Main achievement: - Release of 266 Eritreans from NAGAD: After many years of advocacy with the relevant authorities both inside and outside of Djibouti, on 13 April 2014 Djibouti authorities decided to release the 266 Eritreans detainees. They were allowed to be transferred to Ali Addeh camp where they have been receiving assistance from UNHCR and its partners since 15 April 2014. The verification exercise has been conducted from 2 November to 11 December 2014 in the camps and two weeks of January 2015 in Djibouti town. For the first phase a total of 12,037 refugees and asylum seekers were verified respectively in Ali Addeh (10,291) and Holl Holl (1,746) and in Djibouti 2,586. - POCs documentation: An issuance refugee ID exercise was carried out in Ali Addeh camp from 23 June to 6 July 2014, during which 900 families were received and provided with 1,870 refugee identity cards for persons aged above 15 years with 43% of them being male and 57% female. During the verification exercise in the camps, 4,286 refugee ID cards were provided to refugees. In the course of 2014 the Office supported the process of issuance of 111 birth certificates (98 in Ali Addeh and 13 Holl Holl) for newly born babies in close collaboration with local authorities. Discussions are still continuing for the issuance of late birth certificates for children born in the camps for whom birth certificates were not issued after the legal deadline. - The National Eligibility Commission resumed its activities in August 2013 after 8 years of inactivity. It held 2 sessions, respectively on 13 and 18 February 2014, and adjudicated in total 12 refugee status determination (RSD) cases among which 9 were granted refugee status whereas 1 case was rejected and 2 cases postponed for another session. Before the closure of the land borders for people from Somalia for security reasons after the Al Shabaab attack of 24 May 2014 in Djibouti city, a total of 468 new arrivals from south/central Somalia were registered jointly by ONARS and UNHCR at the Loyada border and another 174 asylum seekers (131 Eritreans, 12 Ethiopians and 31 from other countries) were registered at the ONARS office in Djibouti city. Currently only Eritrean asylum seekers are granted access to Djiboutian territory as they come through O’bock region and not through Loyada transit center where reception and registration activities have been suspended since May 2014. The Office continued its activities in order to enable the voluntary repatriation of Somaliland refugee caseload (3,200 individuals). In this regard a cross-border meeting between the authorities of both Somaliland and Djibouti and UNHCR took place in Hargeisa in January 2014 during which the authorities of Somaliland indicated their willingness to facilitate the return of their nationals in safety and dignity. From 4 to 8 March 2014, a ‘Go and See” visit was organized to Somaliland (Zeilac, Asha Ado, Eel-gaal, Jidhi, Gerisa, Abdoulkader, Harirad, and Lughaya) for six refugees from Ali Addeh camp in Djibouti to witness and assess the level of social services available in the areas of return. A restitution meeting on the go see visit was organized in the camp with other refugees originated from Somalilland to provide a feedback. According to the refugees, the economic situation in the areas of return is not conducive for repatriation. In 2014, a total of 85 families of 308 individuals have departed for resettlement to the USA (299) and Canada (9). Water in Ali Addeh : the water supply network was extended, 150m of pipeline were laid out with 3 additional taps stand (two in section 6 and one in section 7) of 6 taps each. Throughout the year, UNHCR has provided an average of 12,72 Litre/pers/day which is still far from the standard of 20 Litres/pers/day.
