Over 5.6 million refugees have fled Syria since 2011, seeking safety in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and beyond. After almost six years of war in Syria, refugee vulnerabilities and poverty are on the rise, the impact on host communities continues to grow, and funding for the humanitarian response is not keeping up with the needs
As the protracted emergency enters its sixth year, the South Sudan situation remains the largest refugee situation on the African continent. There are over 2.2 million refugees in Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a further 1.8 million people displaced internally in South Sudan. The situation continues to be characterized as a children’s crisis with children constituting over 65 percent of the refugee population.
The on-going conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have caused and continue to cause internal and external displacement of populations. In 2017, some 100,000 Congolese fled to neighbouring countries as refugees, due to widespread militia activities, unrest and violence, joining the 585,000 already in exile. The security conditions in DRC, especially in the eastern and central parts have continued to worsen since the beginning of 2018. Because of this, the Congolese refugee population is now among the ten largest in the world. Nearly 55 per cent are children, many crossing borders unaccompanied or separated. Existing camps and sites in many asylum countries are saturated, and available basic services are stretched to the limit. The situation requires support, adequate resources and collaboration so that effective protection and assistance can be delivered efficiently to Congolese refugees.
Growing numbers of Venezuelans continue to leave their country, with public estimates in receiving countries totaling between hundreds of thousands to over one million. Between 2014 and 2017, over 145,000 asylum claims were lodged globally, half of which in 2017 alone (as of September). Over 444,000 Venezuelans have been granted an alternative form of legal status in their host countries, allowing them to remain there legally and to access basic rights and services.
Somalia is at the heart of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today. Twenty years of conflict and waves of drought have uprooted a quarter of the country’s 7.5 million people. As the region faces its most severe drought in 60 years, the Somali exodus is growing fast. The refugees urgently need medical aid and high-protein, high-energy food. They also need clean water, shelter and basic services in the camps.
Following violence, hostilities, human rights violations and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the northern part of Mali since January 2012, large numbers of Malians have been seeking refuge in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger or displaced internally.
Northern Nigeria’s conflict with Boko Haram spilled over to the Lake Chad Basin region, where Nigerian refugees are hosted since 2014, causing large scale forced displacement and an unprecedented humanitarian emergency in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
The dire crisis in the Central African Republic continues to trigger massive forced displacement, increasing pressure on resources and living conditions in host communities and countries. Intense militia activity and inter-community violence hampers humanitarian access and exposes civilians to serious protection risks. According to OCHA, CAR remains the country with the highest humanitarian needs per capita, with 50 per cent of the population having to rely on humanitarian assistance to survive, while 25 per cent is displaced either internally or in a neighbouring country.
Today, there are 22,000 Ivorian refugees hosted in West Africa. Since 2011, UNHCR has facilitated the voluntary return in safety and dignity of over 70,000 Ivorian refugees and and continues to do so.
Humanitarian actors involved in the response to the outflow of civilians from Yemen due to the current conflict are committed to providing life-saving assistance and protection to those fleeing Yemen, pending durable solutions.
Persecution, conflict and poverty forced over 1 million people to flee to Europe in 2015. Many came seeking safety for themselves and their families, risking their lives and facing a treacherous journey
Over 300,000 refugees have fled Burundi to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda since April 2015. The situation in Burundi remains complex; while refugees continue to arrive throughout the region, others are deciding to return home. The Burundi refugee response remains one of the most underfunding refugee situations in the world.
The ongoing armed conflict in Iraq has resulted in more than 3 million people fleeing from their homes and seeking alternate protection in Iraq. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are currently living in more than 2,000 temporary settlements, as well as other non-camp accommodation (e.g. host families, rented) throughout Iraq.
Following the 2015 election dispute in Mozambique, new influx of asylum seekers and Zimbabwean nationals flee Mozambique to neighbouring countries to seek protection
According to UNHCR estimates, statelessness affects millions of people worldwide, at least 700,000 of which are in West Africa. There are many factors contributing to the risk of statelessness in the region, which suggest that the population at risk is very large.
Growing numbers of Venezuelans continue to leave their country, with more than 3 million having left by the end of 2018. By the end of 2018, over 460,000 asylum claims were lodged globally, the majority were in 2018 alone. Over 1 million Venezuelans have been granted other forms of legal status in their host countries, allowing them to remain there legally and to access basic rights and services.
This is the largest and swiftest refugee exodus witnessed in the region in decades with more than 743,000 refugees fleeing from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017. Their displacement occurred against a background of decades of discrimination and statelessness. Although the influx has slowed since the onset of the crisis, new arrivals are still reported, joining an existing refugee population.
Durable solutions for refugees from Syria are based on a comprehensive protection and solutions strategy which seeks to: i) support host country and community resilience; ii) enable refugee self-reliance, including access to services, legal work opportunities and livelihoods; iii) expand access to resettlement in third countries and other complementary pathways, and; iv) plan for the return of refugees to Syria, on a voluntary basis, when conditions for a safe, dignified and sustainable return are in place.
Highlighting statelessness in the 12 Member States of the ICGLR, and what is being done to eradicate it. Media coverage, testimonies of stateless persons, reports on the issue and all documents pertaining to the Brazzaville Declaration process can be consulted in English, French, Portuguese and Arabic.
Mixed movements refer to complex population flows: people using the same routes and modes of transportation to travel, but moving for different reasons, and with different needs. In these flows, refugees move alongside people fleeing financial hardship. West Africa is a place of complex mixed movements, inside the region or from the region to other parts of the world, such as Europe through the Central Mediterranean route.
