The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Director, Bureau for Southern Africa, Ms. Chansa R. Kapaya on 24 May 2024 presented her Letters of Credence to the Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), His Excellency Mr. Elias M. Magosi.
The UNHCR Regional Director called for a united and collaborative approach involving Regional Economic Communities (RECs) such as SADC to address complex issues of migration, refugees and statelessness which have been exacerbated by armed conflict, climate change and lack of opportunities, amongst others.
The UNHCR Regional Director appealed for SADC’s support towards the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, a successor to the #IBelong Campaign which was launched in 2014 as part of the global efforts to end statelessness. The Global Alliance to End Statelessness is expected to be launched at the annual session of the UNHCR Executive Committee of the High Commissioners Programme in October 2024.
H.E. Magosi highlighted that the SADC region hosts several irregular and mixed migrants, including refugees, internally displaced persons, as well as stateless persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict , situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or disasters caused by natural hazards or human activity.
The SADC Executive Secretary stressed the need for support and collaboration to address the humanitarian crisis in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has left over 7 million people internally displaced. As part of the broader efforts to address the challenge of statelessness and migration, H.E. Magosi emphasised the need to address the root causes of migration through, amongst others, ensuring peace and security and providing equitable access to economic opportunities for citizens, particularly the youth.
The cooperation between SADC and UNHCR falls within the framework of the SADC-UNHCR Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was revised in 2019. Amongst others, the MOU provides a framework of cooperation to promote the implementation of the United Nations General Assembly Resolutions, including the Global Compact on Refugees; promote the objectives of the Global Action Plan to end Statelessness; promote accession to International and African Continental instruments related to refugees, stateless persons, and internally displaced persons; and promote the management of mixed migratory movements within and into the SADC region.
The UNHCR is a United Nations Agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people and assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement to a third country.
