Refugees In Africa Research Articles

Assuming Responsibility for Justice in the Context of South Africa's Refugee Receiving Regime

This paper explores Iris Marion Young's social connection model of responsibility for justice. Its purpose is to contribute to the development of an ethics of responsibility for social work and other caring professions. Our arguments are grounded in an auto-ethnographic study conducted in 2008 by one of the authors while practicing as a social worker with a South African refugee services provider. We ask: What did it mean for the care workers to respond justly to refugees in the light of the complex structural and other constraints that circumscribed their work? What constituted the relationship between individual and collective responsibility in this response? We propose that developing an ethics of responsibility requires us to pay attention to the intricate processes which translate structural injustices into social care settings, and to the dynamics which cause them to be either reproduced or resisted. Our explorations show how Young's social connection model can make a valuable contribution to conceptualisations of what responsibility for justice means, and what actions this implies. We conclude that such an approach could be helpful whenever care workers seek to promote social justice in responses to the very structural injustices within which they are implicated.

Lessons Learned from Refugee Return Settlement Policies: A Case Study on Burundi's Rural Integrated Villages

Many former refugees in Africa that return to their country of origin face challenges of (re-)gaining access to land and other assets that are a necessity for building sustainable livelihoods. A policy approach that has often been adopted to solve landlessness for returnees is the concept of villagisation. This article provides an in-depth analysis of Burundi’s Rural Integrated Villages project, which has recently been implemented as an emergency approach to accommodate landless 1972 caseload refugees and other vulnerable populations. By comparing the Rural Integrated Villages project to other villagisation policies in Africa, and the Imidugudu policy that was implemented in Rwanda in the 1990s in particular, this article demonstrates that to date no villagisation policy has been successful in providing long-term, sustainable solutions for landless returnee populations. A successful implementation model for return villages is lacking and long-term evaluations on return villages are scarce, which hampers institutional learning. The article concludes by exploring alternatives to villagisation for returnees and presenting lessons learned for future cases of refugee return.

Intergenerational differences in acculturation experiences, food beliefs and perceived health risks among refugees from the Horn of Africa in Melbourne, Australia.

To investigate the differences in acculturation experiences between parent and adolescent refugees from the Horn of Africa in Melbourne, Australia and to explore food beliefs and perceived health risks from an intergenerational perspective. Qualitative cross-sectional study involving a combination of semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions. North-West suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Eritrean, Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese refugees. Using a purposeful sampling technique, twelve semi-structured face-to-face interviews (nine adults and three adolescents) and four in-depth focus groups (two with adolescents each containing six participants and two with adults one containing six participants and the other ten participants) were carried out. Thus overall data were obtained on fifteen adolescents and twenty-five parents. Qualitative analysis identified differences between parents and adolescents in relation to lifestyle, diet and physical activity. Views regarding health consequences of their changed diets also differed. Parental feeding practices encompassed a variety of methods and were enforced in an attempt by parents to control their children's dietary behaviours and prevent their drift away from traditional eating habits. These findings call for more research to contextualise dietary acculturation among refugee youth and the impact of migration on parenting styles and feeding practices in communities from the Horn of Africa. Preventive health programmes with Horn of Africa refugees need to acknowledge the effect of acculturation on diet and physical activity levels and a socio-cultural framework needs to be developed with respect to the importance and influence of the family environment.

No Refuge: Flawed Status Determination and the Failures of South Africa's Refugee System to Provide Protection

Because South Africas immigration framework provides little opportunity for legal economic migration from Africa economic migrants have turned to the countrys asylum system in overwhelming numbers. As demand on the system exceeds its capacity to function the gaps in immigration policy have hindered the effective functioning of the refugee system. As a result the protective nature of the refugee system has been transformed into one of control - motivated by the need to reduce the numbers of economic migrants. In response to the tremendous demand on the system government efforts have focused on efficiency. Because of these efforts individuals are being routinely denied refugee status in accordance with refugee and administrative law without proper consideration of their asylum claims.This article describes the findings of a review of 324 negative status determination decisions from South Africas refugee reception offices. The review uncovered serious flaws in the status determination process. Decisions were characterized by errors of law an absence of reasons a lack of individualized decision making and a general failure to apply the mind or to use sound reasoning. Unthinking and non-contextualized cutting and pasting both from other decisions and from internet sources was also rampant and many claimants received identical decisions regardless of the details of their claims. The review demonstrates that South Africas refugee system is failing to fulfill its core function - identifying those in need of protection as refugees. The current system influenced by larger immigration policy is giving rise to grave human rights violations as the status determination process fails to uphold the non-refoulement principle.

