By Cristiano D’Orsi
Tens of cities in Africa, such as Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam and Kampala are overwhelmed by an inflow of people fleeing conflicts in different parts of the continent. In particular people living in Mali, Somalia and South Sudan flee their home countries to seek safety.
About 17.5 million refugees worldwide don’t live in camps, but live in urban areas. The 2018 World Refugee Council report shows that 60% of all refugees and 80% of all internally displaced persons are living in urban areas.
This is a result of conscious policy. For example the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recognises that camps can turn into de facto prisons. But it’s also because many refugees don’t want to live in camps.
Since the 1967 Biafra civil war – the first major refugee crisis in independent Africa – international aid organisations have primarily housed refugees in rural camps, where they were provided basic assistance. That year the then UNHCR Commissioner Sadruddin Aga Khan commented that urban refugees were viewed as a problem, even by the most sympathetic commentators.
It wasn’t until three decades later that the UN refugee agency issued its first official policy statement on urban refugees. Concerned that making it easier for refugees to live in urban areas might pull them away from remote camps, it promoted a model of ‘self-reliance’ to keep them at bay. This approach involved pressing governments to allow refugees to be able to generate income, including being able to work.
The agency has continued to update its policies. Its 2009 policy paper reflected the reality that more than half of all refugees were living in urban areas. This was the first major shift away from giving primary attention to camps. The policy ensured that cities were recognised as legitimate places for refugees to live in and exercise their rights.
