UNHCR 86th Standing Committee - Agenda item 3 a) Regional updates: iv. East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes

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UNHCR 86th Standing Committee - Agenda item 3 a) Regional updates: iv. East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes

09.03.2023 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in Geneva

Statement by the EU and its Member States

Chair,

I am speaking on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

1. We thank you for the update on the situation in the East and Horn of Africa and the Grate Lakes, a region that continues to host large numbers of refugees and IDPs, due to a combination of conflict, drought, and climate-induced shocks.

2. In Ethiopia, forced displacement challenges, and the affected population's related needs, and are enormous. The EU and its Member States welcomes the cease-fire agreement signed by the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front in November. We commend the progress already under this agreement and remain fully engaged in supporting its implementation as well as achieving lasting peace. As we see progress, we also have to recall the need to continue to focus on the EU's three key requests: ceasefire and withdrawal from Eritrean forces, humanitarian access, and accountability for human rights violations.

3. The EU and its Member States have never ceased to support the Ethiopian people. In July and September 2022, we put forward two packages of EUR 166.5 million as Individual Measures on education, health and food security. A third tranche of Individual Measures totaling EUR 162.5 million is in progress. It focuses on resilience, internal displacement and private sector recovery.

4. The EU and its Member States welcome that UNHCR aims at reinforcing the provision of health, education and sanitation services to both refugees and host communities in Ethiopia. This model has been embraced by Ethiopia, which is a positive step. The situation of internally displaced persons in Ethiopia is equally crucial, notably due to the challenges of IDPs' return to their places of origin in polarised environments. IDP returns must take place in a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable manner. We invite UNHCR and the humanitarian community to take part in the establishment of the national IDP policy and strategy.

5. While the significant progress in the humanitarian access in Northern Ethiopia is welcomed, the objective of full, safe and unhindered humanitarian aid delivery throughout Ethiopia is not reached yet. We therefore repeat our call for unimpeded humanitarian access so as to ensure that assistance reaches all people in need in all regions. We follow with concern the instability and forced displacement in parts of the country and are interested to hear UNHCR's views on the overall country-level strategy for the coming months. At the same time we stress the need to restart the registration of refugees, to gather the necessary data that enable an informed, conflict and context-sensitive response by authorities and the international community.

6. In Somalia, we have stepped up our support to displaced populations who have left their homes due to conflict, climate shocks and drought. While humanitarian aid contributions helped prevent the famine threshold from being surpassed last year, the situation is still dire in particular for those in most vulnerable situations includingmillions of IDPs. As famine risks affecting Somalia as soon as April, and new conflicts arise, we are interested to hear more from UNHCR's contingency plans and prioritisation, in partnership with WFP and other aid organisations.

7. After the signature of a recent Framework Agreement, which could pave the way for a civilian-led transition, the EU and its Member States continue to advocate for a stable, peaceful and prosperous Sudan. We have mobilised to address the humanitarian needs of people affected by protracted and new internal displacement caused by inter-communal localised conflict and tribal clashes. We thank Sudan for generously hosting one of the highest numbers of refugees in Africa, with almost all of them requiring humanitarian aid. However, we are concerned that the operating environment for UNHCR and its partners is becoming increasingly restrictive. This risks undermining the effectiveness and efficiency of programmes and delaying the delivery of essential services.

8. UNHCR's mandate has an essential role to play in South Sudan, especially on protection and combatting sexual and gender-based violence. We welcome the development of a fully-fledged protection monitoring system that benefits the entire Protection Cluster. We acknowledge, however, that grave and widespread protection risks persist, particularly for women and girls. We remain greatly concerned about the SGBV allegations at Malakal Camp. While we note that UNHCR staff is not accused, we call upon UNHCR in its capacity as the protection sector lead to strengthen all efforts to prevent and combat such systematic abuse also in other settings.In view to achieving durable solutions for internal displacement, we invite UNHCR to further engage with IOM, UNDP and OCHA, working in partnership for a collective response. In this context, we also appreciate UNHCR's outreach to development actors and reiterate our full support to the IGAD Support Platform. As we take note of UNHCR's ambitions on 'Pockets of Hope', we reiterate that continued monitoring of refugee and IDP returns is required. We also reiterate that the pursuit of these ambitions must not hamper the fulfilment of UNHCR's core protection mandate. Returns must always be informed, voluntary, safe, sustainable and dignified. Since subnational tensions and inter-ethnic clashes persist, notably in the Malakal area, we look forward to receiving more information on UNHCR's conflict analyses and respective contingency plans.

9. Last but not least, the EU and its Member States would like to thank Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania for their solidarity.Over the last few decades, they have been generously hosting millions of refugees coming from neighbouring countries. We appreciate UNHCR's efforts to promote the inclusion of refugees in national protection systems and stand ready to strengthen our partnership with UNHCR in these countries.

Thank you.