Recognizing Socio-Economic Refugees in South Africa: a Principled and Rights-Based Approach to Section 3(b) of the Refugees Act

Section 3(b) of South Africa's Refugees Act, which substantially reproduces the expanded refugee definition from the Organisation of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (OAU Convention), accepts the refugee status of a person who, owing to ‘events seriously disturbing public order in either a part or the whole of his or her country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his or her place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his or her country of origin or nationality’. This article argues that socio-economic factors should be taken into account in assessing such refugee claims, in relation to the ‘events seriously disturbing public order’ and the compulsion to leave. The argument is based upon a consideration of South Africa's constitutional and international human rights commitments, its post-apartheid role within the international community and its legitimate policy concerns, as well as conceptual objections to the traditional dichotomy between refugees and economic migrants. In light of these considerations, the article then proposes an analytical framework for assessing this type of s. 3(b) refugee claim. Finally, this proposed framework is tested against fictional case studies set in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. These case studies further undermine the traditional refugee/migrant dichotomy and suggest that the proposed framework is manageable, rights-regarding and restricted on principled grounds. It is hoped that the proposed analytical framework can provide a coherent and practical way forward in South African refugee law that recognizes the universality and indivisibility of fundamental human rights. Further, given the growing international consensus regarding the indivisibility of civil-political and socio-economic rights, this article may inform debates about the treatment of socio-economic rights deprivations in refugee law beyond South Africa and the OAU Convention.

‘The Golden Country’: Ex-Yugoslav and African Refugee Experiences of Settlement and ‘Depression’

Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder are frequent diagnoses made of refugee clients by health professionals attempting to deal with patients having settlement difficulties. However, this focus on psychological diagnosis and intervention tends to ignore political, economic, cultural and racial aspects of the settlement experience which affect well-being. This paper reports the findings of two studies of ex-Yugoslav and Horn of Africa refugee settlement experiences in Perth, Western Australia, which demonstrate the links, in the perceptions of refugees at least, between well-being and two closely related factors: employment and ‘culture shock’. It reports data from questionnaires, interviews and focus groups with over 200 people from refugee backgrounds—including Bosnians, Croatians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese and Somalis—which indicate their perception that post-migration experiences are more important in undermining well-being than pre-migration physical and psychological trauma.

An actress compelled to act: Angelina Jolie's Notes from My Travels as celebrity activist/travel narrative

This article examines the celebrity activist as cultural intermediary and as travel writer. The article is focused upon the American actress Angelina Jolie and her role with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (the UNHCR). It critically examines this aspect of her life in specific relation to diaries she kept in which she recorded her UNHCR experiences. These diaries were formally published in 2003 and were entitled Notes from My Travels: Visits With Refugees in Africa, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Ecuador. In these accounts, Jolie can be seen not merely as a ‘celebrity ambassador’, but as a ‘postcolonial’ diarist. Yet, Notes from My Travels also represents, as the title suggests, a travelogue, and one that links her to the genre of travel writing and a tradition of female travel writers. The article argues that Jolie's Notes represent accounts of conditions in certain postcolonial countries and representations of the refugee experience in relation to a determined ‘deconstruction’ of her globally recognized celebrity/star persona. The article also explores the ways in which the images, stories, accounts and political/historical narratives that emerge from Jolie's Notes resonate with aspects of travel narratives with regard to postcolonialism and with earlier female travel writers, but also, critically, the way in which her Notes still represent a contemporary postcolonial narrative, a power relation between the recorder and the recorded, a status all the more underscored by her culturally powerful Western celebrity status. Moreover, whereas the ‘Third World’ has habitually been viewed through ‘Western eyes’, such a process continues in the form of celebrity narratives concerning the ‘state of things’ in postcolonial countries.

