Mission to assess food situation in Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria
Briefing Notes, 23 January 2007
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 23 January 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Today, nutrition and food management specialists from UNHCR and WFP will start a 12-day mission to the Sahrawi refugee camps in western Algeria to assess the dire food situation and the nutritional status of the refugee camps in view of a recent disruption in the food pipeline. The specialists will be accompanied by NGO partners and representatives of donor countries. and spend twelve days in the five refugee camps, where they will meet with the beneficiaries, refugee leaders and the Algerian authorities and undertake an in-depth nutritional survey, assess the warehousing and distribution mechanisms.
Food assessment missions are undertaken every two years. In the last one , in 2005, UNHCR and WFP concluded that there was malnutrition in the camps. As a result, remedial measures were taken by the various agencies and NGOs. The amount of fresh food, such as fruit and vegetables, wheat soya supplementary food and high-energy biscuits, was increased. In the camps, the creation of vegetable gardens has been promoted. Water distribution was improved by establishing water pipes, as opposed to the original trucking of water.
While UNHCR and WFP have been focusing on the 90,000 most vulnerable beneficiaries, the camp populations have received additional aid from bilateral donors and NGOs. But the aid for the Sahrawi refugees has not been enough and UNHCR and WFP and partners have on several occasions called for additional funding for this forgotten caseload. In February 2006, following devastating floods in the region, UNHCR, the Algerian government and the international community responded quickly with a $1 million emergency programme. But repeated calls for additional funding, as late as October last year, have yielded little, leading at the end of 2006 to a temporary break in the food pipeline and a deterioration in the nutrition situation in the camps. In the meantime, the food pipeline has been partially restored.
Sahrawi refugees started arriving in Algeria in the mid-seventies. UNHCR and WFP have been providing assistance to this group since the commencement of the influx of Sahrawi refugees into the Tindouf area in 1975-76.
UNHCR strives to improve the nutritional status of all the people it serves.
Information brochure about UNHCR's Confidence Building Measures programme
aimed at addressing the effects of prolonged separation between the Saharan refugees in the camps near Tindouf, Algeria and their families in Western Sahara.
Western Sahara Family Visits
Emotions are running high in the Sahara desert as families split for nearly three decades by conflict over sovereignty of the Western Sahara Territory are being briefly reunited by a UNHCR family visit scheme.
Living in five windswept and isolated camps around Tindouf in south-western Algeria for the last 28 years, the refugees have been almost totally cut off from their relatives in the Territory. So when the UN refugee agency launched its five-day family visit scheme in March this year, there were tears of joy as well as apprehension at the prospect of reunion.
The visit scheme is proving extremely popular, with more than 800 people already having visited their relatives and another 18,000 signed up to go. In addition to the family visit scheme, the UN refugee agency has opened telephone centres in some of the camps, creating another channel through which long-lost family members can make contact.
Photos taken in June 2004.
Western Sahara Family Visits
Sighted off Spain's Canary Islands
Despite considerable dangers, migrants seeking a better future and refugees fleeing war and persecution continue to board flimsy boats and set off across the high seas. One of the main routes into Europe runs from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands.
Before 2006, most irregular migrants taking this route used small vessels called pateras, which can carry up to 20 people. They left mostly from Morocco and the Western Sahara on the half-day journey. The pateras have to a large extent been replaced by boats which carry up to 150 people and take three weeks to reach the Canaries from ports in West Africa.
Although only a small proportion of the almost 32,000 people who arrived in the Canary Islands in 2006 applied for asylum, the number has gone up. More than 500 people applied for asylum in 2007, compared with 359 the year before. This came at a time when the overall number of arrivals by sea went down by 75 percent during 2007.
Sighted off Spain's Canary Islands
Afghanistan: The Reality of Return
The UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme join forces to improve the lives of Afghan returnees in the east of the country
After more than two decades of war, Afghanistan faces enormous recovery needs. The rugged, landlocked nation remains one of the poorest in the world, with more than half its 25 million citizens living below the poverty line. Furthermore, the rise in global food prices has affected more than 2.5 million Afghans, who can no longer afford to buy staples such as wheat flour.
Since 2002, more than 5 million Afghans have gone back home, with a large proportion returning to the eastern provinces. The returnees face huge challenges, such as insecurity, food shortages, insufficient shelter, unemployment and a lack of access to basic services.
UNHCR and WFP are working in partnership to help returnees in Afghanistan to rebuild their lives, particularly in the east. Programmes such as skills training, micro hydroelectricity projects and food distribution have helped Afghans get back on their feet and work towards creating sustainable livelihoods.
Posted on 18 September 2008
Afghanistan: The Reality of Return
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In the last six months, thousands of Malians have come to Mbera refugee camp seeking safety. UNHCR is coordinating water, food and health services with the help of partner agencies.
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