GOVERNMENT AND DONOR PARTNERS URGED TO HONOR THEIR OBLIGATIONS ON REFUGEES
Youth and Society (YAS) has urged the Malawi government and the international donor community to honor their obligation to provide funds that facilitate the provision of fundamental human rights for refugees in the country.
Addressing stakeholders during an annual multi-stakeholder reflection meeting on refugee governance, YAS executive director Charles Kajoloweka expressed concern about the continued underfunding of the Department for Refugees under the Ministry of Homeland Security.
“We are deeply worried that the department entrusted to manage the refugees’ affairs in the country is significantly underfunded hence inviting members of parliament to bring it to their attention,” explained Kajoloweka.
He questions the rationale of trusting the Department of Refugees with managing 55 thousand individuals and denying the department access to the required financial resources.
Kajoloweka said,” We hope that this meeting is going to identify critical issues that we will need to focus on in the New Year and our role as civil society is to pick up those issues and bilaterally engage different government authorities.”
He further reminded the government that due to its lack of commitment to its obligation and mandate criminal elements have infiltrated the camp and some are using it as a hub for human trafficking.
“It is our view that the government is going to review the deployment of police officers at the camp and in the long run build permanent houses for police officers at the camp,”
“Government should also deal with organized crime in which police and immigration officers are allegedly involved. There are reports that the human trafficking cartel is being facilitated by the law enforcement officers,’ explained Kajoloweka.
Senior Administrative and Operation Manager in the Department for Refugees Hilda Katema Kausiwa admitted that the department relies on funding from the government and the donor community.
She further conceded that the funding that they have been receiving is inadequate and recently the funding has been dwindling.
“There have been funding cuts from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) despite an increase in the population of refugees,” explained Kausiwa.
The population that the department needs to protect requires several issues that we cannot provide due to limited resources.
She called on civil society and other interested groups to come and work with the government through the department to deal with some of the challenges.
