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Cameroon + 2 more

UNHCR Cameroon Factsheet - February 2018

Attachments

Cameroon currently has 658,070 registered people of concern, including 249,370 Central African refugees and 87,804 Nigerian refugees.

Visit of the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Ursula Mueller to the Far North region of Cameroon.

Conclusion of biometric registration in Minawao camp on 28 February; results to be shared as soon as they are made available.

WORKING WITH PARTNERS

UNHCR coordinates protection and assistance for refugees in collaboration with:

  • Government Partners: Ministries of External Relations, Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Public Health, Women Empowerment and Family, Social Affairs, Justice, Basic Education, Water and Energy, Youth and Civic Education, the National Employment Fund and others, Secrétariat Technique des Organes de Gestion du Statut des réfugiés.  Implementing Partners:, Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA), African Initiatives for Relief and Development (AIRD), Agence pour le Développment Economique et Social (ADES), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), FAIRMED, International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), InterSos, International Medical Corps (IMC), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Plan International, Première Urgence - Internationale (PUI) and Public Concern.

  • Operational Partners: ICRC, Adventist Relief Agency (ADRA), ASOL and Red Deporte, IEDA Relief, Action Contre la Faim (ACF), Solidarités International and CARE International.

  • UN Agencies: WFP, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, UN Women, FAO, UNESCO, IOM, UNDP and UNOCHA.

  • Operational coordination: In accordance with the “Joint OCHA-UNHCR Note on Mixed Situations – Coordination in Practice” the responsibility to coordinate the overall humanitarian response in the Far North has been delegated to UNHCR. UNHCR sectors are utilized to deliver assistance to IDPs and other affected groups. All sectors are operational holding regular meetings. Each sector is led by a Government entity and co-led by UN agencies. There is also a bi-monthly UNHCR-chaired Multi-Sector Operations Team meeting in Maroua, bringing together more than 40 humanitarian partners intervening in the region. The response for Central African refugees is managed in line with the Refugee Coordination Model. Sectorial groups have been established by UNHCR, covering the whole operational area. Local authorities have been very engaged in the management of the refugee operation. At the capital-level, UNHCR leads the Multi-Sector Operations Team for the Refugee Response and the national Protection Working Group, and actively participates in other relevant humanitarian coordination mechanisms and the Humanitarian Country Team.

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS

  • The security situation in the Far North region remained volatile in February; with all three departments: Mayo Sava, Mayo Tsanaga and Logone et Chari concerned. Elements of Boko Haram continued to carry out kidnappings of children, stealing private property (i.e. cattle), pillaging of homes and setting fire to properties. As reported last month, the attacks persist despite an increased presence of the Cameroonian army and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF). All of this continues to affect our protection and assistance responses as staff movement has been restricted in certain areas.

  • The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Ms. Ursula Mueller, travelled to Maroua on 23 February in the Far North Region of Cameroon, to see first-hand the impact of the deterioration of the security situation on the civilian population. Ms. Mueller, who is on a four-day mission to Cameroon, travelled to the Zamai site for internally displaced people and to Minawao refugee camp where she called on the international community and the Government to step up support to humanitarian actions in the country. “This is an area that needs greater attention, including from donors. Security and access are major challenges, but the lack of funding remains, by far, the main impediment to humanitarian aid reaching those most in need,” emphasized Ms. Mueller, at the conclusion of her mission.

  • A World Bank mission visited the Far North region on 7 February to assess the needs of communities for the implementation of development projects for refugees and displaced persons in the sectors of education, health, road rehabilitation and social safety nets. The mission held discussions with administrative, traditional and local authorities in Mayo-Tsanaga but also with representatives of IDPs of the said locality where it was recalled that communal development plans will be the main response to the needs defined by communities in consultation with the Programme National de Developpement Participatif (PNDP) and the government.

  • The U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Mr. Peter Henry Balerin, undertook a field vist to the East region, to the the refugee site of Gado where he met with local authorities, refugees and partners intervening in the site. The objective of the mission was to listen to the needs voiced by refugees and to familiarize himself with the realities of the field in order to better understand the context, the response and to see the challenges faced by refugees, who expressed the necessity to reinforce self-reliance activities, to main the distribution of food rations, and to reinforce basic social assistance (education and health)