The African Dialogue 2019 on refugees held in New York this week

New York(ANN)-The annual African Dialogue Series, held in the lead up to Africa Day on 25 May, in New York, provides a platform to explore critical issues affecting Africa, including peace, security, human rights, humanitarian and development. This year, the African Union chose “Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons:  Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa” as its theme for 2019 and for the 2019 Dialogue Series.

Opening the discussions, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said “Over the next two days, I urge you to build on best practices; to look for short and long-term solutions; to create new and innovative partnerships; to identify areas for stronger international support; and to continue your leadership on this issue.” He said the best way to protect refugees and displaced people was to prevent them from having to leave their homes and that meant tackling root causes: “poverty, conflict, discrimination and exclusion of all kinds”. He noted that countries like Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Rwanda are taking innovative action to recognize and promote the rights of refugees; and African countries played a key role in securing the approval of the Global Compact on refugees last year.

He said the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 was the road map.  Both agendas were aligned around a people-centered and planet-sensitive transformation.  Eradicating poverty was their overriding priority. He spoke of the need to mainstream these agendas into national development plans, and underlined that financing was critical. Equally, he urged people to listen to, and to build, on best practices; to look for short and long-term solutions; to create new and innovative partnerships; to identify areas for stronger international support; and to continue their leadership on this issue.

He also reminded his listeners that in September, the world will gather for a series of summits to take stock of progress made and to mobilize greater urgency, ambition and action.  This would include the Sustainable Development Goals summit and meetings on financing for development, universal health coverage and the situation of small island developing States as well as a UN Climate Action Summit on September 23.

On the first day of the dialogue, representatives of countries with large refugee populations shared some of the best practices and lessons learned. Ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie, Ethiopia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, explained Ethiopia’s responses to refugee flows. Noting that the Horn of Africa was one region that simultaneously produced and hosted very large numbers of refugees, he emphasized that protection and assistance of refugees were part of Ethiopia’s history. Fourteen hundred years ago, it had offered refuge to the family of the Prophet, Mohammed and as a result had one of earliest mosques in the world. Today, Ethiopia still maintained an open-door policy of asylum, offering a welcome to all those fleeing persecution and conflict as it always had done.

Ambassador Taye said Ethiopia provided protection and assistance on the basis of three principles: maintaining its longstanding history of hospitality; meeting its international obligations as signatory to both UN and African refugee conventions; and implementing its foreign policy goal of building sustainable peace with all its neighbors and strengthening people-to-people relations. Ethiopia was one of the largest refugee hosting nations in Africa, with close to a million refugees from some 19 countries, fleeing protracted and complex emergency situations. Ambassador Taye said it was clear that responses could not be short-term or minimal. To ensure effective delivery of protection and assistance, government policies were based on providing out-of-camp activity, encampment, and local integration. The government applied the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework which works to ease pressure on host countries, enhances refugee self-reliance, expands access to the option of third country access, and offers support to improve conditions for voluntary return in safety and dignity to the refugees’ countries of origin. In January this year, Ethiopia also made substantial and significant changes to its existing refugee legislation. These allow refugees to obtain work permits, access primary education, obtain drivers’ licenses, legally register their births and marriages and open up access to national financial services, including banking. In sum, the government has now introduced one of the most progressive refugee policies in Africa.

Ambassador Taye emphasized that Ethiopia was committed to assist refugees and would remain so. But, he also stressed, this was a global problem, needing global responses. The international community needed to accept responsibility to assist host countries in organizing resettlement of refugees or in providing alternative options, to provide financial support to build up the resilience of host countries and communities and to allow for local integration. There was a real need for more support for countries coming out of conflict, to facilitate voluntary repatriation and reintegration of refugees back into their own countries. Stakeholders, he said, should be prepared to undertake a much more comprehensive response to the varied needs of refugees.

The 5th Ethio-Kenya Joint Technical Boundary Committee meeting

The Ethiopia-Kenya Joint Technical Boundary Committee (JTBC) held its 5th meeting in Mombasa, Kenya last week (May 13– 17). The meeting discussed ways and means to carry out the Inspection and Maintenance of the boundary pillars agreed under the Boundary Treaty signed by Ethiopia and Kenya in 1970, following the directions and decisions of the 32nd Ethiopia-Kenya Border Commissioners and Administrators meeting held in Adama, Ethiopia, in February this year. The 8-person Ethiopian delegation was led by Mr. Wuhib Muluneh, Adviser, International Boundaries, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The JTBC considered the technicalities in detail and on the methods for fast-tracking the inspection and maintenance work. It agreed to carry out the inspection and maintenance of the boundary pillars over a two-month period and on the modalities of the fieldwork including the details of the necessary activity, budget and time line. It deliberated exhaustively on the ways and means of sensitizing the cross-border communities on the importance of preserving the boundary pillars. The meeting, which was conducted in a very cordial and brotherly atmosphere, also agreed on the importance of strengthening cooperation among communities on both sides of the border.

Source: MFA