GHANA: Liberian refugees in integration process not willing to return, but want more support

Record ID: 274497

  • Title: GHANA: Liberian refugees in integration process not willing to return, but want more support
  • Date: 19th February 2014
  • Summary: PLEASE NOTE EDIT CONTAINS ORIGINALLY 4:3 MATERIAL BUDUBURAM CAMP, GHANA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SAMUEL McCARTHY, LIBERIAN REFUGEE AND HEAD OF ZONAL LIBERIAN REFUGEE WELFARE COUNCIL OPENING SHOP AT HIS FOOD STALL VARIOUS OF McCARTHY WORKING AT HIS STALL (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAMUEL McCARTHY, LIBERIAN REFUGEE SAYING: "We have been here for 24 years and the interna
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Liberia
  • Country: Liberia
  • Topics: People,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA99FIAPHVPZWDGY2L0OMC63A0K
  • Story Text: Forty-year-old Samuel McCarthy is one of thousands of Liberian refugees at the Buduburam camp, 44 kilometers west of Accra, that now call Ghana home.
    He runs a food stall in the camp and is also the head of a zonal Liberian refugees welfare council.
    In 2012, the thousands who fled Liberia during the war lost their refugee status as their country of origin has marked a decade in peace time.
    McCarthy and over 3,500 others opted to stay in Ghana. They recently received a one-time cash handout as part of a local integration package.
    He says the grant is not enough and is urging for continued support.
    "We have been here for 24 years and the international community has been funding this camp, so if UNHCR can ask the donor countries to provide money to build houses for Liberians, I believe they will send the money. We are honouring international protection. What is protection? Protection also includes accommodation. You can't say you are giving me international protection but you can't give me a place to sleep. Where I am sleeping now I built it myself so if you ask me to leave, where am I going?" he said.
    The one-time cash grant ranges from 400 to 2,400 US dollars payable in Ghana Cedis depending on the size of a family. The process is being run jointly by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Ghana Refugee Board (GRB).
    The integration package also includes the issuance of Liberian Passports, two-year residence and work permits and health insurance for one year.
    The refugees will also get training in various fields like entrepreneurship to help them be self sufficient.
    For many refugees going back to Liberia to start from scratch is not an option and those who choose to stay are the majority.
    About 250,000 people were killed in 11 years of on and off conflict that ended in 2003. Thousands more were displaced.
    UNHCR says those still in camps in Ghana have the option to either go home or become legally integrated into Ghanaian community, but will ultimately not have refugee status, although some applied to remain as refugees according to the GRB.
    "Generally in cases where voluntary repatriation is not a viable option, refugees have the option to decide if they want to locally integrate in the country of asylum, and most of the time they do so because they have developed strong ties with the host country, probably some of them have gotten married or they are doing successful businesses and they feel comfortable staying here rather than going back home," said Patience Foley, information officer for UNHCR in Ghana.
    Ghana has hosted thousands of Liberians since 1990. In 1996, it was hosting over 40,000 Liberians.
    Of the ones that are still living at Buduburam, many had hoped for resettlement to countries in North America and Europe.
    "You can't get me 400 US dollars and tell me that I should go and find a place. Where will I go? Now because of the money that you've given [grant] already, now the Ghanaians around the community they have increased their rent, so you can get a single bedroom for not less than 60 - 70 Ghana Cedis, so all these one they are just affecting on our lives," said Frank Bobby Jolo, a refugee.
    "I am not here for formality, I'm here to get some education or even if UN can take me as far as anywhere, but let me be advance that I will be able to go back and rebuild my nation [Liberia] this is what I am fighting for," said Comfort Luois Thomas, another refugee.
    Ghanaian authorities say there is little room for any modifications to the process.
    "I must emphasize that they [Liberians] are under obligation to respect the laws of Ghana, and the protection that they used to get as refugees under 1951 UN convention on the protection of persons of concern will not be available to them any longer, they will be treated just like any other citizen or resident of the country," said Kenneth Dzirasah, Chairman of the Ghana Refugee Board.
    Some Ghanaians fear integration puts an added strain on the country's resources and an economy currently in crisis over an unstable currency.
    "I don't think as a nation we are ready for this, because even at the current situation Ghanaians are facing a lot of economic problems and getting more people on board is going to create more problems," said Benedicta Animle, an Accra resident.
    According to the United Nations, young people in Liberia account for about 65 percent of Liberia's population of 4.1 million, and youth unemployment is estimated to be as high as 85 percent.
    President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said in an interview in 2012 that youth unemployment is a major threat to peace and security in Liberia which, unless addressed, could see the return of conflict to the West African country.
    But despite the challenges she says the country aims to achieve double-digit economic growth within five years.
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