A Critique Of The Rights Of Refugees Under The OAU Convention Governing The Specific Aspects Of Refugee Problems In Africa

Generally speaking, a refugee is a person forced to leave home for certain specified reasons and who is outside the country of his or her origin and does not have its protection. It is currently estimated that between 20 and 40 million refugees are spread across the world due to forced and involuntary movements, and is thus one of the most traumatic problems facing the world today. Conflicts and other life threatening disasters occur daily, forcing people to flee their countries of residence to seek refuge in other countries for safety. Africa has the largest number of refugees, hence there is a need for a regional convention that will adequately provide a cushion for the problems that may arise from this deluge. As the name implies, the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugees' Problems in Africa seems to be such a desirable Convention. The Convention has many positive aspects, but leaves much to be desired in terms of tackling the basic problems encountered by refugees in Africa. There is consequently a need for a total overhaul of the Convention to make it more positively responsive to the contemporary challenges posed by refugee problems in Africa. East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights Vol. 12 (2) 2006: pp. 152-182

Biocultural Anthropology

Previous articleNext article FreeCurrent ApplicationsBiocultural AnthropologyR. SchachtR. Schacht Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreA Gap in Sudanese Refugee ResettlementThe civil war in Sudan has left hundreds of thousands dead and uprooted more than 2.5 million people. Most of the displaced people find their way into refugee camps in nearby countries to await resettlement. The United States is home to more than 20,000 of these resettled refugees, who represent more than ten southern Sudanese ethnic groups. Of these, approximately 50% live in Nebraska, largely because of the state’s low cost of living, low unemployment levels, and low crime rates.The state of Nebraska’s Minority Health Office sought help in incorporating this growing refugee population into the public health system. To do this, they contacted a local anthropologist, Mary Willis, from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), who had conducted fieldwork with refugees in Africa. Willis began by convening focus groups aimed at identifying refugee health issues. One concern of Nebraskans and Sudanese alike was the refugees' teeth or, rather, their lack thereof. A majority of Nebraska’s Sudanese refugees are Nuer or Dinka, and as do many other Nilotic populations, they practice dental extraction. Among the Dinka, this involves the removal of the lower front teeth, while the Nuer remove those teeth as well as the upper canines, eight teeth in all. This dental practice is part of a coming‐of‐age ceremony for both boys and girls and a crucial component of tribal identity, adulthood, and beauty.However, according to Willis, for the many Dinka and Nuer who have relocated to the United States, the lack of teeth is problematic. Typical U.S. foods require the front teeth for processing; the inability to bite into food could mean a less healthy diet. Also, many U.S. foods are harder than traditional Sudanese foods such as porridges, milk, and stews. Perhaps more importantly, dental gaps have social implications in the United States. Individuals with missing teeth face negative stereotypes related to intelligence, attractiveness, and health, just to name a few, and the Sudanese refugees are suffering the consequences of these stereotypical judgments.A patient inspects his new dental work.View Large ImageDownload PowerPointBecause Willis realized the importance of the anterior teeth for physical and mental health in the United States and because of the growing number of requests she received from refugees to have their teeth replaced, she arranged complete dental restorations for five refugees at UNL’s College of Dentistry in 2003. Word of mouth created such an overwhelming demand for implant restoration that Willis sought support and was awarded $230,000 from the Langeloth Foundation to assist 23 more refugees. A new grant is in the works to fit more than 100 hopeful refugees with a tool that is highly valued in the United States—a smile full of straight, white teeth with no gaps or spaces. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 49, Number 4August 2008 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/588527 Views: 187Total views on this site © 2008 by The Wenner‐Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Volunteer Works by Medical Doctors

