The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and its Concern for African Refugees

Abstract

KEYWORDS Colonialism; refugee problem; internally displaced people; human rights ABSTRACT The long standing refugee problem on African continent dates back to the period of decolonization that followed colonialism in Africa when some African nationalists rose up to challenge the Whiteman domination and exploitation of the continent. Africans became refugees and internally displaced people while escaping or fleeing political persecution that characterized the decolonization process. Today, the nature of refugee crisis has changed worldwide. The end of cold war era has aggravated refugee out flows and internally displaced person. As a result of the cold war phenomenon, Africa became a refugee continent as she is harbouring the highest number of refugees in the world. But international responses to protect and assist different categories of dislocated people dated back to 1921 when Fridtjof Nansen was appointed an High Commissioner for Refugees of the League of Nations. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to offer a general overview of the performance of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees towards alleviating problems confronting African refugees.