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III.4.8 The search for solutions to the refugee problem in Africa

Main Debates

  • Given the African states political, social, cultural and economic reality, can refugees get durable solutions within Africa?
  • Should countries that produce refugees be held accountable and asked to contribute to their protection in the country of asylum?
  • Refugees’ assistance v. local host communities
  • Is local integration possible?

Main Points

The refugee problem in Africa is characterized by a high number of protracted refugee situations and the continuing presence of large populations of internally displaced persons, as well as the presence of armed elements in some refugee camps and forced recruitment, serious violations of the universally recognized principle of non-refoulement, growing xenophobia and intolerance against refugees, and threats to the physical safety of refugees.

  • Legal frameworks to accommodate refugees
  • Divergent interests and perceptions
  • Political stability
  • Human, social and economic resources

UNHCR Documents

  1. UNHCR, Global Strategy for Livelihoods, 2014-2018.

Readings

Core

  1. E. Aukot, ‘It is Better to Be a Refugee than a Turkana in Kakuma: Revisiting the Relationship Between Hosts and Refugees in Kenya’, Refuge, vol. 21, no. 3 (2001), pp. 73–83.
  2. UNHCR, ‘Refugees in Africa: the Challenges of Protection and Solutions’, Regional Parliamentary Conference on Refugees in Africa, Cotonou, Benin, 1–3 June 2004.

Extended

  1. A. Betts, ‘Refugee Economies, Rethinking Popular Assumptions’, Humanitarian Innovation Project, (University of Oxford, June 2014).
  2. A. Betts, ‘Public Goods Theory and the Provision of Refugees Protection: The Role of the Joint- Product Model in Burden Sharing Theory’, Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 16, no. 3, (2003), pp. 274–296.
  3. J. Crisp, ‘Africa’s Refugees: Patterns, Problems and Policy Challenges’, UNHCR Working Paper No. 28, (August 2000).
  4. N. Binaifer, ‘In the Name of Security: Erosion of Refugee Rights in East Africa’, World Refugee Survey, USCR, 2000.
  5. A. Betts, ‘International Cooperation between North and South to Enhance Refugee Protection in Regions of Origin’, Working Paper No. 25, (Oxford: Refugees Studies Centre, 2005), pp. 40–63.
  6. B. Rutinwa, ‘Presence of Refugees: Impact on Education Services’, The African, 14 July 2004, p. 10.
  7. B. Rutinwa, ‘Presence of Refugees: Impact on Health Services’, The African, 13 July 2004, p. 10.
  8. B. Rutinwa, ‘Presence of Refugees: Impact on Water Services’, The African, 15 July 2004, p. 10.
  9. UNHCR, ‘Putting Refugees on Development Agenda: How Refugees and Returnees Can Contribute to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals’, Forum, 2005/4.