The mission of medical doctors is to take care of patients and to work for well-being of each member in our community. In addition, it is our privilege for medical doctors to participate in volunteer works with our medical talent. Various motives are present for medical doctors to participate in volunteer works. There are many needed people such as the homeless or the aged living alone in our community. The sympathy for the needed people is the first step to be a medical doctor. Through volunteer works, we may have enough chance to communicate with our neighbors to establish good relationships with them. Today, the most important social value is the well-being for individuals and the social welfare for a society. Medical doctors are the best prepared group for the well-being and the welfare. There are many fields of volunteer works for medical doctors around the world; refugees in Africa, the rural people in India and China, the poor in North Korea, homeless people, and foreign workers in urban areas. We may start from emergency relief for disasters, continue one step forward with hygiene and preventive medicine, and finally participate in social welfare system to take care of the aged and handicapped people. Volunteer works by medical doctors should not be like an event but a daily life. It should be accomplished continuously throughout our life, not for only one time. Volunteer works by medical doctors should cover not only medical works but also all the fields of our society including social welfare.

Biocultural Anthropology. A Gap in Sudanese Refugee Resettlement

Previous articleNext article FreeCurrent ApplicationsBiocultural AnthropologyR. SchachtR. Schacht Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreA Gap in Sudanese Refugee ResettlementThe civil war in Sudan has left hundreds of thousands dead and uprooted more than 2.5 million people. Most of the displaced people find their way into refugee camps in nearby countries to await resettlement. The United States is home to more than 20,000 of these resettled refugees, who represent more than ten southern Sudanese ethnic groups. Of these, approximately 50% live in Nebraska, largely because of the state’s low cost of living, low unemployment levels, and low crime rates.The state of Nebraska’s Minority Health Office sought help in incorporating this growing refugee population into the public health system. To do this, they contacted a local anthropologist, Mary Willis, from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), who had conducted fieldwork with refugees in Africa. Willis began by convening focus groups aimed at identifying refugee health issues. One concern of Nebraskans and Sudanese alike was the refugees' teeth or, rather, their lack thereof. A majority of Nebraska’s Sudanese refugees are Nuer or Dinka, and as do many other Nilotic populations, they practice dental extraction. Among the Dinka, this involves the removal of the lower front teeth, while the Nuer remove those teeth as well as the upper canines, eight teeth in all. This dental practice is part of a coming‐of‐age ceremony for both boys and girls and a crucial component of tribal identity, adulthood, and beauty.However, according to Willis, for the many Dinka and Nuer who have relocated to the United States, the lack of teeth is problematic. Typical U.S. foods require the front teeth for processing; the inability to bite into food could mean a less healthy diet. Also, many U.S. foods are harder than traditional Sudanese foods such as porridges, milk, and stews. Perhaps more importantly, dental gaps have social implications in the United States. Individuals with missing teeth face negative stereotypes related to intelligence, attractiveness, and health, just to name a few, and the Sudanese refugees are suffering the consequences of these stereotypical judgments.A patient inspects his new dental work.View Large ImageDownload PowerPointBecause Willis realized the importance of the anterior teeth for physical and mental health in the United States and because of the growing number of requests she received from refugees to have their teeth replaced, she arranged complete dental restorations for five refugees at UNL’s College of Dentistry in 2003. Word of mouth created such an overwhelming demand for implant restoration that Willis sought support and was awarded $230,000 from the Langeloth Foundation to assist 23 more refugees. A new grant is in the works to fit more than 100 hopeful refugees with a tool that is highly valued in the United States—a smile full of straight, white teeth with no gaps or spaces. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 49, Number 4August 2008 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/588527 Views: 80 © 2008 by The Wenner‐Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Revisiting Liberalism and Post-Colonial Theory in the Context of Asylum Applications

This article argues that the westernised concept of liberalism, which assumes the ability of States to control migration, is inappropriate in an African context at a number of fundamental levels. In particular, in many African States the boundaries are ill defined, governments lack appropriate resources for border control, and the movement of asylum seekers is mostly that of mass influx. Hence, it is contended, addressing Africa's refugee ‘problem’ calls for locally engineered perspectives rather than westernised ideas with a focus on the following three central elements: definition of ‘refugee’, procedures used to assess asylum applications, and the nature of protection offered to those in need.

