CAR Refugees: Government, Partners Discuss Funding Shortfall

The UN Children’s Fund on November 4, 2016, in Yaounde, organised a get-together with donors.

The situation of the over 260,000 Central African Republic, CAR, refugees in the Adamawa and East Regions is preoccupying as a result of funding shortfall. As at now, only 25 per cent of expected funding has been pledged because donors have turned their attention to other crises in the world. In order to do something about the situation, the Minister of Social Affairs, Pauline Irène Nguene and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, met with donors at the Yaounde Mont Febe Hotel on November 4, 2016.  

Dubbed, “The forgotten crisis,” organisers raised awareness on the plight of refugees, especially children, and also host community people. Minister Pauline Nguene appealed for a holistic approach to tackling the situation, stating that both the needs of refugees and host community people needed to be given the same attention. She recalled how much support and assistance government and its partners have offered the refugees, admitting that there was need to do more.

UNICEF Cameroon Country Director, Félicité Tchibindat, narrated the story of an orphaned CAR refugee girl who was obliged to get married at 12 and had her first baby at 13! Yet, her wish is to be in school instead of a marriage home. Tchibindat said half of the over 260,000 refugees in Eastern Cameroon are children, with 88,000 having no access to school as a result of poverty and ignorance. However, with the sustained efforts of government, UNICEF and partners, 30 per cent of refugee children are...