Management Of Refugees : Local Authorities Included

In order to get humanitarian assistance closer to refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The signing ceremony took place on March 7, 2024 with Minister Georges Elanga Obam and the UNHCR Resident Representative for Cameroon, Olivier Beer signing the document. The agreement aims to improve protection, the well-being of forcibly displaced people and host community members through the inclusion of the needs of these persons in local development and the coordination of interventions from various humanitarian and development partners. Overall, it seeks to enhance the planning and coordination of empowerment mechanisms to those who have been forced to move from their homes for varied reasons, including security.

According to the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, all Councils in the ten regions of the country are concerned and will accelerate the assistance machinery by government and its partners. “We think that what is going to change is that local authorities are going to be given the capacities to react and to intervene in the management of refugees. We want those who are in that situation to have people who can take care of them without waiting for Yaounde to send instructions and...