Conference Papers: 3. The Impact on the Economic and Social Fabric Reintegration of Returning Refugees in Africa

Conference Papers: 3. The Impact on the Economic and Social Fabric Reintegration of Returning Refugees in Africa

An emergency nurse’s work with refugees in Africa, The Balkans, and Afghanistan

An emergency nurse’s work with refugees in Africa, The Balkans, and Afghanistan

From refuge to refugee: the African case

AbstractHuman security and environmental security, often reinforcing, can be at odds. One instance arises when greenlining, the creation or expansion of relatively exclusionary protected areas, leads to the mass displacement of local communities and the creation of a new variant of ‘environmental refugees’. The present research employs several methods to estimate the magnitude of environmental refugees in Africa and suggests that they number in the millions. Country‐specific case studies are offered to lend historical context to these estimates. Environmentally oriented land reform is proposed as a partial mitigation for the social side effects of greenlining, and is briefly described in African and other settings. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Conference paper. Conflict prevention, management, and resolution: Africa - regional strategies for the prevention of displacement and protection of displaced persons: the cases of the OAU, ECOWAS, SADC, and IGAD

I. INTRODUCTION Over the past ten years the international humanitarian protection regime for displaced persons has been strengthened by, for example, the emergence of protective guidelines for internally displaced persons (IDPs).(1) Ironically, during the same period, many states have in theory and practice failed to respect the norms of various protective regimes.(2) During times of interstate and intrastate armed conflict or mass social unrest (e.g., gross violations of human rights),(3) combatants and other perpetrators have generally ignored universal refugee, human rights, and humanitarian protective norms. This has not only exacerbated Africa's refugee and IDP dilemma, but also resulted in an incalculable number of war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed against civilians, humanitarian workers, peacekeepers and combatants. As a result, African people, and specifically women and children, have suffered the greatest indignity,(4) and to make matters worse, the international community has yet to forward a viable solution to the problem. In the absence of the international politics of the Cold War, Africa's geo-political stock has greatly devalued, and its former stockbrokers have not been genuinely interested in finding new ways to proactively re-engage and reinvest. They have simply ignored the need to re-conceptualize the nature of their relationships with African states, which has mistakenly caused many Western policy-makers to be convinced that they have no strategic interests in Africa. Others like the United States purport to have an African policy. During the Clinton Administration one commentator noted that [s]tripped of its Clintonian rhetorical veneer, U.S. policy toward Africa is extractive commercial, limited security and selective humanitarianism--remain the cardinal ordinances of US foreign policy towards the continent.(5) It is yet to be seen whether the Bush Administration will adopt a progressive policy toward Africa. Although U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell claims to have a keen interest in African issues, his designee for Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs will serve as the first indicator of his genuineness. Such policy is in theory and practice cosmetic and instituted to pacify domestic constituencies. This may explain why, similar to the United States, many countries refuse to provide genuine human resources (e.g., peace-keepers and peace-enforcers) to avert conflict and alleviate human suffering in Africa when there is no overriding domestic strategic interest. The cases of Liberia, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, and Sierra Leone clearly show that the risks involved with saving African lives in Africa far outweigh the benefits. Furthermore, the case of Kosovo unmistakably demonstrates that, unless people of European descent are threatened with death or suffering on a grand scale the more civilized nations of the North, and the international organizations which they control, are reluctant to expend human and tangible resources to save lives. This is especially true with respect to the Dark Continent, where the international community spent $0.11 a day per refugee in Rwanda and Sierra Leone, compared to an approximate $1.50 a day per refugee in Kosovo.(6) Such disparities lead one to conclude that race and geo-politics are as much determining factors as national strategic interests when it comes to international peace and security, especially as it relates to Africa. Notwithstanding, perhaps, European and American forces should not be employed for peace-keeping in Africa, but rather provide tangible resources such as logistics, reconnaissance, and communications support to African peace-enforcers, as the records of the former in Africa are at best dismal. On this point, one analyst comments, It seems that every peacekeeping operation has had its share of horror stories: US soldiers offending Muslim values by skinny-dipping in Somalia; Canadians torturing and murdering Somali civilians; Dutch peacekeepers `luring Bosnian children into a field to check for land mines by throwing sweets into the area'; and UNTAC's Bulgarian contingent becoming involved in prostitution and smuggling. …

Africa's Refugees: Patterns, Problems and Policy Challenges

In recent years, the African continent has been characterised by a succession of large-scale refugee movements, internal population displacements and mass repatriation movements. In a number of countries, Angola, Burundi, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia, for example, large proportions of the population have been uprooted and forced to abandon their homes by communal and ethnic conflict, persecution and violence.

