the country’s 6 500 refugees and asylum seekers.

The theme for this year’s World Refugee Day is “hope”. “It is hope amidst the challenges,” UNHCR’s new representative in Namibia, Joyce Mends-Cole, told The Namibian in an interview.”Because of the financial situation we find ourselves in, we face a difficult situation in 2007.”Last week she briefed Prime Minister Nahas Angula about the challenges facing the UNHCR office both in Namibia and globally.The Prime Minister encouraged the international community to continue to respond to humanitarian situations of the displaced and urged UNHCR to continue to stand in solidarity with refugees to give them hope.UNHCR staff in Namibia have already been scaled down considerably because of budgetary constraints.Mends-Cole said the UNHCR would meet with senior Government officials soon to look at ways of integrating education and health services offered to refugees into the country’s system so that by the next financial year, Government could budget for the cost involved.At present, the UNHCR, through its donors, shoulders the cost of running a school and a clinic at the Osire refugee camp near Otjiwarongo.Mends-Cole said although thousands of mostly Angolan refugees who had been living at Osire voluntarily returned to their homeland during 2005, at least 4 500 still remained and were not ready to return home.Repatriation is a strictly voluntary process.But Mends-Cole says donors supporting the UNHCR are reluctant to continue funding protracted refugee situations, especially in cases where it is deemed that the lives of refugees would no longer be under threat should they return home.The pressure is now on for the UN agency, host and home governments to deal with situations where refugees do not feel ready to return home.Other than Angolan refugees, Osire is also home to about 2 000 asylum seekers from the DRC, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi and Rwanda.A steady number of asylum seekers, mostly from the DRC, continue to enter Namibia weekly.Despite a tripartite agreement being reached between the Namibian and Rwandan governments and the UN last year, no Rwandan asylum seeker living at Osire has returned home under this arrangement.The UNHCR regularly arranges “go-and-see” visits for asylum seekers to return home to assess the situation and inform fellow asylum seekers of the situation.KEEPING HOPE ALIVEUNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres says in his message to the world’s 19 million refugees that UNHCR draws great inspiration from their tenacity and courage.”Keeping their hope alive is the responsibility of everyone, including international leaders who should be doing more to resolve these situations which force refugees to remain in exile and to address the root causes of conflict and displacement,” said Guterres.World Refugee Day is celebrated each year on June 20 – in cities and towns, in refugee camps and in remote settlements – to pay tribute to courageous refugees and to signify that they are not being forgotten.Today, the global refugee population is at its lowest level since 1980, but more than five million people have been in exile for more than five years.This includes many refugees and asylum seekers at the Osire camp.”More than half of those that the UNHCR cares for around the world have spent more than five years in exile.Let this day serve as a reminder of our responsibility to help keep hope alive among those who need it most – the millions of refugees and displaced people who are still far from home,” says UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Teopolina Mushelenga is expected to address refugees and asylum seekers at Osire tomorrow.”It is hope amidst the challenges,” UNHCR’s new representative in Namibia, Joyce Mends-Cole, told The Namibian in an interview.”Because of the financial situation we find ourselves in, we face a difficult situation in 2007.”Last week she briefed Prime Minister Nahas Angula about the challenges facing the UNHCR office both in Namibia and globally.The Prime Minister encouraged the international community to continue to respond to humanitarian situations of the displaced and urged UNHCR to continue to stand in solidarity with refugees to give them hope.UNHCR staff in Namibia have already been scaled down considerably because of budgetary constraints.Mends-Cole said the UNHCR would meet with senior Government officials soon to look at ways of integrating education and health services offered to refugees into the country’s system so that by the next financial year, Government could budget for the cost involved. At present, the UNHCR, through its donors, shoulders the cost of running a school and a clinic at the Osire refugee camp near Otjiwarongo.Mends-Cole said although thousands of mostly Angolan refugees who had been living at Osire voluntarily returned to their homeland during 2005, at least 4 500 still remained and were not ready to return home.Repatriation is a strictly voluntary process.But Mends-Cole says donors supporting the UNHCR are reluctant to continue funding protracted refugee situations, especially in cases where it is deemed that the lives of refugees would no longer be under threat should they return home.The pressure is now on for the UN agency, host and home governments to deal with situations where refugees do not feel ready to return home.Other than Angolan refugees, Osire is also home to about 2 000 asylum seekers from the DRC, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burundi and Rwanda.A steady number of asylum seekers, mostly from the DRC, continue to enter Namibia weekly.Despite a tripartite agreement being reached between the Namibian and Rwandan governments and the UN last year, no Rwandan asylum seeker living at Osire has returned home under this arrangement.The UNHCR regularly arranges “go-and-see” visits for asylum seekers to return home to assess the situation and inform fellow asylum seekers of the situation.KEEPING HOPE ALIVE UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres says in his message to the world’s 19 million refugees that UNHCR draws great inspiration from their tenacity and courage.”Keeping their hope alive is the responsibility of everyone, including international leaders who should be doing more to resolve these situations which force refugees to remain in exile and to address the root causes of conflict and displacement,” said Guterres.World Refugee Day is celebrated each year on June 20 – in cities and towns, in refugee camps and in remote settlements – to pay tribute to courageous refugees and to signify that they are not being forgotten.Today, the global refugee population is at its lowest level since 1980, but more than five million people have been in exile for more than five years.This includes many refugees and asylum seekers at the Osire camp.”More than half of those that the UNHCR cares for around the world have spent more than five years in exile.Let this day serve as a reminder of our responsibility to help keep hope alive among those who need it most – the millions of refugees and displaced people who are still far from home,” says UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Teopolina Mushelenga is expected to address refugees and asylum seekers at Osire tomorrow.