In 2013, the world experienced the highest levels of new refugees in decades when 2.5 million people became newly displaced due to conflict or persecution, bringing the worldwide total to 16.7 million. Sub-Saharan Africa is host to 2.9 million — or one quarter — of all refugees, who originate primarily from (in descending order) Somalia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR) and Eritrea.⁽²⁾

In July 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a new strategy, Policy on Alternatives to Camps, shifting the approach to refugee protection away from camps. The alternative strategy centres on local integration, where freedom of movement, community residency and participation in local economies is encouraged. Ethiopia, which overtook Kenya this year as Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country,⁽³⁾ is a salient example of issues surrounding and resulting from the former, restrictive refugee policy. However, just a few hundred kilometres to the southwest, Uganda is a shining counterexample supporting the argument that the UNHCR policy shift is a move in the right direction. This CAI paper discusses why the new policy is a welcome change.

Restrictions on refugees in Ethiopia

The 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees indicates the need for signatory states to facilitate the assimilation refugees ⁽⁴⁾ and to provide them with certain economic and civil rights. Unfortunately Ethiopia, although a signatory, does not recognize the Convention as legally binding.⁽⁵⁾ While Ethiopia does allow refugees to live outside of camps and engage in informal sector activities for their livelihoods,⁽⁶⁾ such as trading in markets or taking on small piecemeal jobs, it still holds a general policy of not allowing foreigners to formally work unless there are no qualified nationals available to fill the position in question.⁽⁷⁾

For people who had skills and jobs in their home country before having to flee, the inability to do more than odd, informal work is a detriment to their quality of life and level of autonomy. The inability to maintain a steady and secure income gives rise to an array of problems commonly associated with camps. For instance, refugees become more vulnerable to labour exploitation and consequently either partly or fully dependent on humanitarian aid. Women and children, who are often sent to urban centres as live-in domestic workers, are particularly vulnerable to sexual and verbal abuse as they are left without legal protection or other support.⁽⁸⁾ This dependency is not ideal for refugees nor for host governments and other aid funders who experience immense strain on their financial resources in their attempt to fulfil basic needs like food and medicine for sudden and large masses of people.

Unfortunately, the refugee experience in Ethiopia fits the dependency stereotype, as it routinely involves families exchanging food rations for other staples such as medicine or firewood due to lack of a steady income.⁽⁹⁾ In a country like Ethiopia which already faces its own poverty and resource-scarcity problems, the proposal for developing a strategy that allows refugees to be more economically self-sufficient should be an appealing one.

Uganda: The case for increasing local integration

Branding refugees as economically isolated, burdensome dependents is not an image that represents all stories, by any means. In contrast to many African nations, including Ethiopia, Uganda is known for its generous refugee policy, stemming from its Refugees Act that was passed in 2006. The policy stipulates that the government issues civil documents to refugees and they are free to live outside of settlements, with the caveat that they may only do so as long as they are able to support themselves.⁽¹⁰⁾ In addition, the government allocates land for housing and farming for those willing and able to grow their own food and sell their surplus.⁽¹¹⁾ This freedom is in stark contrast to Ethiopia’s restrictive policies that prevent refugees from starting their own business and subsequently, achieving higher levels of economic independence. Developing settlements rather than camps, and granting settlements the freedom to run their own businesses, gives refugees a much greater chance to attain self-sufficiency in otherwise dire circumstances.

This premise was given support by a 2014 study focusing on Ugandan settlements from the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. The findings of the study revealed that refugees are, in fact, often part of vibrant economic systems, challenging popular myths about the inherent dependency of refugees.⁽¹²⁾ Refugees in Uganda make important contributions to the economy, and a considerable number of Ugandan businesses rely heavily on refugees as suppliers, customers, distributors and employees. Refugee households in Uganda may still rely on aid to supplement income gaps, but at the same time they are pursuing strategies of self-reliance.⁽¹³⁾ There is strong evidence that if given the freedom and opportunity, refugees find creative and enterprising ways to develop sustainable livelihood strategies.

