As funding to assist displaced persons reduces: UNHCR appeals for more int’l visibility to Cameroon’s complex humanitarian crises.

The lack of international visibility, the UNHCR official revealed, has contributed to the drastic drop in humanitarian funding despite a rise in the number of displaced persons in the country. 

Beer was speaking during a press briefing at UNHCR office in Yaounde Thursday December 21. Also present during the briefing were the Heads of UNHCR Maroua and Bertoua Sub Offices. 

The UNHCR Cameroon Representative said the outing was to thank the local media for the visibility given to their activities and to restate the mission and vision of their mandate to preserve peace in collaboration with the government and provide protection and solution to refugees, IDPs and stateless persons. 

The briefing was also used to present some strides recorded by the UNHCR despite multiform challenges due to reduction in humanitarian funding. 

According to the UNHCR, Cameroon hosts nearly half a million refugees mainly from the Central African Republic (354,000) and Nigeria (121,000); 9,495 and asylum-seekers, over one million (1,075,252) Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, and 658,548 returnees. 

Cameroon, Beer said, is it in a complex situation and the impression from outside is that there is no humanitarian crisis in the country. 

“…we have many multiple crisis nowadays and which trigger the fact that Cameroon is somehow forgotten in this multiplicity of crises. People abroad are more aware of what is happening in Burkina Faso, Niger or in Chad than what is happening in Cameroon. They know that they are refugees but they are not aware that we have this number of refugees. They are not aware that we have some one million IDPs inside Cameroon,” he regretted. 

Hails hospitality of gov’t to refugees 

The UNHCR Cameroon Representative used the opportunity to hail government for always having its borders open for refugees even in difficult times such as COVID-19 period. 

“Cameroon has a very generous and open policy vis-à-vis refugees, hosting half a million of them…this is also one of the reason why UNHCR is here…,” he said. 

Beer revealed that most refugees and displaced persons in Cameroon do not live in camps but still benefit protection such as those in camps. 

He explained that the state has as policy to have less camps for refugees as possible “because when you have camps, it can also trigger some security challenges sometimes as well as some problems in maintaining a camp”. 

Beer said as per estimates from the International Migration Organisation and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs puts the number of IDPs in the country at one million. 

“So, you can imagine one million IDPs, 485,000 refugees. It means almost 1.5 million displaced persons in Cameroon. It is a lot if you compare to other countries even in the region. But this is unknown usually in the international media,” Beer regretted. 

12,000 new refugees received from Nigeria 

Despite the limited funding due to lack of international visibility, UNHCR Cameroon Representative said the number of displaced persons has instead increase. 

He revealed that in 2023 alone, UNHCR has received 12,000 new refugees from Nigeria fleeing Boko Haram attacks. 

"Minawao refugee camp in the Far North is...experiencing a hidden emergency, as over 12,000 refugees and asylum-seekers have arrived at the Gourenguel Transit Center almost daily since January 2023, seeking protection and assistance from the nearby camp, which is itself nearing saturation," Beer revealed. 

He expressed fears the new arrivals would stress the capacity of the Minawao camp initially built to host 15,000 refugees. 

This number, he disclosed, adds to some 8,000 to 10,000 other Nigerian refugees fleeing inter-community conflicts who are living in border localities of the North West and South West regions. 

Need to increase int’l visibility  

With figures of displaced persons on the rise despite reduction in funding, Beer said there is an urgent need to increase international visibility of the crisis. 

“…this will bring to the attention of the international community that there is crisis in the world and there is also crisis in Cameroon,” he said, while reiterating the need to better coordinate intervention of other stakeholders in refugee hosted localities so that displaced persons can be included in their plans of action. 

Offices closed over reduction of funding 

With disturbing humanitarian crisis such as the armed conflict in the North West and South West regions, Boko Haram attacks in the Far North and inter-community conflicts between Arab Choas and the Mousgoums which has made figures of displacements to be on the rise, Olivier Beer regretted that funding for assistance of victims first goes to other big global crisis. 

“We are in a situation where humanitarian funding is reducing considerably because of the crisis in the world…,” he said, lamenting that such has forced them to close some offices and reduces their staff.

He cited the closure of the offices in Buea in South West Region, Touboro in the North Region, Djohong in Adamawa Region and that in Libreville, Gabon.

“…we are reducing also our staff because we think that we should adapt our structure to the funding that we are receiving so that we make sure that most of the funding that we are receiving continue to go not to staff but to the refugees and people in need,” he explained. 

Despite the closure of offices in these areas, Beer said the UNHCR works with other local partner organisations to ensure aid gets to displaced persons. 

With reduction in funding, he said refugees need to be included in government programs to avoid gaps in terms of access to health, education, food. 

“We are trying to mitigate this by engaging all the other actors to step in and take over from us,” he said. 

Searching solutions as funding reduces 

Olivier Beer with drop in funding, they are constantly searching solutions with the government for the refugees. 

This, he explained, involves including refugees within the different action plans of ministries, decentralised local collectivities among others so as to enable them to become economically empowered and more resilient.  

“It is very important for us that while refugees are here in Cameroon, they don’t stay doing nothing. It is important for us to include them in economic schemes so that they can invest, make some money, pay taxes…,” he said. 

Facilitating return of some refugees 

Beer said even if the situation is still not stable in Nigeria and CAR, they have refugees who want to return. 

“Ten days ago, we repatriated 300 CAR refugees to their country,” he disclosed. 

Beer said even in Northern Nigeria, there are pockets of stability and the refugees are aware and want to return. 

"There are about 14,000 refugees who want to return. Next year, we will advocate to have a tripartite meeting between Nigeria, Cameroon and UNHCR to start thinking about the process of repatriation," Beer said.

Anglophone crisis refugees not expressing desire to return home

The UNHCR, he explained, also facilitates the return of the about 65,000 to 68,000 Cameroonians who fled to Nigeria due to the crisis in the North West and South West regions. 

He said they are also Cameroonian refugees in Chad who fled the Arab Choas and the Mousgoums inter-community conflict.

Beer told reporters that Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria as a result of the Anglophone crisis are so far not expressing the desire to return to the country.

“Those in Nigeria have not expressed the wish to come back…those who are returning are people who are refugees in Nigeria but living outside camps. Many of them were not registered by the UNHCR. So, if someone was in Nigeria as refugee but not registered biometrically, it is difficult for us to know who has effectively returned," he said. 

He added that most of those returning are resident in areas where UNHCR does not have access hence the challenge of having statistics. 

“They don’t come to us. We are told by the mayors. To know effectively if someone returned, we need to send a team there to register them and compare all registration with the one in the country of asylum because it is biometric,” he explained. 

Beer, however, said the UNHCR is already thinking of having a meeting between Nigeria, Cameroon and UNHCR to start thinking about the process of repatriation of those who will in the future express the desire to return home.