- Title: TUNISIA: Refugees in Tunisia seek resettlement abroad
- Date: 15th May 2013
- Summary: CHOUCHA CAMP, NEAR TUNISIA-LIBYA BORDER, TUNISIA (RECENT - APRIL 25, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF REFUGEE CAMP VARIOUS OF REFUGEES FIXING ROOF OF TENT CLOTHES ON GROUND IN CAMP MEN IN CAMP MAN DIGGING IN GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SUDANESE REFUGEE FROM DARFUR, IBRAHIM IS'HAK, SAYING: "Look, this is my entry stamp. They say "you are illegal migrants". We are not illegal -
- Embargoed: 30th May 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Tunisia
- Country: Tunisia
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAC56EIYHXTZ0CRSDRLKJLCV10W
- Story Text: For some residents of the Choucha camp, seven kilometres from Tunisia's border with Libya, the future appears bleak.
As the camp prepares to close in June, some have been granted official refugee status and have been accepted for resettlement abroad.
Others have been recognised as refugees by the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) but have so far been rejected by foreign countries.
But the remaining 222 migrants have no official refugee status and fear for their future.
One man from Sudan, Ibrahim Is'hak, left Libya in March 2011, as the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi escalated.
He said he couldn't understand why he had been refused refugee status.
"Look, this is my entry stamp. They say "you are illegal migrants". We are not illegal - we entered the official way. This is Libya's stamp," he said, pointing to the stamps in his passport.
Many of those living in the camp come from sub-Saharan Africa and were working across the border in Libya before the civil war there prompted them to flee.
Is'hak said he could not now return to his home in the Darfur region due to the tensions that have plagued the country since South Sudan's secession in 2011.
He urged the United Nations to help, saying he and many others had been in limbo for too long.
"The UNHCR is responsible for refugees. We fled the Libyan war and we have official stamps of departure from Libya and entry to Tunisia. Even with all this, they rejected our refugee request. But we have been here for two years, with families and old people. They are tired," he said.
Camp residents fix their own tents, as the UNHCR says those without refugee status are not under their care.
"The storm has torn the tent. So I fixed it to protect it against dust and water," said another man from Sudan, Omran Mohamad Khamis.
For many of those who have been granted refugee status, the future is still uncertain.
The 300-400 Choucha residents who have not been accepted for resettlement abroad say they are determined to keep up the pressure on the Tunisian government and the UNHCR to help them find a solution.
"We cannot settle here in Tunisia. And we have our reasons. We face racism based on religion and our skin colour. We had jobs in Medenin (in southern Tunisia) and we were not paid. We don't have any protection in Tunisia," said Eritrean refugee Hattab Kabrami Kayl, at a recent protest outside the Prime Minister's office in Tunis.
The refugees urged to government to keep the camp open until a solution is found, with many, like Kayl, seeking resettlement abroad.
"I hope that they will give me citizenship in another country. I refused to integrate locally because I hope that they will transfer me to a different country," he said.
But the UNHCR says it believes the refugees are safe in Tunisia.
"If this would be the truth that they are not safe, UNHCR is the protection agency, so we would be the first claiming protection. Now, we cannot, just because refugees are saying, 'In Tunisia, there is widespread racism and discrimination', that this is the truth," said the agency's Ursula Schulze Aboubacar She said some appeared to have been misled about the opportunities available to them in Europe.
"I have the impression, honestly, when I see the refugees who are demonstrating, that they are being sort of tele-guided by some associations, European associations, who think that they are doing good to support the refugees. But for me, it is a sort of youth centrist approach, where they think, and they make the refugees think, that the only paradise is in Europe. While Tunisia right now is coming out of the revolution and they are very, very committed to respect the human rights agenda," said Aboubacar.
The UNHCR says many former residents of Choucha have ended up in Australia, Norway and the United States.
But with no solution in sight for many, Choucha's remaining residents continue to wait and hope for a better life. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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