Members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have met last week in Addis Ababa to discuss on the progresses of the Nairobi Declaration that signed by IGAD member states in 2017 in Kenya to improve the lives of refugees in the region.
The Nairobi Declaration has been set to resettle the Somali and South Sudanese and other refugees in the region through education, health and livelihood improvement, Therefore, IGAD member countries have been agreed to apply the declaration and they are working for its implementation.
IGAD Education Programs Coordinator, Kebede Kassa (PhD), said that all the member nations have better commencement especially in education. As to him, the countries are working to offer standard education and trainings in which the refugees can possibly improve their lives working in the countries they currently live in and when they return to their respective countries. These also include enabling refugees to learn in inclusion with citizens of the countries they are living. Therefore, the refugees would be certified based on the trainings they have got.
Currently, IGAD countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya are revising their policies in a way it can participate refugees through education. They are also drafting proposal based on their annual expenditure. If the ongoing efforts are continued in an integrated way, the directives in the declaration would be possibly achieved.
On the other hand, the implementation of the declaration has positive outlook in the eyes of various development partners therefore they are supporting it in finance and other means. For instance, the European Union (EU) has been supporting the Nairobi Declaration believing that it is a better platform to resettle refugees and reducing migration in the long run.
According to EU Trust Fund for Horn of Africa Window Deputy Manager, Ignacio Burrull, the union has granted about hundred millions of Euro to support refugees and internally displaced peoples in the horn of Africa. It is important to analyze and examine the progress and shortcomings in the implementation of the declaration for better achievements. Keeping the interest and wellbeing of refugees is the core of the program and EU would elongate its support in this regard, he said.
The IGAD member states need to take the declaration as their own and partners ought to strengthen their support to keep the momentum of giving relief to refugees, according to Burrull. Of course some IGAD member nations like Ethiopia have been already applying the declaration through participating refugees in various ways including education and job creation.
According to Zeynu Jemal, State Minister for Ministry of Peace, the international community has been lending a hand to the implementation of the declaration and various projects have been designed in Ethiopia to improve the lives of refugees.
Consequently, Ethiopia has been helping the Somali refugees with irrigation project on 10,000 hectare land, he said. Ethiopia is hosting about 250,000 refugees amongthe 900,000 Somali migrants distributed in IGAD member states. Currently, the refugees are working on their farmland together with the society, he noted.
On the other hand, the country has provided the refugees with access to inclusive education. Therefore, a significant numbers of refugees are studying in governmental and private higher educational institutions. They are also enrolled in different technical and vocational education and trainings institutions, Zeynu capitalized.
It is remembered that Ethiopia has recently enacted refugee’s proclamation that include the right to employment, movement, basic services and land lease provision, among others. The law has more advantage to refugees as it clearly articulated both the rights and responsibilities of refugees.
The proclamation also stated in lined with the international convention and law of the land, Legal Service and Refugees Acknowledgment Director at Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs Agency Haileselassie Gebremariam recently told The Ethiopian Herald.
Currently, the country has sheltered more than 900 thousand refugees from some 26 countries in various camps and non-camp locations. Today the country is exerting efforts to resettle the refugees fighting on the other side with its social, economic and political shortcomings.
As a nation that has a long history in sheltering refugees, Ethiopia is protecting the migrants almost equal to its own citizens. The country is also yet receiving migrants from some neighboring countries including South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia, it was learnt. Therefore, the declaration and the law of the land helps refugees a good shelter in Ethiopia. Thanks to the declaration, they will also get the better hostage in the horn region in the same manner.
In general, the Nairobi Declaration has been shown encouraging progress especially in improving refugee-resisting national programs among IGAD member states in the region.
The stocktaking meeting on the Nairobi Declaration and Action Plan that brought IGAD executives, experts and representatives of member states and development partners among others together was concluded with the agreement of sustaining open-door policy across member states and revising national refugee laws and proclamations. They also agreed to facilitate refugee registration, issuance of identity cards, and inclusion of refugees in national development plans as well as employment schemes to ensure self-reliance and access to basic services.
Sheltering refugees and enabling them to get the needed assistance may help to ensure human rights across the globe. On the other hand, working together on migration would enable countries to reduce the number of refugees.
Therefore, they can possibly exploit the human capital to enhance economic growth. In this regard the Nairobi Declaration which is signed and somehow on progress among IGAD nations is a good move that would save citizens from various mishaps of illegal migration and vulnerability to human-trafficking.
The Ethiopian Herald September 24, 2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
