Mauritania

Mauritania, maintaining its long-standing open-door policy, hosts over 160,000 Malian refugees and asylum-seekers in the arid Hodh Chargui region – home to the Mbera camp – as well as in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. With ongoing insecurity in Mali, large-scale returns are unlikely, and arrivals have continued into 2023 and 2024.

In coordination with national and local authorities through the Refugee Coordination Forum, UNHCR leads the interagency humanitarian response in Hodh Chargui. Its multi-year strategy focuses on ensuring access to protection and assistance while promoting inclusion in national systems.

Efforts are centered on food security, documentation, livelihoods, and environmental resilience, while also enhancing refugee participation and self-reliance. The approach aims to strengthen community-based solutions, support integration, and explore resettlement options, working in close partnership with the government and host communities toward durable outcomes.