Durban houses over 170 000 migrants

File Photo: Kevin Sutherland

File Photo: Kevin Sutherland

Published Nov 24, 2015

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Durban -The eThekwini Metro is home to about 170 000 documented migrants.

The figure emerged on Monday during a briefing of delegates from African countries by the metro’s head of International Governance Relations, Eric Appelgren.

Appelgren was one of the speakers at the two-day “Conflict-Induced Migration in Africa” meeting, which is hosted at the Coastlands Hotel, uMhlanga.

The meeting is in response to the escalating rate of migration, especially from conflict zones in parts of Africa.

Addressing the delegates about the xenophobic attacks that rocked KwaZulu-Natal early this year, Appelgren said the municipality and provincial government had spent R30.4 million for the entire process of accommodating refugees in camps to the time they were reintegrated back to their communities locally, or transported back to their countries of origin.

He said the amount did not include blankets and food that were donated by humanitarian organisations.

The African Union and the Africa Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes convened the conference to provide a platform for key African regional and subregional organisations to tackle migration issues.

The aim was to assess trends and difficulties arising from conflict-induced migration.

Delegates will seek ways to tackle the root causes and look for measures to mitigate the harm this has caused to African countries.

The outcomes of the meeting would tabled at the United Nations with the hope of inspiring a re-look at migration policy.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN - Africa office were also part of the meeting.

Bernardo Mariano, regional director of IOM, said four of the top 10 refugee host countries in the world were Ethiopia, Kenya, Chad and Uganda.

He said Africa hosts more than a quarter of the world’s refugees.

“Currently, more people are forced to migrate as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence, or human rights violations, than at any other time since the Second World War. We have some 60 million of these. About one-third of them are actual refugees under the 1951 Geneva Convention, and others displaced around the continent,” said Mariano.

He said as a field-based operational agency, the IOM has “witnessed at first-hand the untold human suffering caused by conflict in Africa”.

These are related to political climate, ethnic tensions, land or property rights and borders.

Mariano said there was a need to develop migration policy that takes freedom, security and justice into account better.

Sharon Cooper, of the UN High Commission for Refugees, said the scale and volatility of conflicts in Africa remained a challenge for the commission.

“Today, globally, the commission is dealing with 54.9 million migrants and some of these were forcibly displaced. All come with their different humanitarian challenges, which underline the need to seek new mechanisms to address the root causes of conflicts that cause refugees to flee their homes,” said Cooper.

The meeting concludes on Tuesday.

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