World Refugee Day: Half a million refugees live in Cameroon- UNHCR

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Cameroon is hosting nearly 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of whom 73%, i.e. 356,250 are from the Central African Republic, Nigeria, DR Congo, Rwanda, and Chad settled in the border areas of the East, Adamawa, North, Far North Region.

These figures were revealed by the UNHCR representative in Cameroon, Olivier Beer in Yaounde as Cameroon joined the international community to commemorate World Refugee Day on Thursday, June 20, 2023.

This year’s refugee day was celebrated under the theme “Hope away from home; a world where refugees are always included.

The panel discussion under the patronage of the First Lady Chantal Biya was organized by the Ministry of External Relations, MINREX, with the support of the United Nations Refugee Agency, Cameroon.

The experts took turns delivering presentations on various aspects bordering on the well-being of refugees in Cameroon.

The event was chaired by the Secretary-General at the Ministry of External Relations, Chinmoun Oumar, who represented Minister Mbella Mbella in the presence of Prof Joseph Vincent Ntuda Ebode, who is head of the Centre for Research in Political and Strategic Studies of the University of Yaounde II, the UNHCR Country Representative, Olivier Guillaume Beer, Prof Mathias Eric Owona Nguini and the Vice-Rector of the University of Yaounde I amongst others.

UNHCR Country Representative, Olivier Beer, said Cameroon refugees should be included in the UN development plans

“It is important to include refugees in NDS 2030 and UN Development Plans because all together we can undertake activities so that they can have access to health, education, documentation, and to all rights you and I enjoy” Olivier Beer, stated

Nearly half of these migrants are women and most are of childbearing age and therefore have specific needs. They are also a target of gender-based violence (GBV), from crisis centers in their countries of origin to the precarious shelters that they very often occupy in host communities.