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During 2019, some 220,000 people were granted international protection in the East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region (EHAGL), bringing the total number of refugees and asylum-seekers to 4.7 million. The region hosts some 67 per cent of the refugees on the African continent and 20 per cent of the global refugee population. The largest number of refugees and asylum-seekers in the region are from South Sudan, with significant numbers also from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. Governments have generally continued to maintain open-door asylum policies and embraced the Global Compact on Refugees by adopting progressive national refugee frameworks and promoting the inclusion of refugees into national health, education and social protection systems.
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| 19 May 2020 |
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Internal displacement is also a phenomenon in countries in the EHAGL region and faced by several countries on a large scale. Over 8 million people are currently internally displaced. Efforts are underway to strengthen UNHCR’s role in inter-agency IDP responses in line with the 2019 IDP policy and the High Commissioner’s new Initiative on Internal Displacement which includes Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan. Recent opportunities to pursue solutions for IDPs in the region were bolstered by South Sudan’s accession and Ethiopia and Somalia’s ratification of the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention).
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| 19 May 2020 |
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The first cases of Covid-19 in the EHAGL region were reported on 13 March and the situation continues to evolve. All 11 countries of the region have reported cases and local transmission. While there has been no large-scale outbreak amongst UNHCR’s populations of concern, the need for preparedness is urgent. UNHCR is working closely with governments, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Country Teams to promote the inclusion of refugees, IDPs, stateless people and others of concern in national preparedness and response measures – in particular in health, hygiene and sanitation programmes, as well as distance learning and emergency social safety nets.
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| 19 May 2020 |
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