UNHCR to Double Cash-Based Assistance Program by 2020
The U.N. refugee agency will double its cash-based assistance to refugees in order to “better assist and protect them.”
The agency outlined how it will expand the program by 2020 in a policy brief published Monday.
“The use of cash-based assistance has been a real game changer in the way we help refugees and we have now decided to make it a worldwide policy and expand it to all our operations, where feasible,” the high commissioner, Filippo Grandi, said in a press release.
“Refugees know best what they need. The broader use of cash-based assistance means that many more will be able to decide how to manage their family’s budget. This will help them lead more dignified and normal lives,” he said.
Grandi added that the program also boosts local businesses and economies and can improve “relationships between host and refugee communities.”
The UNHCR’s cash-based intervention program is active in 60 countries. In 2017, it will expand to an additional 15 countries in order to reach its target over the next four years.
HRW: Nigerian Officials Sexually Abusing Boko Haram Refugees
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Monday that Nigerian government authorities, camp officials, soldiers and policemen “have raped and sexually exploited women and girls” living in internally displaced people (IDP) camps for victims of Boko Haram.
The report is based on 43 testimonies from women and girls living in seven IDP camps in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. They told HRW researchers in July that they were victims of “sexual abuse, including rape and exploitation.”
“It is bad enough that these women and girls are not getting much-needed support for the horrific trauma they suffered at the hands of Boko Haram,” said Mausi Segun, senior Nigeria researcher at HRW. “It is disgraceful and outrageous that people who should protect these women and girls are attacking and abusing them.”
Don Awunah, a spokesman for Nigeria’s national police force, denied the allegations: “There are no reported cases of infractions of law by policemen on or off duty.”
Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari announced an investigation into the issue, adding that his government will “do its very best” to safeguard “these most vulnerable of Nigerian citizens.”
African Migrants Break Through Spain’s Border with Morocco
An estimated 220 African migrants reached the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa after breaking through a razor-wire fence on Monday, reported Reuters.
Some 32 migrants required medical attention in a local hospital after clashes broke out with Spanish police who attempted to stop them from crossing the border. Six police officers also were taken to the hospital.
Police were able to detain about 50 migrants following the incident, reported Deutsche Welle. They were taken to a designated detention center.
Ceuta is one of two Spanish enclaves in Morocco that has been an entry point for African migrants trying to reach Europe.
In response, Spain increased security along its border with Morocco in recent years and made it legal for border police to ban refugees from applying for asylum.
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