Analysis of UNHCR's Response to Somalis Refugee Expansion in Kenya

In Somalia, no one is spared from crisis. Children and health workers have been murdered and kidnapped. People fight over food and water, adding another burden to citizens of Somalia who are already struggling to get through resource droughts. In a country with no central government, little happens without trauma-force. As resources continue to diminish, conflict arises when there are very little resources and Somalis all want to have priority (Unicef, 2006). Before environmental resource scarcity in Somalia is discussed in depth, let’s take a closer look at the physical and human geography in the country, global climate change and its impact on Somalia’s vegetation, the evolution of Somalia during the colonial and imperial periods, and many Somali conflicts that cause to be in crisis (in no particular order), even today.

In response to the recent failure of the international community to prevent the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa since July 2011, Suzanne Dvorak the chief executive of Save the Children wrote that, “We need to provide help now. But we cannot forget that these children are wasting away in a disaster that we could - and should - have prevented” she added, “The UN estimates that every $1 spent in prevention saves $7 in emergency spending.” (Dvorak, 2011).

A refugee is a person who was forced to leave their country. Whether it be from warfare or natural disaster, their homes are no longer safe to live in, so they need to relocate elsewhere. Once someone sets foot on the journey of becoming a refugee, they become vulnerable and dependent with no sense of what the future will bring. In an attempt to accommodate them, first world countries with the resources necessary to assist these refugees, are struggling to determine whether or not they should step-in and help. Some argue that taking them in could come with excessive consequences, while others believe they could be assets. Although there may be a few consequences, they are outweighed by the benefits and undeniable severity of the situation.

Famine has been declared in South Sudan, and is an imminent risk in Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria. Save the Children have responded to the crisis by providing food aid and cash transfers, Emergency Health Units to treat children suffering from severe malnutrition, as well as clean drinking water and technical assistance to governments to support their responses. Save the Children’s response improves health and human development by ensuring children have access to sufficient food and clean drinking water to meet their needs. This reduces the incidence of water-borne diseases and related morbidity rates. Save the Children work to treat the high malnutrition rates in conflict and drought affected countries where resources are limited. Malaria treatment and prevention measures are also available in countries such as Nigeria, ensuring health access to those living in severe poverty. These control measures are vital for preventing an increase in malaria cases across

It has been centuries since the first group of children were involved in military campaigns, and it was in 1996 when the Ugandan government were unable to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army from war. This left the village people to relocate to government camps where they were guaranteed safety and no disease, and this is where they became labelled as ‘internally displaced persons’. The camps were filled with a whole of 1.7 million people, all there for the same thing, but sadly they weren’t given what they promised, the camps provided no way of

During the 1990’s, Somalia had a famine crisis, which many Westerners labeled as a ‘humanitarian crisis.’ As always, the hegemon, which was the United States, stepped up to the plate and helped in providing food for the starving Somalis. Seeing starving children drew Westerners to sympathize with these individuals and they blamed the inept Somali government for not doing enough to help its citizens. The intervention was meant to deliver food to the Somalia, but later that turned to ‘mission creep’, “the temptation commanders feel to chase success and perhaps glory around the next corner by expanding their mandate and rolling over anyone in their way” (Hoagland, 1: 1993). What was a humanitarian crisis has now turned into a nation-building

There is a possible solution. First the U.N.H.C.R can give these refugees a temporary home, food, and water. The U.N.H.C.R wants to help refugees and wants everyone to have a chance.

The stories remind me of my visit to the IDP camps in Mogadishu in July and August 2013. I still remember the wide smile of a small crawling child. I knelt down to pick him up. His beautiful eyes, his laughter and his innocence never left my heart. I felt he was born into a cruel world where no one cared. Almost all camps I visited lacked basic services. In addition to that, most of those IDPs are women, young girls, children and elderly men who can

The Syrian refugee children are at risk of becoming ill, malnourished, abused, or exploited because of the Syrian conflict. (worldvision.org) The sanitation they are living in is very poor making diseases more likely to occur. Also the weather is cold outside causing pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Many children have to work hard labor to help support their families, this is often times dangerous jobs requiring very little pay. No children should have to experience this sort of life, it should be our job to help children in need. “And whoever welcomes a little child

No one seems to wonder why people fleeing drought should go to a desert. Simple logic tells us this is absurd”(Holcomb). I don’t know why these false accusations are being told. Somali refugees are waiting for the day their struggle is given light and not dismissed or amused. We need to hear the cries of our fellow humans and diminish stereotypes.

Often, these refugees were not fleeing wars between states, but inter-ethnic conflict in newly independent states. Whether in Asia, Central America or Africa, these conflicts, fueled by superpower rivalry and aggravated by socio-economic problems within the concerned countries, durable solutions continued to prove a massive challenge for the UNHCR. As a result, the UNHCR became more heavily involved with assistance programs within refugee camps, often located in hostile

The American Refugee Committee (ARC) is an international organization dedicated to fighting against the trend of child mortality around the world. ARC has brought more than 35 successful years of expertise in services like sanitation, health care, shelter, education and protection for women, girls and their families, which are very critical to the refugee communities. With the refugees and host communities, we currently work in 11 countries around the world. Having replied to crisis’s from Haiti all the way to East Timor.We create resolutions to enduring humanitarian conflicts.

The current situation is unacceptable, as the Syrian war, lack of supplies and the western world’s indifference to blight of the refugees has caused many refugee camps to become uncleanly and over populated. The current situation in many camps and other people have come up with many techniques to cope with the struggles. The camps have come up with my techniques to solve the problem that are not enough supplies, food, sanitation, and not enough room in the camp for each refugee. The camps in this day and age still has many issues that they had back then, but the problems are less

How they did not adapt to fit the drought: From there adoptions were not taken with the sudden environment change people had no way to fit back. Currently, 12 million are living in the drought. Communities are collapsed and livelihoods destroyed (Girard, 2011). Refugee Camps are being pushed to the limit holding 400,000 people when designed for the capacity of 90,000(Stewart). This is only the begin of the struggle because so many people are already trying to help, but war torn countries continue.

Syrians in foreign refugee camps are subject to a wide variety of cruel maltreatment. In several refugee camps in neighboring Arab nations, reports have surfaced of constant female genital mutilation and an alarming lack of mental health support. Furthermore, Syrian refugees face retaliation from the native citizens of their host nations, who commit acts of violence and discrimination against refugees because of their ethnic background and conflicting cultures. Therefore, the Syrian Arab Republic strongly supports resolutions to increase the availability of supplies and support for nations offering asylum to refugees.