Management of an outbreak of meningococcal meningitis in a Sudanese refugee camp in Northern Uganda.

We describe an outbreak of meningitis at a Sudanese refugee camp in Northern Uganda that lasted over a year from February 1994. Some 291 cases occurred in a refugee population of 96860 (averaged over the year), an attack rate of 0.30%. The case fatality rate was 13.3%. From a small number of samples taken for culture N. meningitidis serogroup A, serotype 21:P1.9, clone III-1 was identified as the causative organism. The outbreak started in the camp's reception centre which had the highest attack rate. Spread from the reception centre was rapid and the epidemic reached its peak within 3 weeks. All of the cases amongst residents of the reception centre reported having had meningococcal vaccine before arriving at the camp and so were not immunized on arrival as would normally have been the case. Some 37 547 doses of meningococcal vaccine were used in a mass immunization campaign in February and March 1994. Following this the outbreak was declared over in August 1994 when no cases were registered for 2 consecutive weeks. However, following a massive and sudden influx of refugees a new epidemic peak occurred during February 1995. Many of these new refugees were also not immunized on arrival due to pressures of numbers. A follow-up immunization campaign then brought an end to the outbreak. Our experience confirms the effectiveness of timely and high-coverage immunization campaigns in controlling group A meningitis outbreaks amongst refugees in Africa.

Linkages between internal and international migration: the African situation

In Africa the historical evolution and stages of political development are crucial to an understanding of migration in general the distinction and linkages between internal and international migration their causes and policy issues. Of particular relevance in the African context are the effects of the demarcation of national boundaries the emergence since the early 1960s of independent nation states and especially the creation of regulations governing immigration. These have introduced a subtle distinction between internal and international migration both of which once involved free movement across wide areas of Africa and in the case of international migration between legal and illegal immigrants. This discussion analyzes these linkages against the backdrop of the causes of population movements and the policy responses to them. Conceptually international and internal migration are complementary and can supplement each other. Both derive from a complex of interrelated social and economic factors but are primarily related to the migrants search for greater well-being. From a policy perspective development normally has the effect of initially stimulating both internal and international migration in the short run. In the long run 1 viable policy instrument to restrain or retain a large number of (potential) emigrants from poor to rich countries or to attract them back is sustained development in the labor-exporting countries. In international migration political factors often can be more important than economic factors. A working typology of migration is outlined and shows that African migrants internal and international retain a prototype of the sociocultural structure of the community and regard their place of current (temporary) abode as an extension of the home community. Immigrants including refugees in Africa compete for the limited wage employment in both urban and rural sectors. Some of them fill the positions vacated by the nationals who have themselves emigrated abroad. Also internal migrants from rural areas compete for such positions in the towns from which nationals previously emigrated abroad in search of superior economic and other opportunities. A series of economic and political factors influence the opportunity structure in a country and indirectly the tempo and direction of internal and international migration. When the economy of a country is revitalized and employment opportunities improve considerably nations who had earlier emigrated to other countries could be attracted back home.

Nigeria in the Global Context of Refugees

The problem of refugees from Nigeria is examined in the context of refugees in Africa as a whole. Already a third of the world's refugees have been created by conflicts or disasters in African countries. This startling condition is becoming worse as Nigeria joins this group because the numbers that can be generated will over shadow what hitherto has been considered to be an enormous refugee problem. The likelihood that refugees will be generated cannot be simply wished away as long as present problems in Nigeria remain unresolved. These problems can be traced to the colonial period and before, and they have been aggravated by natural and unnatural causes since independence. Without dynamic leadership, the refugee crisis is likely to continue, both in Nigeria and in Africa more generally. Only proper management can handle the problems of economic and political development that have produced refugees. Neither military force nor the tightening of immigration laws in the more fortunate countries can stem the flow of refugees unless the internal conditions of Nigeria itself are fully addressed.