UNHCR warns that child trafficking, forced labour and forced recruitment by armed groups are increasing in Mali due to conflict, insecurity, COVID-19 and deteriorating economic conditions.

UNHCR welcomes the Government of Iran’s move to give nationality to thousands of children born to Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers. According to the Government, nearly 75,000 children are eligible for Iranian citizenship under a new nationality law, which was amended in 2019 to allow children under 18 years to apply for the identity documents. By allowing Iranian mothers to pass their nationality to their children, the law also marks a ground-breaking step towards reducing the gender gap in Iran. Although Iran is not party to the UN Conventions on Statelessness, the Government is taking steps towards the prevention and reduction of statelessness in the country.

A new report released by the Norwegian Refugee Council and UNHCR-led Global Protection Cluster (GPC) finds that nearly 40 million people are at heightened risk of violence, discrimination and rights abuses as COVID-19 spawns a ‘coping crisis’.

From 27 to 30 November 2020, UNHCR organized its first multi-donor mission since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in DRC’s Ituri Province. Representatives of donor countries joined a three-day mission to see first-hand the situation in the displacement sites and to assess the overall conditions of the displaced and host community members. The delegation of ambassadors and diplomats from more than 11 countries, including Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Union met with beneficiaries, local authorities and humanitarian partners.

In November, UNHCR stepped-up its cash assistance in the Great Kasai Region. Over 43,000 forcibly displaced, returnees and host community members in vulnerable conditions received cash to buy food and meet their most urgent needs.

In a press release UNHCR warns that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is driving further violence against refugee, displaced and stateless women and girls. The UNHCR-led Global Protection Cluster reported increases in gender-based violence in at least 27 countries. UNHCR is also alarmed by increased risks of child and forced marriages being resorted to as a coping strategy by displaced families buckling under socio-economic pressures.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UNHCR has helped hundreds of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) to return home in recent days – the first such move since the COVID-19 pandemic forced border closures.

Local Economic Development Strategy Launch – Moyo and Obongi Districts On 20 November, with support of their local economic development partners, UNHCR and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Moyo district and Obongi district are launching their Local Economic Development (LED) Strategy. Both these districts have had mass influxes of refugees over the last few years, with over 123,000 registered refugees in Palorinya settlement, Obongi. They have formulated their five year development plans under the Comprehensive National Development Framework with a vision to have a transformed population that is productive and prosperous by 2040. The main pillars of the LED strategy are enabling infrastructure, supporting local private sector development, upgrading human capital, attracting investment and changing attitudes towards local economic development. The inclusion of refugees in the district development plans marks a watershed in the humanitarian-development nexus, and provides stakeholders with a structure to transition towards resilience building interventions. Please find more information in the uploaded LED brochure and for further details contact Teresa Ongaro (Head of Field Office, Moyo, Uganda)

During the opening of a virtual session of UNHCR’s annual High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection challenges, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs, underlined the importance of inclusion for the protection of refugees and their hosts in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As countries all over the world battle a second wave of the pandemic, UNHCR is highlighting with a new data visualization tool how acutely vulnerable forcibly displaced populations must contend with extreme overcrowding and limited access to basics such as soap and water. [Link to the data visualization tool: https://arcg.is/ObLOL]