Refugees, IDPs, and Humanitarian Assistance

Adapted from CIS Presenter Bryan Schaaf

Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

U.S. Department of State

•All Slides Unclassified

The State of the Displaced (as of end 2010)

• 43.7 million people forcibly displaced, the highest number in 15 years. This includes;

– 15.4 million refugees

– 27.5 million internally displaced

– 837,500 asylum seekers

• Largest numbers of refugees are in Pakistan (1.9 million), Iran (1.1 million) and Syria (1 million).

• 7.2 million refugees in long-running situations across 24 countries.

• Refugees and asylum seekers gravitate to urban areas and IDPs to rural areas. Refugee returnees in both rural and urban areas.

Environmental Issue One: Land

• Refugee camps often located on marginal land

– Prone to floods, droughts, breeding ground for mosquitoes.

– Having qualified site planners is critical.

– Short term versus long term planning

• Refugee camps never meant to be permanent, but often exist for decades.

• Additional land must be negotiated.

• Access to land for agriculture often restricted

– Denied in Kenya, granted in Uganda.

– Implications for food security.

• Lack of formal land tenure systems

– Both a development and humanitarian issue.

– A source of conflict in many countries, but no one UN Agency is responsible for land tenure.

• Ex: Land, shelter, and solutions in Haiti.

• Ex: UNHCR assistance in mediating land disputes for returnees to the DRC.

Environmental Issue Two: Water

• Why is water a critical issue?– Promotes public health, reduces patient visits

to health clinics.

– Reduces social burden on women and children as well as protection risks.

• What causes water programs to fall short?

– Lack of technical input/capacity, especially in remote and isolated areas.

– Lack of community involvement.

– Lack of preventative maintenance.

– Lack of ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

– Lack of long term strategic planning.

Kenya: What does this picture tell you?

Kenya: What Does This Picture Tell You?

Environmental Issue Three: Sanitation

• Sphere Standards for Sanitation

– Number: Maximum 20 people/latrine working toward one latrine/family as soon as possible.

– Protection: Separate latrines for men and women, no more than 50 meters from dwellings.

• Complicating Factors

– Topography: Terrain may not be conducive to digging latrines

– Ownership: Land-owners may resist latrine digging on properties that have become IDP sites.

– Natural Disasters: Flooding can destroy latrines, cause health hazards.

Chad: Is This An Acceptable Latrine?

Tunisia: What Does This Picture Tell You?

Environmental Issue Four: Fuel• Nearly half of the world’s population –

about 3 billion people – cooks their food each day on polluting, inefficient stoves

• Why is this a problem for: – For refugee health?

– For refugee protection?

– For the environment?

– For relations between refugees and their host communities?

• Interventions– Fuel Efficient Stoves (FES)

• USAID Evaluations in Darfur, Kenya

– Ethanol Stoves (Ethiopia)

• Project Gaia

– Solar Power (Kenya)

• EDP Foundation

– Reforestation (Chad)

• UNHCR

1 month supply of wood in Dadaab 500 – 1,000 Kenyan Shillingsillings

What Does This Picture Tell You?

Fuel (Cont.)

• Current Initiatives– Fuel and Firewood Initiative (Women’s

Commission)

• Objective: Develop and disseminate guidelines concerning safe access to cooking fuels and to encourage rigorous field testing of alternatives to wood.

– Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

• Objective: Save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean, efficient cooking solutions.

• Future Opportunities– Costing/Replicating alternative energy sources

– Improving evidence base for fuel efficient stove uptake/usage

– Expanding partnerships with universities, foundations, private sector.

Getting Started in Humanitarian Assistance

• Help Wanted: Advocates, diplomats, policy makers, and IO/NGO staff.

• Consider volunteering/working with:

– NGOs that protect/assist conflict victims overseas; or

– NGOs that have offices in the United States (e.g, that integrate resettled refugees.)

– The American Red Cross offers trainings on disaster response.

• Be familiar with humanitarian principles/standards. Knowing languages very helpful.

Online Resources

Humanitarian Jobs Blog

Relief Web

Interaction

International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

Humanitarian News and Analysis (IRIN)

OCHA Online

World Humanitarian Day (August 19th)

Sphere Handbook