Sub-Regional Operations Profile - West Africa

Working environment

High rates of unemployment and widespread poverty in West Africa are driving thousands of young people from the region to try their luck as immigrants in Europe. The situation has been aggravated by the high cost of living, which has made food and fuel unaffordable for the poor, and led to protests and civil unrest in many countries.

Political strife has also troubled some States. Senegal's southern Casamance region remains unstable, as peace talks between the Government and armed rebels of the

Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance (MFDC) have stalled. The political situation in Guinea remains uncertain. In Sierra Leone, the Government is facing significant challenges in rebuilding the economy.

However, asylum policies in most countries in the region are favourable for people of concern. Refugees in the subregion enjoy freedom of movement, and there have been no reports of refoulement. UNHCR is working to build the capacity of governments to assume key protection responsibilities such as refugee status determination (RSD).

UNHCR has completed its large-scale voluntary repatriation of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees. Since then, the Office has focused on reintegration activities for residual communities. A sub-regional local integration programme, mainly for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, has been approved and will be coordinated by UNHCR's Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal.

In line with UNHCR's regionalization plans, the Regional Office in Senegal covers Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. The Office in Côte d'Ivoire will continue to report directly to Headquarters. This arrangement will be reviewed as the situation evolves. Since January 2008, a regional support team based in Dakar has been providing its expertise in the areas of resettlement, registration, refugee women and children, and HIV and AIDS to offices in West and Central Africa.

UNHCR signed agreements with the Governments of Benin, Ghana and Togo which contributed to the repatriation, during the first half of 2008, of Togolese refugees from Ghana and Benin. More Togolese are expected to return by the end of 2008.

To pursue a common approach on durable solutions in West Africa, a sub-regional project for local integration will be launched in 2009 (see box on the West Africa Local Integration Project). This will build on the existing legal framework governing relations between ECOWAS countries.

Strategy

UNHCR will focus on local integration for Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees. It will also continue to facilitate the repatriation of individual Togolese, Ivorians, Mauritanians, Senegalese and Liberians whenever possible. Other durable solutions such as reintegration for returnees from Côte d'Ivoire and resettlement of eligible refugees will also be pursued.

UNHCR's regional strategy will ensure that, where possible, camps and their facilities are rehabilitated and handed over for use by local communities upon the refugees' departure. The Office will continue to help build national asylum capacity by advocating for appropriate legislation and RSD procedures and supporting community structures and civil society. Furthermore, it will promote higher standards of assistance with regard to HIV and AIDS, sexual and gender-based violence, health and education, as well as for urban refugees.

Building public and private partnerships and multi-sectoral collaboration are core goals for West Africa's HIV and AIDS programme. UNHCR implements integrated HIV and AIDS projects in areas with major concentrations of refugees, returnees and IDPs. Most of these areas are isolated, with limited or no coverage by national programmes. Programmes to combat sexual and gender-based violence have important HIV and AIDS components, such as the provision of post-exposure prophylaxis to survivors of rape.

At the regional level, one of UNHCR's main objectives is to strengthen its partnership with ECOWAS. In addition to monitoring the political and security situation in countries in post-conflict recovery, the Office is collaborating with ECOWAS to promote the local integration of residual groups of refugees in countries of asylum. To this end, it will seek better implementation of the residence provisions of the ECOWAS protocols relating to the free movement of people.

Given relatively unstable political and economic conditions in the subregion, UNHCR will review and update contingency plans to enhance its emergency response capacity. The Office will maintain the regional stockpile of non-food items in Accra and strengthen the capacity of the regional office in Dakar. With regard to IDPs, the Office will collaborate with other UN agencies to fulfil its obligations

as the lead agency for protection, camp management and emergency shelter.

Constraints

Refugees, especially those from Liberia and Sierra Leone, are reluctant to integrate locally as they have unrealistic expectations that they will be resettled.

Operations

Operations in the region cover 15 countries. Country programmes in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, and Liberia are described in separate chapters.

In Benin, UNHCR's main goals are to find durable solutions for camp-based and urban refugees and to build national protection capacity. In 2009, the Office expects that half of the 4,300 refugees and asylum-seekers from Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Togo will repatriate voluntarily. UNHCR will continue to gradually transfer to national institutions various protection tasks, such as RSD.

UNHCR will stop its assistance programmes in the Agamè and Kpomasse refugee sites by the end of 2008, instead emphasizing local integration and the strategic use of resettlement. Voluntary repatriation will be pursued if developments in countries of origin permit. In Benin and Ghana, UNHCR will also facilitate the local integration of some Togolese refugees not willing to repatriate.

Given the improving political situation in Togo, some 6,800 Togolese refugees in Ghana and Benin are expected to return home in late 2008. A mass information campaign will let them learn about conditions in Togo so that they can make well-informed decisions on return. Returnees will benefit from a reintegration programme supported by other UN agencies, the European Union and the Togolese High Commissioner for Repatriation and Humanitarian Action.

Nigeria hosts some 8,460 refugees and 700 asylum-seekers from Côte d'Ivoire, DRC, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan. New conflicts in Cameroon and rebel incursions in Chad led to the arrival of almost 6,000 asylum-seekers. UNHCR will monitor the rights of minorities and others persons with specific needs. It will also work with the Nigerian Government, ECOWAS, the UN Country Team and other humanitarian bodies to try and prevent ethnic and communal conflicts by fostering peace and reconciliation programmes.

UNHCR will make effective and strategic use of the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and Goods, Right of Residence and Establishment. This will help in the local integration of the residual caseloads of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in the concerned countries.

In 2009, the regional office in Senegal will focus on providing local integration opportunities for the residual caseloads of Sierra Leonean and Liberian refugees. These groups will be assisted to obtain national passports and valid residence permits to remain in their countries of asylum in West Africa. In Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Mali, and Senegal, the Office will assist national eligibility commissions and implement income-generating activities and educational projects to help refugees achieve self-reliance.

Despite political uncertainty in Mauritania, which brought down the Government in August 2008, the voluntary repatriation of Mauritanian refugees in Mali and Senegal has continued. Some 24,000 Mauritanian refugees in Senegal will voluntarily return in 2008 and 2009. Some 4,670 people repatriated in the first half of 2008, and the movement will continue after the rainy season ends in September. A community-based local integration programme will be implemented for the residual group in Senegal, which is estimated at 10,000 persons. Pending a profiling exercise in Mali, UNHCR plans to repatriate some 2,000 Mauritanian refugees in 2009.

Senegalese refugees in Guinea Bissau (6,000) and The Gambia (6,900), especially women and vulnerable groups, will benefit from agricultural and income generation projects in rural areas. Women and young people outside the formal education system will also be offered vocational training.

Financial information

Since 2005, the Annual Programme Budgets for UNHCR's operations in West Africa have decreased as durable solutions were found for the majority of Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees through voluntary repatriation. Furthermore, the supplementary programme budgets have decreased from 2006 to 2008 as a result of the decline in the number of IDPs in the areas where UNHCR is operating. However, supplementary programme budget will increase in 2009 mainly due to the new sub-regional project for the local integration of Liberian refugees in West Africa.