UNHCR policy reform: A welcome change

Government resistance to refugee policy modification has been strong, as camps are a visible tool for demonstrating an active response to crisis.⁽¹⁴⁾ However, with a significant body of research pointing to the perils associated with camps ⁽¹⁵⁾ in addition to the pressure of the increasing volume of refugees last year, a policy shift was long overdue. The UNHCR now intends to avoid establishing camps typical of those in Ethiopia wherever possible and to instead pursue alternatives where restrictions on employment and residence are removed. Policies would move in the direction of or surpass the generally less restrictive policies in Uganda. Potential alternatives are diverse and involve additional rights including the ability to move freely, choose where to live, work or open a business, cultivate land, or access protection and services.⁽¹⁶⁾ It also recognizes the need to work with, rather than against, local communities, who are often the first humanitarian actors on the ground.⁽¹⁷⁾

However, it is important to note that the implementation of this new policy will face a number of challenges. Just because the UNHCR now recognizes the benefits to camp alternatives it doesn’t mean that host countries will follow suit. Ultimately, it is national laws, policies and practices that dictate much of refugees’ ability to move and work freely. In countries with already high poverty and unemployment rates, the refugees flowing across the borders are seen as a threat to local communities. However, given the intractability of numerous refugee situations across Africa, change has to start somewhere, and the recognition and policy shift by an international organization such as the United Nations is not only a good start, but also an essential one.

Concluding remarks

Quite simply, refugee camps are inefficient, unsustainable and lead to dependency.(18) The way forward lies in greater facilitation of refugee self-sufficiency, and utilizing the resourcefulness of refugees in order for them to earn a living with dignity. A shift in strategy away from camps as the default solution is long overdue as current restrictive policies make it difficult for refugees to take control of their own future. At this point, it is unclear how the UNHCR policy shift will affect refugees’ experience in practice. And yet, at the very least, there is now official recognition that alternatives to camps must be developed and utilised, which is a definite step in the right direction.

Written by Lonnie Kehler ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Lonnie Kehler is a Research Associate with CAI, with a particular interest in technological innovation and the intersection of environment and social justice. Contact Lonnie through CAI’s Optimistic Africa unit ( optimistic.africa@consultancyafrica.com). Edited by Liezl Stretton. Research Manager: Charlotte Sutherland.
(2) ‘War’s human cost’, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 20 June 2014, http://www.unhcr.org.
(3) ‘Ethiopia overtakes Kenya as Africa’s biggest refugee-hosting country’, UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org.
(4) Ibid.
(5) Guardado, H., ‘Finding the missing piece of refugee and asylum policy’, The World Post, 6 October 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.
(6) ‘2014 UNHCR country operations profile - Ethiopia’, UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org.
(7) Guardado, H., ‘Finding the missing piece of refugee and asylum policy’, The World Post, 6 October 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Krause-Vilmar, J., ‘Struggling to make a living in Ethiopia: Surviving in the informal economy’, Women’s Refugee Commission, 10 July 2010, http://www.womensrefugeecommission.org.
(10) ‘2014 UNHCR country operations profile - Uganda’, UNHCR, http://www.unhcr.org.
(11) Ibid.
(12) Betts, A. et al., ‘Refugee economies: Rethinking popular assumptions’, Refugee Studies Centre, June 2014, http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk.
(13) Ibid.
(14) Hovil, L., ‘With camps limiting many refugees, the UNHCR’s policy change is welcome’, The Guardian, 2 October 2014, http://www.theguardian.com.
(15) Ibid.
(16) ‘Policy on alternatives to camps’, UNHCR, 22 July 2014, http://www.unhcr.org.
(17) Hovil, L., ‘With camps limiting many refugees, the UNHCR’s policy change is welcome’, The Guardian, 2 October 2014, http://www.theguardian.com.
(18) Betts, A., Bloom, L., Kaplan, J. and Omata,N., ‘Refugee economies: Rethinking popular assumptions’, Refugee Studies Centre, June 2014, http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk.