Par Marijke Wijnroks

Au début de ma carrière, bien avant que je rejoigne le Fonds mondial, j’ai travaillé comme médecin au Soudan du Sud, en Ouganda, au Bangladesh et au Salvador, où les crises humanitaires et les réfugiés étaient légions. J’ai travaillé auprès de populations déplacées à l’intérieur de leur pays au Soudan du Sud et, plus tard, avec des réfugiés soudanais en Ouganda. J’ai coordonné la surveillance sanitaire dans les camps de réfugiés rohingyas au Bangladesh. Ma première préoccupation a toujours été de permettre aux populations d’être en bonne santé. J’ai vu la douleur physique et émotionnelle des enfants, des femmes et des hommes qui ont été contraints de fuir leur foyer.

En cette Journée mondiale des réfugiés, il nous est rappelé que chaque jour, la guerre et les persécutions contraignent des milliers de familles à se déplacer. Lorsque des individus abandonnent leur foyer et leur communauté, ils laissent aussi derrière eux leur médecin de famille ou le personnel infirmier qui les connaissent. Nombre d’entre eux interrompent leur traitement, ce qui propage la résistance aux médicaments et les rend vulnérables face à de nouvelles maladies.

Aucun nombre ne peut refléter le traumatisme vécu par ces êtres humains lorsque leur vie est gravement perturbée. Cependant, l’actuelle crise des réfugiés est en train d’atteindre une ampleur gigantesque : 22,5 millions de réfugiés, dont plus de la moitié ont moins de 18 ans, 40,3 millions de personnes déplacées à l’intérieur de leur pays, 2,8 millions de demandeurs d’asile. Il n’existe aucun gouvernement ni aucune organisation capable de s’y attaquer seul.

Le partenariat du Fonds mondial a été créé il y a quinze ans afin de libérer le monde des fardeaux du VIH, de la tuberculose et du paludisme, et d’investir dans des systèmes résistants et pérennes pour la santé. Aujourd’hui, pour mettre un terme aux épidémies et s’attaquer aux nouvelles menaces qui pèsent sur la sécurité sanitaire mondiale, nous devons parvenir à apporter des services de prévention et de traitement aux personnes les plus vulnérables, où qu’elles se trouvent.

Le Fonds mondial se concentre sur les besoins de santé dans les contextes d’intervention difficiles, en faisant preuve d’une plus grande souplesse, en améliorant sa réactivité et en multipliant les partenariats avec des intervenants d’urgence et des groupes communautaires sur le terrain. Nous devons nous attaquer aux besoins sanitaires là où ils se trouvent, particulièrement quand les personnes dans le besoin sont contraintes de quitter leur pays et de traverser les frontières.

Au Rwanda, par exemple, le Fonds mondial et le HCR, le Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés, travaillent ensemble afin de répondre aux besoins sanitaires des réfugiés burundais. Au moyen d’une subvention du Fonds d’urgence, les deux organismes offrent aux réfugiés des services qui comprennent l’accès à des conseils et au dépistage du VIH, le traitement visant à prévenir la transmission du virus de la mère à l’enfant, la thérapie antirétrovirale pour les personnes vivant avec le VIH, la pulvérisation intradomiciliaire d’insecticide à effet rémanent dans les maisons et les écoles pour éloigner les moustiques, et les services de dépistage et de traitement des patients atteints de tuberculose.

En Afrique de l’Est, où les conflits et l’instabilité politique ont contraint de nombreuses familles à s’enfuir et à chercher asile dans les pays voisins, le Fonds mondial et le groupement régional que constitue l’Autorité intergouvernementale pour le développement soutiennent les populations réfugiées dans vingt camps situés dans plusieurs pays, y compris ceux qui ont accueilli d’importantes populations de réfugiés au cours des dernières décennies.

Au Moyen-Orient, là où de nombreux pays restent aux prises avec les répercussions de la guerre, des crises humanitaires et du nombre considérable de personnes déplacées à l’intérieur de leur pays et de réfugiés, une autre subvention régionale fournit des services de lutte contre la tuberculose, le VIH et le paludisme en Syrie, au Yémen et au Liban.

On doit aussi repérer quels investissements sur le long terme peuvent contribuer à la prévention des crises et à la construction d’une riposte aux déplacements internes et aux crises des réfugiés. Une grande partie du travail du Fonds mondial se concentre sur la construction de systèmes plus forts et plus résistants pour la santé, à la fois pour faire reculer le VIH, la tuberculose et le paludisme, et pour prévenir, dépister et contrer de nouvelles flambées épidémiques. Nous avons été témoins des conséquences dévastatrices de la faiblesse des systèmes de santé lors de la flambée de maladie à virus à Ébola qui a frappé l’Afrique de l’Ouest. Lorsque des systèmes de santé forts fonctionnent, les communautés s’épanouissent, les pays connaissent une croissance économique et les populations peuvent jouir des possibilités et de la dignité qu’elles méritent. Rares sont les investissements qui contribuent davantage à l’épanouissement des communautés et à la sécurité sanitaire mondiale que la formation et le maintien des agents de santé communautaires et du personnel infirmier, l’amélioration des centres de santé locaux, ou encore, la mise en place de chaînes d’approvisionnement sûres qui fournissent des diagnostics et des traitements au moment et à l’endroit où ils sont nécessaires.

Dans notre monde fortement connecté, l’apparition d’un foyer de maladie infectieuse est une menace pour chacun d’entre nous, peu importe le lieu. Il nous est rappelé en permanence que les maladies n’ont pas de frontières. Lutter contre le paludisme dans le Mékong, contre la tuberculose résistante aux médicaments en Europe de l’Est ou contre le virus à Ébola en Afrique de l’Ouest est notre responsabilité à tous. Lors de la Journée mondiale des réfugiés, nous devrions nous rappeler que le meilleur moyen d’assurer une bonne santé et de prévenir la propagation des nouvelles maladies est de répondre aux besoins des plus vulnérables d’entre nous, en particulier ceux qui sont contraints de fuir leur foyer et de quitter leur pays.

Marijke Wijnroks, Marijke Wijnroks, Directrice executive par interim.

Highlights

• 443,000 Syrian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) returned home so far in 2017.

• 31,226 Syrian refugees spontaneously returned to Syria so far in 2017.

• Potential for increased returns if peace and stability in Syria increases.

• UNHCR scaling up monitoring, planning and response to returns inside and outside Syria.

• Preserving asylum space and maintaining funding in host countries is crucial, given the ongoing instability in Syria and evident continued need for international protection.

Context & Current Situation

UNHCR is carefully monitoring political and security developments inside Syria, where the Astana and Geneva talks are creating opportunities for peace and stability. IDP returns are expected to increase in 2017. Should these prove to be sustainable, then there could be a significant rise in spontaneous refugee returns to the same areas.

IDPs: There are around 6.3 million IDPs in Syria, displaced over the course of seven years of conflict. Some 443,000 IDPs are reported to have returned to their place of origin this year. In 2017, the Government of Syria expects significant returns of IDPs, in particular once the school year is finished.
Refugees: There are more than 5 million registered Syrian refugees hosted in the region. UNHCR neither promotes nor facilitates refugee returns to Syria, given that conditions do not exist for safe and dignified return.

However, UNHCR does track spontaneous returns through border monitoring, community engagement and continuous registration processes in countries of asylum. UNHCR estimates that 31,226 Syrian refugees have returned from January to May 2017.

FOREWORD

The year 2015 marked the 10th anniversary of the Global Shelter Cluster, the inter-agency coordination mechanism for shelter response. During these ten years, coordination has improved in consistency, shelter responses have grown in scale, and there are more people with experience in shelter programming, but people continue to lose their dwellings and be displaced due to conflict and natural disasters. Global humanitarian shelter needs continue to greatly exceed the capacity and resources to respond.

In recognition of the need for better shelter programming at scale, often with limited resources, Shelter Projects 2015-2016 has been developed as a core product of the Global Shelter Cluster, to help us learn from the past so that we may better respond in the future. It has been developed through a truly collaborative effort of a working group composed of international shelter experts from several humanitarian organizations and institutions.

This is the sixth edition in the series of publications that started in 2008. It contains 31 new shelter case studies and 12 overviews of responses, contributing to a repository of over 200 project examples and response overviews, from programmes of over 50 agencies in around 70 countries overall. As in past editions, the case studies in this book vary greatly in scale, cost, duration and project design. Although they are not statistically representative of all shelter projects, this growing body of knowledge represents a source of learning, includes many years of experience of nearly 400 field practitioners who have contributed, and reflects the highly contextual nature of individual shelter and settlements responses.

The objective of this publication is to share experiences of humanitarian shelter and settlement responses, paying close attention to the strengths, weaknesses and potential lessons that can be extracted from each. We hope that this edition will represent a source of inspiration and reflection, and that it will contribute to having to “reinvent the wheel” a little less.

Previous case studies have been used for several purposes by a diverse audience working in humanitarian shelter and settlements. In reviewing past editions, the primary uses of Shelter Projects were found to be:

• As a reference or set of examples to inform shelter programming or strategy development;

• For advocacy purposes, using precedents in discussions with governments and local stakeholders in affected countries;

• For workshops and training of national staff of several organizations, as well as cluster coordination and technical teams;

• For research purposes, both by academics and students.

Beyond the case studies themselves, the process and inclusion used to develop them are important. Engaging those who implemented projects to draft case studies encourages not only self-reflection and learning, but also helps to ensure that practical and operational challenges are included in the case studies. Engaging agencies and many people in their production and review ensures broader inclusion and investment in their learnings.

By examining the shelter-related needs of populations affected by natural disasters and conflict, compared to the total people reached with shelter and non-food items (NFI) interventions and the funding received by the sector in the past two years, it is clear that there is a gap between the scale of needs and the funding and capacity of the humanitarian community to respond to such needs. Although shelter actors universally recognize that affected people remain the first responders (and should be supported to address their own shelter needs), lack of resources clearly hinders agencies from supporting people to help themselves.

The introduction of this edition of Shelter Projects contains a discussion of the major natural disasters, conflict-induced and complex crises in 2015 and 2016. Although natural disasters continue to affect millions of people worldwide, responses to conflict are assuming a much larger scale, both in terms of displaced individuals and shelter needs for the affected populations, primarily due to the protracted nature of several ongoing crises. These include, but are not limited to, the Syrian crisis, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan, Lake Chad and Ukraine. The Shelter Sector recognizes the need to be better prepared to respond to such crises, which in some cases have significant, regional, impacts.

The website (www.shelterprojects.org) has been updated with the new case studies and overviews in this edition, and provides an easy way of searching through the large repository of examples and opinions collected since the first edition. Whether you are reading Shelter Projects as a reference to work on a particular response, to inform better programming, are studying it for research or are merely looking at the pictures, we hope that you find it as informative as we have done in compiling it. However you read it, reflect on how the projects described within it represent an enormous amount of work by many hundreds of humanitarian workers, often working in challenging situations and with crisis-affected people, who find themselves in unexpected circumstances and often in extreme hardship.

The Global Shelter Cluster
Shelter Projects Working Group,
April 2017.

Humanitarian crises in cities require responses that reflect the urban context, address urban challenges, and provide urbanised solutions. This paper focuses on providing guidance on good practice in cash for work (CfW) programmes. Focusing on Lebanon and the Syrian refugee crisis, the paper provides nine principles for better programming outcomes. The principles include issues such as addressing fear of movement within cities, prevention of child labour, guarding against corruption, the need to insure project participants, and the importance of linking CfW to municipal and ministry strategies. The nine principles are preceded by a discussion on the context of Lebanon, with a focus on the effects of the Syrian crisis on the Lebanese labour market, the key sectors absorbing the Syrian workforce, the government of Lebanon’s priorities within the response, and relevant laws and policies that impact humanitarian programming in Lebanon.

Across the Middle East and North Africa region, water utilities are increasingly struggling to maintain services during protracted conflicts. To become more resilient, they need to tackle long-standing vulnerabilities that let the impacts of conflicts accumulate. However, many have increased their dependency on external help, particularly on humanitarian and development aid. In many cases, international agencies have had to continue playing a substitution role over long periods, while their supporting activities have remained limited. This briefing reports a study of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon that revealed how interventions that move towards structural support as early as possible during emergencies can reinforce water utilities’ resilience, and make service provision more sustainable and equitable

As the crisis in Syria enters its seventh year, Syrian refugees continue to face eviction notices for a variety of reasons. This In Focus report looks at the impact of evictions on refugees and host communities, as well as how humanitarian actors are responding to incidents. It profiles three particularly large-scale evictions that have occurred over the last year in the Bekaa and North Governorates. Other, smaller-scale evictions continue to occur regularly throughout Lebanon.

• At least half of those surveyed regard refugees as ‘innocent victims’
• Yet only 19% in the US, 14% in the UK and 4% in Germany believe more should be admitted
• Up to 41% associate refugees with terrorism
• Young people are much more likely to be more welcoming of additional refugees
• Islamic Relief is providing £40m of annual assistance to 6m refugees/displaced in 26 countries

A new international YouGov poll commissioned for World Refugee Day by Islamic Relief has found that refugees are seen as vulnerable, innocent and deserving of help by a significant proportion of people – and yet most do not want their own countries to play a bigger role in hosting them.

The poll, conducted by YouGov in June 2017 ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, interviewed a representative sample of the population in the UK, the United States, Germany and Lebanon. Respondents were asked about their attitudes to refugees in general, and also how they felt about refugees from Syria and other countries in the Middle East in particular. The results showed a worrying pattern of somewhat less welcoming attitudes to Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees in the three western countries polled. Only in Lebanon did attitudes not discriminate between Middle Eastern refugees and others.

Islamic Relief is an international aid agency in the forefront of assisting refugees, displaced people and returnees. In 2015 it assisted 6 million in 26 countries, delivering £40 million worth of aid. The four countries featured in the poll were chosen to gauge attitudes in the three western countries where Islamic Relief has the most significant presence, and to compare findings with those from Lebanon – a country that has accepted more Syrian refugees per head of its own population than any other.

Around half of those surveyed in the US (50%), UK (52%) and Germany (51%) identified refugees with being ‘innocent victims’ – a figure that rose to a striking 78% in Lebanon where respondents had had most experience of and contact with refugees. But despite this level of empathy, a significant majority of people across all four countries felt that fewer refugees should be allowed into their respective countries. In the UK 54% of those surveyed felt that fewer refugees should be allowed in, while 14% felt that more should be admitted. The US had a 43%/19% split, and Lebanon 56%/17%.

Attitudes appeared most antagonistic in Germany, with a 69%/4% split – even though 62% of respondents were either refugees or had come into direct contact with refugees. In both the UK and US a majority of those surveyed – 51% and 41% respectively – had not had any interaction with refugees.

Lebanon has taken in over two million refugees from the Syrian conflict. The country has no formal refugee camps, so many of the refugees live closely alongside Lebanese nationals within host communities. Fifty-six per cent of those surveyed felt that fewer refugees should be allowed into the country – despite 60% of poll respondents either being refugees or having come into direct contact with refugees. The country is struggling to handle the influx of refugees from Syria and Palestinian territories, which together make up around a quarter of the country’s population.

In the UK, 38% felt that the number of refugees in the country should increase or stay the same, whilst 54% felt that fewer should be allowed in. Among those who voted ‘Remain’ in last year’s EU referendum, the percentages in support of more or fewer refugees were equal at 26%. Among ‘Leave’ voters there was only 4% support for accepting more refugees, compared to 80% calling for fewer.
Across all four countries the youngest age group sampled were those most likely to want their country to admit more refugees – peaking at twice as likely as the average respondent in the UK and Germany.

In Lebanon a high proportion of those surveyed associated words and phrases such as “innocent victims”, “deserving of our help” and “vulnerable” with refugees. Similarly in the UK and US, those three choices were the top ones chosen from a list of ten. Germany went against this trend with 41% of people surveyed associating terrorism with refugees – one of the top three answers from German respondents. Associations of terrorism were high in all four countries – 17% in Lebanon, 28% in the UK and 25% in the US.

The CEO of Islamic Relief Worldwide, Naser Haghamed, says:

“The global refugee crisis has considerably worsened since I left Eritrea as a refugee 40 years ago, and we can’t afford to be a world indifferent to refugees. Millions have been forced to flee unimaginable suffering, and they deserve our support and compassion. The findings of this poll suggest there are high levels of empathy with the plight of refugees as vulnerable people and innocent victims, yet few of those surveyed seem willing for their own countries to play a fuller part in accommodating them.

“There are signs of hope in the more welcoming attitude of younger people and the way in which attitudes can soften when people have more direct experience of refugees. The international community needs to redouble its efforts to support refugees, most of all by finding the political solutions that will be needed to prevent the displacement of another generation of Syrians, Iraqis, Somalis and Afghanis.”

ENDS

Notes for Editors

The fieldwork for this poll took place between 8th-15th June 2017 in the USA, UK Germany and Lebanon. The surveys were carried out online. Full survey results are available on request.

The samples were of the adult population and sizes were as follows: UK – 1729; USA – 1127; Germany – 1458; Lebanon – 252.The word and phrase association question comprised of 10 choice words and phrases, an option to add your own and an option to select none listed.

Islamic Relief Worldwide was founded in 1984 and works with refugees in 26 countries around the world. Our work includes the widescale distribution of essential items such as blankets, mattresses and boots in the winter months, supplying hospitals and health centres with medicine and equipment, and offering psychological counselling for children and adults recovering from trauma.

For more information please contact Mohammad Shakir on Mohammad.shakir@irworldwide.org or +44 7747 022 590

The Lebanon Cash Consortium (LCC) is comprised of six INGOs that provide severely socio-economically vulnerable refugees with $175 worth of Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MCA) per month. The LCC uses a formula called the Proxy Means Tests (PMT), which generates a composite score representing economic welfare, to target households eligible for MCA. In addition, the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) and the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB), which are baskets containing the food and non-food items, with their expenses, that are needed by a Syrian refugee household of five members over a one-month duration, are then used to determine the amount of cash given and to set the eligibility threshold.

The MEB and SMEB were developed by the Cash Working Group in June 2014, but have not been revised since then. As such, an Advisory Committee (AC) of several INGOs led by the LCC was formed to lead on the revision of the two baskets. As a core part of this revision process, 33 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted across eight governorates to gauge the community’s perspective on what items the MEB must include and the costs implied. Furthermore, the current study aimed at exploring the community’s disagreement and/or agreement with the content of the existing baskets. Both of the aforementioned objectives were also investigated on gender and location level.

The current study aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of SEV from the community’s perspective and to assess the targeting practices implemented by cash actors in Lebanon. It demonstrated that, according to the community, HH size had an impact on vulnerability, but that that depended on its composition.

The study also found that beneficiaries do not have a clear understanding of the selection process. Moreover, some of them believed that there were inclusion and exclusion errors embedded in the process. Agencies can make use of the current study to assess HHs who appeal or those who are being qualitatively evaluated for inclusion. Furthermore, some beneficiaries revealed that community members might implement significant coping strategies such as debt and dependence on assistance in order to cover their basic needs. Should agencies plan to mitigate the impacts of these strategies, they will need to investigate these strategies and their implications further.

When choosing targeting methodologies, agencies need to take into consideration the context, the efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness of these tools, and, most importantly, the potential risks implied. However, they should also consider the input of the targeted population. Through this study, the community proved to be a reliable source for defining vulnerability, which they perceived as a dynamic construct where multiple variables can act as either contributors or ameliorators. To date, agencies have not shared the targeting formula with the community nor with field staff, and this ambiguity is causing understandable frustration among the community. This frustration is exacerbated when refugees detect HHs who are of less need of assistance but receive it nonetheless. The trade-off between sharing the formula and allowing for corruption should be revised, as the community has the right to know how and why households are chosen for assistance.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Slightly below average cereal harvest forecast in 2017

• Cereal import requirements in 2017/18 set to remain stable

• Number of registered Syrian refugees in country stabilized

Slightly below average cereal harvest forecast

Harvesting of the 2017 winter barley, which started in mid-May, is about to be completed. Harvesting of the 2017 winter wheat crop started in early June and will continue until mid-August.

Remote sensing data shows that accumulated estimated precipitation so far in 2017 fell short of that of 2016 in all agricultural areas except Liban Sud. In the most agriculturally productive Beqaa Valley growing mostly fruits, vegetables and potatoes, the accumulated precipitation remained below the longterm average (1989-2012).

In 2017, total cereal production is forecast at about 164 000 tonnes, 6 percent below the harvest of the previous year and the five-year average. While domestic cereal production is limited by landscape, agricultural production, particularly fruits and vegetables, it is important in terms of GDP contribution and employment. Out of a total agricultural area of 332 000 hectares, 230 000 are cultivated. Some 113 000 hectares are irrigated. The agricultural sector employs only 6 percent of the total labour force, but it is a primary source of income and employment especially in rural areas where it reaches up to 25 percent of the labour force and 80 percent of the local GDP.

The Syrian crisis disrupted trade routes to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iraq, drastically impacting Lebanese exports of agricultural products to these lucrative markets. Exports of fresh produce (mainly fruits and potatoes), are particularly affected. The closure of the last border crossing between the Syrian Arab Republic and Jordan in March 2015 forced Lebanese exporters to rely on the more expensive seas shipment, resulting in a dramatic increase in transport costs and a significant loss of market shares, particularly in the Gulf and Iraqi markets.

Cereal import requirement remains high in 2017/18

Domestic cereal production covers on average about 17 percent of the consumption needs and the country depends heavily on imports. In the 2017/18 marketing year (July/June), the cereal import requirements, mainly wheat for human consumption and maize for livestock and poultry, are forecast at 1.6 million tonnes, slightly below the previous year, but 20 percent above the average of the last five years. Increased import requirements are in part supported by higher food consumption caused by population increases.

In May 2017, the yearly general inflation was 4.3 percent, while the food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation was 5.3 percent, up from the negative levels recorded since 2015 supported by higher commodity prices. The Consumer Protection Department at the Ministry of Economy and Trade sets the price of local Lebanese flat bread. Other bakery products (baguettes, sandwich bread, etc.) are not subsidized.

Lebanese response plan to Syrian refugee crisis

As of June 2017, over 1 million Syrian refugees were registered with UNHCR in the country, the same figure as in January 2016.

Since the beginning of the civil unrest in the Syrian Arab Republic in March 2011, the influx of refugees into Lebanon steadily increased until January 2015 when the Government introduced the new entry and residency rules for Syrian nationals, in addition to the new rules on work permits in the sectors where Syrian nationals have long been working, such as agriculture and construction.

In November 2016, the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) 2017-2020 estimated that there are 3.3 million people in need of assistance in the country, including 1.5 million vulnerable Lebanese, 1.5 million displaced Syrians (many not registered) and 300 000 Palestinian refugees.

An emergency team from Qatar Red Crescent's (QRCS) mission in Lebanon immediately intervened to help the Syrian refugees affected by a fire at the Al-Raed refugee camp, Mandara, Beqaa.

Started at one tent, the big fire exploded a gas cylinder and a heating oil tank, destroying the camp's 87 tents, which accommodated 102 displaced families.

Other responders included the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Lebanese Red Cross, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Union of Relief and Development Associations (URDA).

Civil Defense personnel extinguished the fire and moved the injured victims to Beqaa hospitals.

QRCS was assigned to provide drinking water through its water purification project, co-implemented by the Kuwaiti Red Crescent Society (KRCS). ICRC distributed food, while miscellaneous humanitarian organizations provided water and temporary shelters. UNHCR will rebuild the camp.

Hussein Hamdan, Programme Manager, QRCS's mission in Lebanon, said, "It is not the first time we take action against emergency incidents like fires and floods. In cooperation with the Lebanese Red Cross, we held risk reduction courses over one year for refugees at the camps with frequent accidents. Also, fire extinguishers were distributed".

He noted that QRCS works closely with active partners in Beqaa to control such emergencies and build safer, well-designed camps.

Berlin, 04 July 2017– In order to address the rising tide of refugees and migrants over the years, UN-Habitat co-launched the Mediterranean City-to-City Migration (MC2CM) project that brings together experts and cities to contribute towards improved migration governance at city level, including migrants’ access to housing, basic services and human rights. The participating cities exchange information about their individual contexts, challenges, opportunities and existing strategies regarding local urban migration and integration policies: they include Amman, Beirut, Tangier, Tunis, Lyon, Madrid, Turin, and Vienna.

As of mid-2015 there were over 15.1 million refugees and migrants worldwide a 45 per cent increase in just 3 and half years with 5 million newly displaced in the first half of the year alone, contributing to the 880 million people that are currently living in non-formal settlement globally. In the greater Mediterranean region internal and international migration movements have a direct and long-lasting impact on the development of urban areas, as these are often the actual destinations of migrant populations. Improving the access to adequate housing in cities is one of the fundamental pathways to further improvements in the dimensions of social and spatial integration of migrant populations. Research shows Carter Tom, the Influence of Immigration on Global City Housing Markets, Urban Policy and Research, 2005, Taylor and Francis that adequate housing forms the third most important factor contributing to the successful integration of international migrants after sufficient language skills and access to employment.

The MC2CM project is currently implementing three action –oriented pilot projects that are being presently carried out in Amman, Beirut and Tunis. All three pilot projects are a state of the art example of how to implement the New Urban Agenda at a local level; where participating cities will benefit from improved technical expertise and concrete instruments to improve housing affordability for migrants, to reduce data and information gaps, and to improve migration governance at a city level; making cities more affordable, safe, and inclusive.

