By Dhaqane Roble Halane
Globalisation relies on human mobility and immigration, thus international societies, notably Africa, should better comprehend and adopt policies to deal with them. In January 2019, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported 70.8 million refugees, 20.4 million under UNHC, 5.5 UNRWA, and 3.5 million asylum seekers. Since refugees, it’s vital to discuss and establish standardised policies that aid refugees and hosted countries. Hence, if we learned on how to maximise human potential, the world would be better for everyone.
Challenges facing refugees in host countries are multidimensional, notably among them are cultural, education, employment, and economical challenges. Refugees fleeing their home country face mental illness because of loss of cultural norms, loss of their social support system and social structure while adapting to new environment.
All refugees are not illiterate; some are well-educated but forced to escape their homes due to conflict. African countries may help by creating more welcoming policies for refugees. Some refugees are highly qualified workers who can contribute to the economic growth of their host countries, thus it’s important for their governments to pass legislation allowing their children to enrol in public schools and create rules that allow refugees to participate in the labour market.
Therefore, it’s prudent to develop systems that facilitates highly skilled refugees’ admissibility of work permit, if they meet some laid down criteria like education, languages, aptitude, work experience, age, and arranged employment and adaptability, it would reduce aid dependency of the refugees and make their way of life easier.
African nations can benefit by resetting and comprehending the distinction between a) permanent immigration policy and b) temporary immigration policy throughout the policymaking process. Temporary immigrants are a different case and are already implemented in several European member states, but permanent immigrants desire to dwell in other countries and access all fundamental necessities and of citizenship, rights of law, and so on.
Temporary immigration policy should be a temporary residence entitlement valid for such a short period that it no longer acts as a draw in its own right. The second aspect of temporary immigration is whether a comprehensive system should be developed such that all states practice the same form of temporary protection. While such a system would most likely be administered by states themselves, the standards could be established and surveyed by the African Union legislative organs. It is important to set up resettlement policies that help refugees who want to return to their home countries, which cover the cost of resettlement and some assistance to survive until they adapt to the environment and discover some opportunities.
Internally Displaced People face several obstacles, including a lack of housing, food, and water, as well as a lack of health care. In the case of Somalia’s internally displaced people, thousands of people are moving from rural regions to cities due to security, droughts, and starvation, or in search of a better life and education, but once there, their expectations and realities change. IDPs have a difficult existence since there aren’t enough places to stay, food to eat, water to drink, or health centers that can cure the ill or supply medical prescriptions and medications.
Additionally, internally displaced persons used to be farmers or animal herders, but once they arrive in cities, they confront employment opportunities obstacles since the skills necessary in urban settings differ from their rural. As all of these issues are present, there is an urgent need for policies that may address these issues, which might include the following: security, resettlement, job creation, and infrastructure development.
Security of IDPs remains one of the most challenging areas that Somalia government is unable to address. Additionally, IDPs required government’s subsidies and resettlements, after they lose their farms and livestock because of droughts and violence.
Governments should work, with the support of humanitarian partners, to make resettlement for the internally displaced people from where they have been flown, after the end of the droughts and wars and give them some subsidies to restore the livestock or the farmers they have lost during the droughts and wars.
Thirdly, job creation and teaching new skills is very crucial for the internally displaced people, so in the policymaking process, governments and the international partners could consider as an important factor to teach marketable skills for the IDPs so as to contribute to the economic growth of Somalia.
Fourthly, in order to address the root causes of displacement in Somalia, the Federal Government of Somalia must priorities building resilience projects to ensure causes of displacement is address. Key among them are floods, draught and conflicts amongst rural communities. The resilience building initiatives must focus on increasing communities’ capabilities to prevent displacement situation and de-urbanisation.
In today’s globalised world, refugees ought to be regarded as global citizens after losing their home nations, provide all services and being treated equally with the inhabitants of the hosting countries.
Author is an Economist and can be reached via: Dhaqaneeco@gmail.com or @DhRoble.
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