The refugee population in Addis Ababa and the Kenya Borena underwent L3 and biometric (BIMS) verification end of 2017 and 2018 respectively. Verification of the South Sudanese population in South Omo in SNNPR will be finalized in 2019. It is expected that the total population under this PPG will stand at 22,088 by 31 Dec 2019. With a modest increase in numbers expected under the PPG, and voluntary repatriation for the Kenya Borena refugees starting in the last quarter of 2019, the population under the PPG will stand at 25,259 individuals by end 2020. As in past years, in 2020, refugees, who hold out-of-camp refugee ID cards will remain the majority in the Addis Ababa refugee population. As such, they will not rely on direct humanitarian assistance from UNHCR. In this regard, only 5000 individuals, which represent 20% of the population under this PPG will receive protection, material and cash assistance directly from UNHCR. These will be refugees with the most critical specific protection needs.
Under the GCR, UNHCR will secure new partnerships and options for solutions and align its protection and service delivery with the sustainable development goals that link directly with the pledges. UNHCR will also focus on SDG 3 (Quality Health and Wellbeing), SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 4 (Education), SDG16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), SDG 5 (Gender and Equality), SDG17 (Partnership for the Goals) and SDG 8 (Decent Work).
Refugee access to justice remains a major gap due to a limited number of partners providing free legal services in Ethiopia. In 2020, UNHCR will work towards bridging this gap by collaborating with relevant legal aid service providers, including Bar Associations, academic institutions, NGOs, law enforcement and judicial bodies in order to extend the services to urban refugees. To strengthen prevention and responses to SGBV, UNHCR will be guided by the Secretary General’s Bulletin on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and continue to empower the refugee community on their rights, as well as on the available reporting mechanisms based on the Community-Based Complaints Mechanisms CBCM). Furthermore, UNHCR will continue creating linkages with national one-stop-centres, where refugee SGBV survivors, can receive services free of charge, similar to nationals.
With the dispersed refugee population in Addis Ababa, UNHCR will strengthen its communication and community outreach by implementing a strategic, clear and predictable rights and community-based protection referral system that incorporates information on available service providers at various levels in specific geographical locations and will focus on the reduction of dependence on humanitarian assistance. UNHCR will create linkages with the Attorney General’s Officer, MoLSA/BoLSA, BoWCA/MoWCA, Immigration and work with all partners, humanitarian and development, to ensure strong referral pathways and response mechanisms.
For the Kenya Borena refugee population, UNHCR will support a facilitated return approach and will provide up-to-date information about the situation in their intended places of return to help them make informed decisions. UNHCR will work with authorities in Kenya and Ethiopia to ensure that repatriation is done in safety and dignity. For the refugees, who do not intend to repatriate, as there is already a high degree of social and economic integration with the host community, local integration will be pursued due to similar clan, language, religion, culture and other demographic compositions with the hosting populations.
Coordination of protection interventions will continue under the monthly Urban and Kenya Borena Sub Working Group; UNHCR will coordinate interventions in line with the UNHCR Alternatives to Camps approach, to ensure that persons of concern are able to access available services within the national institutions without discrimination based on their refugee status.