Three Agencies Prepare for Influx of Burundian Refugees Into Tanzania
Guardian Reporter
4th July 2015
Plan International, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee (IRC) are working a coordinated response to Burundi refugee crisis and preparing for a new influx.
They are focusing on education and protection of children, a statement availed to The Guardian yesterday said.
The organisations recognise the Burundi humanitarian crisis has the potential to spiral out of control, with the risk of destabilising the whole region.
“Burundi instability has the possibility of leading to ethnic tension and conflict, which as we have seen in the past has devastating impact on human life. As with all disasters, children are always the most vulnerable,” they said.
IRC’s Country Director, Elijah Okeyo, said: “Eighty per cent of refugees interviewed by the IRC said they witnessed a civilian being killed before fleeing to Tanzania.
“Many are arriving at Nyaragusu camp with little or no luggage as they had to flee immediately or escape in the middle of the night,” he added.
Nyarugusu camp is desperately over-crowded as new influx of 70,000 Burundians have combined with 60,000 Congolese refugees already living there.
The refugees have had to use school buildings and churches as shelters and many more housed in mass shelters.
“A total of 10,867 refugees are living in schools, which resulted in local children being unable to access their right to an education.
“This is set to continue, depriving children of any sense of normality on the back of their recent stressful journey and uncertainties of the current situation,” said Okeyo.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that the number of Burundian refugees in Tanzania is likely to increase from the current 70,000 to between 250,000 and 500,000.
This is due to continued volatile situation related to the presidential elections in Burundi, scheduled for July 15.
It said since the beginning of June approximately 250 new arrivals were recorded in Kigoma, each day, but over the last week this number has risen substantially.
In the last three days of June alone, over 6,500 new refugees entered Tanzania, according to official figures.
The situation at the border between Tanzania and Burundi is already tense and is likely to escalate as the July 15 Presidential election date approaches.
The refugee crisis that started in early May has continued to worsen, with a steady stream of new refugees entering Tanzania. New arrivals are reporting increasing violence in rural Burundi.
“If UNHCR’s latest predictions are correct, we are looking at a serious humanitarian crisis and it is imperative that we prepare to meet the needs of children and other highly vulnerable groups as soon as they arrive into Tanzania,” said Plan International Tanzania Acting Country Director, Elena Ahmed.
She said about 50 per cent of the refugees entering are children, many of them separated from their families or unaccompanied. “This presents a massive protection risk,” said Ms Ahmed.
She said everyday unaccompanied children are arriving in the camp traumatised from what they have seen and experienced in Burundi.
They are fleeing violence and instability in their home country but are arriving in overcrowded refugee camps, where services are already stretched to breaking point.
Child friendly spaces by the three agencies provide a degree of safety, protection and psycho-social support but these need scaling up to provide the services that the increasing number of vulnerable children need and deserve.
A new camp site is soon to be announced to accommodate 40,000 of the existing 70,000 refugees.
“We hope that the shift will be phased so that basic services are up and running before refugee families are taken to the new site,” shared Save the Children’s Country Director, Steve Thorne.
“We call for early information on plans for the new camp so that we can best coordinate our efforts to support the refugee move to the new area,” he continued.
Thorne explained: “The risk is that we find ourselves in a situation where vulnerable families, and especially children, are left further traumatised in difficult living conditions.
“One site may well not be enough for the high number of refugees expected and overcrowding could lead to further outbreaks of cholera and other communicable diseases,” he said.
He urged the UNHCR and the government to identify additional sites early to better prepare for increased flows of men, women and children who will be in urgent need of help when they cross the border,” he said.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
4th July 2015
Plan International, Save the Children and International Rescue Committee (IRC) are working a coordinated response to Burundi refugee crisis and preparing for a new influx.
They are focusing on education and protection of children, a statement availed to The Guardian yesterday said.
The organisations recognise the Burundi humanitarian crisis has the potential to spiral out of control, with the risk of destabilising the whole region.
“Burundi instability has the possibility of leading to ethnic tension and conflict, which as we have seen in the past has devastating impact on human life. As with all disasters, children are always the most vulnerable,” they said.
IRC’s Country Director, Elijah Okeyo, said: “Eighty per cent of refugees interviewed by the IRC said they witnessed a civilian being killed before fleeing to Tanzania.
“Many are arriving at Nyaragusu camp with little or no luggage as they had to flee immediately or escape in the middle of the night,” he added.
Nyarugusu camp is desperately over-crowded as new influx of 70,000 Burundians have combined with 60,000 Congolese refugees already living there.
The refugees have had to use school buildings and churches as shelters and many more housed in mass shelters.
“A total of 10,867 refugees are living in schools, which resulted in local children being unable to access their right to an education.
“This is set to continue, depriving children of any sense of normality on the back of their recent stressful journey and uncertainties of the current situation,” said Okeyo.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that the number of Burundian refugees in Tanzania is likely to increase from the current 70,000 to between 250,000 and 500,000.
This is due to continued volatile situation related to the presidential elections in Burundi, scheduled for July 15.
It said since the beginning of June approximately 250 new arrivals were recorded in Kigoma, each day, but over the last week this number has risen substantially.
In the last three days of June alone, over 6,500 new refugees entered Tanzania, according to official figures.
The situation at the border between Tanzania and Burundi is already tense and is likely to escalate as the July 15 Presidential election date approaches.
The refugee crisis that started in early May has continued to worsen, with a steady stream of new refugees entering Tanzania. New arrivals are reporting increasing violence in rural Burundi.
“If UNHCR’s latest predictions are correct, we are looking at a serious humanitarian crisis and it is imperative that we prepare to meet the needs of children and other highly vulnerable groups as soon as they arrive into Tanzania,” said Plan International Tanzania Acting Country Director, Elena Ahmed.
She said about 50 per cent of the refugees entering are children, many of them separated from their families or unaccompanied. “This presents a massive protection risk,” said Ms Ahmed.
She said everyday unaccompanied children are arriving in the camp traumatised from what they have seen and experienced in Burundi.
They are fleeing violence and instability in their home country but are arriving in overcrowded refugee camps, where services are already stretched to breaking point.
Child friendly spaces by the three agencies provide a degree of safety, protection and psycho-social support but these need scaling up to provide the services that the increasing number of vulnerable children need and deserve.
A new camp site is soon to be announced to accommodate 40,000 of the existing 70,000 refugees.
“We hope that the shift will be phased so that basic services are up and running before refugee families are taken to the new site,” shared Save the Children’s Country Director, Steve Thorne.
“We call for early information on plans for the new camp so that we can best coordinate our efforts to support the refugee move to the new area,” he continued.
Thorne explained: “The risk is that we find ourselves in a situation where vulnerable families, and especially children, are left further traumatised in difficult living conditions.
“One site may well not be enough for the high number of refugees expected and overcrowding could lead to further outbreaks of cholera and other communicable diseases,” he said.
He urged the UNHCR and the government to identify additional sites early to better prepare for increased flows of men, women and children who will be in urgent need of help when they cross the border,” he said.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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