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UNHCR Global Report 2017: Africa Regional Summaries

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FOREWORD

Africa still hosts the largest number of displaced people worldwide. In 2017, some 24.2 million people in Africa were forced to flee as the result of conflict, persecution, other human rights abuses and food insecurity. Few political solutions were in sight.

The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was of particular concern, with renewed unrest triggering displacement on an extraordinary scale. Conflicts in both the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan entered their fifth year while Cameroon, Mali, and the border regions of Burkina Faso and Niger were wracked by fighting, pushing even more people away from their homes. Burundi remained volatile with continued outflows of people to Rwanda and the United Republic of Tanzania. Finding solutions and providing protection to refugees and asylum‑seekers in mixed movements was a pressing priority.

Compounding these complex emergencies were challenges related to climate change, which threatened the food security of vulnerable refugees and their host communities across the continent; and increased reports of sexual and gender‑based violence (SGBV), which highlighted the significant challenges faced by a particularly vulnerable sector of an already traumatized population.
Urgently‑needed humanitarian assistance and protection often could not be delivered sustainably and predictably because of constraints on access, insecurity and underfunding. Allegations of fraud, misconduct and exploitation surfaced in several operations in Africa, leading to thorough investigations and remedial actions by UNHCR and the countries involved. This was matched by measures to enhance accountability and transparency and to strengthen protection responses for people of concern.

The number of people fleeing rose sharply and their needs were significant and widespread, but there were moments of hope. Several forward‑looking African countries embraced the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). UNHCR’s advocacy helped advance crucial legislative reform to resolve statelessness, and to assist with the inclusion of refugees within national plans and systems in areas including education, health and labour market participation. UNHCR assisted voluntary repatriation to Somalia from Djibouti, Kenya and Yemen, and to Côte d’Ivoire from Liberia. A partnership with WFP and other agencies helped to address food insecurity—and although malnutrition, stunting and anaemia remain serious concerns—famine was averted in the three regions most at risk: northern Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan.

Major refugee‑hosting countries in Africa, with support from the international community, led the way in providing aid and support to people of concern and their host communities. While maintaining its emergency assistance responsibilities, UNHCR spearheaded new approaches to housing, energy, long‑distance education, lighting and access to global markets, all of which eased the hardships faced by refugees in the region. The Office worked with local and national governments, private sector partners, foundations, banks and international financial institutions to provide refugees and hosts with greater financial stability and freedom of choice through cash, loans, facilitating remittances, better internet access and telecommunications.

Valentin Tapsoba
Director of UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for Africa