Global Initiative Bi-weekly site updates
March 10th to March 26th, 2025
South Africa
Refugees who were evicted from outside the Pretoria offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) two years ago say they would rather starve than expose their children to xenophobia.
The group of about 16 families are living in an old school building in Bronkhorstpruit, between Pretoria and Emalahleni. They were among 33 families who camped outside UNHCR's offices for a year before being evicted in 2023 and moved to the old school. Instead of returning to their homes in townships around Gauteng or their countries of origin, they want to be resettled in a third country. The Pretoria High Court granted an eviction order in August 2022, which was carried out in April 2023. About 15 families had opted to go to the Lindela Repatriation Centre, while others chose to live on the streets with their children.
The European Union reaffirmed its commitment to supporting government reforms during a meeting with Mozambique’s Executive Coordinator of the Government’s Office of Reforms and Strategic Projects (GREP).
Nearly 340,000 people have been affected, and thousands displaced across Madagascar, Malawi, and Mozambique after Tropical Storm Jude swept through Southern Africa, leaving widespread destruction. The Eswatini government and UNHCR continue efforts to inform asylum seekers who fled the post-election violence in Mozambique, about available readmission support for those wishing to return.
Kenya
Thousands of refugees clashed with police in a Kenyan refugee camp this week after receiving news that their food allocations would be cut because of funding problems. The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, confirmed that four refugees and a local government official had been injured when police intervened to stop the protesters at the Kakuma refugee camp on Monday.
Those living in the camp had received a message from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) confirming that allocations would be cut to 40% of the basic minimum ration. The camp has 300,000 refugees, mostly from South Sudan but also from Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia.
Kenya’s Refugee Act 2021 offers a promising model for refugee integration at a time when many countries are tightening restrictions. The passage of the Refugee Act marked a significant shift in Kenya’s refugee policy.
It moves away from a camp-centric model in which refugees rely on humanitarian aid and towards a model of local integration that allows refugees to contribute to their and host communities’ socioeconomic development. The law recognizes refugees within a development framework rather than a purely humanitarian one. Refugees now have a circumscribed freedom of movement and the right to work and own property. However, work and travel permits are still hard to obtain in practice.
Lebanon
Beirut, Lebanon – Recent clashes along the Lebanon-Syria border have drawn in their respective armies and threaten to disrupt both governments’ efforts to establish their authority.
The clashes appear to have calmed for the moment, as a ceasefire agreement between the two parties was reached late on Monday, March 17. Following Hezbollah’s intervention in the Syrian war, it extended its authority over both sides of the border. But after Bashar al-Assad’s regime spectacularly collapsed in early December, cutting off a key supply line for a Hezbollah diminished by an indiscriminate Israeli war on Lebanon, a struggle emerged.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, an estimated 354,900 Syrians have crossed back into Syria from neighbouring countries in the region.
However, this figure does not represent verified, permanent returns to Syria, as movements across borders are porous, pendular and many are known to be moving to Syria on temporary visits to assess the situation in their areas of origin before taking a decision to return home. Masnaa official crossing point (OCP) in the Bekaa continues to be the main official crossing point into Syria. In North Lebanon, the Arida Official Crossing Point (OCP) remains closed since 3 February as public works are ongoing. Additionally, movements continue to take place across borders through unofficial crossing points.
Rwanda
The University of Rwanda (UR) is implementing a funding model focused on diversifying its revenue streams to achieve 63 per cent self-financing within the next four years to be able to continue contributing to education, research, and innovation.
This initiative follows Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente’s statement in November 2022, calling for reforms to improve UR's financial model. Given the limited government budget allocated to the university's six colleges, UR plans to reduce dependency on state funding. The university faced a financial crisis when its state budget allocation was cut by 50 per cent from Rwf26 billion in 2013 to about Rwf13 billion in 2015-2016. UR’s budget has been insufficient, hindering its ability to implement programmes, pay its staff on time, and deliver quality education and infrastructure.
For the past one week, students from Harvard Kennedy School have been on a study tour in Rwanda to learn about the country’s history, culture, and development journey. They held discussion with different government officials to discuss Rwanda’s approach to governance, investment, trade, tourism, and conservation, as well as visited various places.
The trip was organized under the Africa Caucus, the Harvard Kennedy School student organization focusing on Africa. The New Times spoke to some participants who shared their experiences and lessons learnt from the country, which mainly led to a perspective shift towards developing countries. It's my first visit to Rwanda and we landed in Kigali at night. On the drive from the airport to our hotel, I noticed a lot of motorcycles and what surprised me personally was that everyone was wearing a helmet meaning that people took safety seriously and everything seemed to be very well organized and well regulated.
Malawi
WFP continues distributing food to support the Government of Malawi in addressing acute food shortages. So far, 31,000 metric tonnes of maize have been distributed to 1.5 million people.WFP continues providing critical cash-based transfers to refugees and asylum seekers in Dzaleka Refugee camp to purchase food. Due to logistical delays, the January contributions took place the first week of February. The number of refugees has increased to over 56,000, with numbers continuing to rise. Due to funding shortfalls, WFP has had to reduce the ration from 75 to 50 percent of monthly food needs starting from February 2025. Immediate funding is critical to ensure continued assistance for those in need.
South America
More than 50 representatives from 19 countries and subnational states in Latin America and the Caribbean attended the 60th Meeting of National Coordinators of the LLECE Laboratory from 11 to 13 March 2025. The event was organised by the UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago and the United Nations Coordination for Latin America and the Caribbean. The main objective of the meeting was to present progress on the Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE 2025), an initiative that evaluates educational achievements in Reading, Mathematics, Science, socio-emotional skills, and factors associated with these learning outcomes. Key aspects for the definitive implementation of the study during 2025 were finalised at this gathering.
End!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comments
Post a Comment