The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
New settlement opens for latest Somali refugees in Ethiopia
As humanitarian needs increase for displaced people at the Somali-Ethiopian border, relocation for the most vulnerable has begun, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
An uptick in violence in northern Somalia’s Lascanood city has pushed close to 100,000 people to flee to a remote area of Ethiopia’s Somali region in the past two months.
UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado said that “since clashes started in mid-February, thousands of people have arrived in the Somali region of Ethiopia seeking safety. As of last week, 91,000 people had been registered by the Ethiopian authorities”.
Ms. Sarrado added that although pace of the arrivals had slowed, refugees continue to arrive, fleeing ongoing violence in Somalia.
She flagged that most are women, children and older people, including “more than 3,400 unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents”. Ms. Sarrado said that these young refugees had told UNHCR “harrowing stories” of how they became separated from their families when clashes began and have since been unable to re-establish contact.
Now, a relocation of some of the refugees is underway, “with 1,036 of the most vulnerable people transferred from border areas to a new settlement over the past three days”, Ms. Sarrado said.
Transportation to a new site, located some 50 kilometres from the border in Mirqaan, Bokh district, is being organized by the Ethiopian authorities with UNHCR and partners.
Ms. Sarrado said that “the Government of Ethiopia has generously allocated 400 hectares where refugees can settle and access existing services, such as health care, water and education”, adding that “UNHCR continues to engage with local authorities and leaders to assess gaps in basic services, so support benefits both refugees and Ethiopians as well”.
With needs on the rise, the establishment of the new site is designed to help provide newly arrived refugees who have been living in precarious conditions with shelter, core relief items, food and water.
Ms. Sarrado explained that “relocation is taking place because [refugees] were settling at the border with Somalia, they were sleeping outdoors, the areas where they were staying started to be overcrowded, leading to increased protection risks”.
In March, UNHCR and humanitarian partners launched a $116 million inter-agency emergency refugee response plan to respond to critical needs faced by refugees and host communities in the area.
UNHCR underscored that “Ethiopia has welcomed refugees for decades” and currently hosts nearly 990,000 refugees from neighbouring countries like South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan.
***
B-roll from UNHCR shot on 7 April 2023 in Lascanood and Mirqaan, Ethiopia, is available here: https://media.unhcr.org/Share/863v5lk55cfg3rg617m0b807vhl0n23v
STORY: Somali Refugees in Ethiopia - UNHCR
TRT: 01’54”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2023
HYBRID PRESS BRIEFING
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Cutaway: wide shot, speakers behind podium at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Olga Sarrado, spokesperson, UNHCR: “Since clashes started in mid-February, thousands of people have arrived in the Somali region of Ethiopia seeking safety. As of last week, 91,000 people had been registered by the Ethiopian authorities with UNHCR’s support. Refugees continue to arrive, fleeing ongoing violence in their home country. Most are women, children and older people. Among them are more than 3,400 unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents.”
- Cutaway: medium lateral shot, speaker behind podium at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Olga Sarrado, spokesperson, UNHCR: “The relocation of newly arrived refugees in Ethiopia, who fled clashes in Somalia’s Lascanood city, has begun, with 1,036 of the most vulnerable people transferred from border areas to a new settlement over the past three days.”
- Cutaway: close-up, attendees at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Olga Sarrado, spokesperson, UNHCR: “The Government of Ethiopia has generously allocated 400 hectares where refugees can settle and access existing services, such as health care, water and education. UNHCR continues to engage with local authorities and leaders to assess gaps in basic services so support benefits both refugees and Ethiopians as well.”
- Cutaway: medium lateral shot, journalists at the press conference, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Olga Sarrado, spokesperson, UNHCR: “Relocation is taking place because the areas where refugees arrive, they were settling at the border with Somalia, they were sleeping outdoors, the areas where they were staying started to be overcrowded, leading to increased protection risks.”
- Various cutaways of journalists and speakers in the press conference room.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | OSES
Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping Syrians’ create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday called on States to do all in their power to end senseless conflicts and suffering.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.