ADRA

ADRA Observes World Refugee Day
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Today, June 20, ADRA joins the international community in observing World Refugee Day, a day that honors the courage, persistence, and strength of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the world.

Committed to assisting those in need worldwide, ADRA’s humanitarian initiatives reach hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs, both by improving their living conditions in camps and then by helping them reintegrate into their communities and reestablish their lives once they have returned home.

A refugee, as defined by the 1951 Refugee Convention set up by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is someone who, based on a well-founded fear of persecution due to his or her race, religion, nationality, particular social affiliation, or political stance, is outside of his or her country of origin and is unable or unwilling to request protection from his or her home country.

Internally displaced persons have also fled their homes, due to persecution, war, natural disaster, famine, or other emergency, but still remain within the national boundaries of their home country.

According to the UNHCR, in 2006 there were more than 14 million refugees, including those Palestinian refugees registered and assisted by the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA). The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reports that, in addition, there were more than 24 million displaced persons worldwide in 2006 due to conflict.

ADRA is currently working with refugee and IDP communities in Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Colombia, and elsewhere.

In the Darfur region of western Sudan, ADRA has distributed 35 tons of emergency supplies, including blankets, jerry cans, and tarpaulins for more for 16,000 people. A project is underway to construct 450 latrines and 70 wells in southern and western Darfur to meet the water and sanitation needs in the affected regions.

Helping to stem the spread of disease, ADRA has already built 3,500 toilets in camps and villages in western Darfur. An estimated 45,000 people in three IDP camps have benefited from this initiative, which has improved the substandard living conditions. ADRA plans to continue working with camps in the region, installing more latrines and providing health and hygiene classes.

In Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, ADRA is providing microcredit and literacy programs to IDPs and has installed 300 hand pumps in camps and settlements. ADRA has provided relief assistance for camps in south of Khartoum, in addition to building a farming school and implementing various water projects in the region.

A reintegration assistance project has set up way stations in southeastern Sudan to provide returnees passing through Nassir and Pagak with tools, food, and health services. In a related project, ADRA is providing food, blankets, mosquito netting, and essential services to thousands of returnees traveling south from Khartoum in barges along the White Nile River corridor.

In Somalia, ADRA is providing adult education classes for returning refugees in the Bakol region, in addition to various development projects in other rural areas, including water and sanitation, food security, and community infrastructure rehabilitation, These activities will strengthen the local community and help returnees achieve financial independence amid the ongoing political turmoil in rural Somalia.

As a result of civil war in Liberia, many IDPs currently live in camps around Monrovia. Actively working in the counties of Lofa and Nimba to control the spread of disease and improve general health in local communities, ADRA is also helping returnees reintegrate back into their native communities through a resettlement and rehabilitation project.

In Burundi, a country that has been plagued for years with violent conflict, ADRA has been actively supporting IDPs and returning refugees. To date, ADRA has built 5,000 homes for 30,000 Burundi returnees, and is providing them with basic agricultural tools to assist their efforts to regain their livelihoods and independence. Other activities include building health clinics, setting up water access points, and rebuilding schools.

In Sierra Leone, ADRA is involved in a three-year, integrated resettlement project in the district of Port Loko, 30 miles northeast of the capital, Freetown. The project focuses will reconstruct housing, build latrines, and reestablish water supplies in the war-ravaged region, as well as provide seeds, agricultural tools, and adult education classes to returnees.

Colombia’s long-standing civil conflict figures as the primary reason behind the displacement of 3.5 million people there, nearly half of them adult women. ADRA is working with 240 displaced women and female heads of households in Bogotá and Cartagena, providing vocational training in tailoring and cosmetology. The training will provide them with income-generating job skills with which they can support their families.

For more information on ADRA’s work with refugees and IDPs, visit the World Refugee Day resources page.

To support efforts to assist refugees and IDPs worldwide through ADRA’s Emergency Management Fund, call 1.800.424.2372 (ADRA) or donate online.