The project which started since 2015, aims to increase the knowledge on urban migration and support mutual learning on specific urban challenges such as social cohesion, intercultural dialogue, employment, housing, human rights, and provision of basic services.

The MC2CM project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The project is implemented by UN-Habitat in partnership with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

This project is an example of how agencies such as UN-Habitat can bridge the humanitarian and development divide. For this reason, UN-Habitat took an active role in the Global Forum on Migration and Development held in Berlin from the 28th June to the 1st July 2017. The forum aimed to advance the understanding and cooperation on the mutually reinforcing relationship between migration and development and to foster practical and action-oriented outcomes. “Towards a Global Social Contract on Migration and Development” will be the main topic of the forum that will involve governments, policy makers, UN and other international agencies, academia and civil society organizations. The event was chaired by Morocco and Germany, which is symbolic to bridging of the Mediterranean region that could further strengthen relations between Africa and Europe when addressing migration issues.

Additionally, the City of Berlin was hosting an annual city-led Mayoral Forum on Human Mobility, Migration and Development, where UN-Habitat had also been invited. This event provided a platform for local leaders to share innovative solutions for governing migration, protecting rights and promoting inclusive urban economic growth. UN-Habitat’s Housing Unit, along with Mayors from around the world shared their experiences in terms of reception of migrants and good practices that can in other cities.

578.0 M required for 2017

123.9 M contributions received, representing 21% of requirements

454.1 M funding gap for the Iraq Situation Response

All figures are displayed in USD

A young girl died and several people were injured Tuesday when a massive fire broke out at a refugee camp in Lebanon.

It was the second such deadly fire to hit refugee encampments in eastern Lebanon this week amid soaring temperatures. On Sunday, a fire ripped through a settlement near the town of Qab Elias, also killing one person.

That fire destroyed all but three of the camp's 193 tents.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that in Tuesday's fire, 22 of the 185 tents in the informal settlement burned down.

It was unclear what caused the fire.

Lebanon is host is to more than 1 million Syrian refugees, though the government says the number is closer to 1.5 million, most of whom live in informal tented settlements in the Bekaa Valley.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag and Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Philippe Lazzarini held today a dialogue with the Beirut-based media on the UN’s role and priorities in Lebanon. Focus was on the UN’s “whole of Lebanon approach” that takes into consideration support for Lebanon’s peace and security, stability and stabilization.

Special Coordinator Kaag underlined the focus on prevention in the UN’s work for Lebanon. “Prevention is not only conflict prevention. It is more than that. It is really looking at combating poverty, prevention of violent extremism, working with the security apparatus, strengthening in particular respect and compliance with all human rights standards and norms, conventions,” she said. She welcomed the progress made in the reactivation and functioning of state institutions following the election of President Michel Aoun and the formation of the government.

“Prevention also means that we continue to seek opportunities to make progress on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701,” Ms. Kaag said. She added that she will be briefing the UN Security Council on 20 July on Lebanon as a whole as well as the implementation of resolution 1701. She said one of the messages will be the need for both parties to avoid rhetoric or any step that could lead to miscalculation in a volatile regional environment.

She referred to efforts through the International Support Group for Lebanon, including particularly to support the Lebanese Armed Forces. Regarding the events of last Friday in Arsal and developments since then, Ms. Kaag said, “We are in contact with the Lebanese authorities to ascertain the conditions of arrest but also the demise of four detainees so far. We do not have exact data. But it is also important to remember that the UN condemns all acts of terror or attempts at acts of terrorism.” There is also always a need to make a clear distinction between militants and civilians and the importance of continued protection and assistance and respect for the human rights of all, she said. “We extend our continued appreciation and gratitude not only to the Lebanese Armed Forces and Security apparatus but also to the Lebanese people in hosting the Palestine refugees as well as the Syrian refugees. We need also to be mindful of the fact that the refugees are civilians who are being shielded, thanks to Lebanese generosity from conflict just across the border,” Ms. Kaag added.

On Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone, the Special Coordinator said the UN is playing a good offices role. “We see the oil and gas file as a potential confidence building measure between the two sides, we see in it shared economic interests. We also consider it of course an element of future risk reduction, if and when conditions are met and the two parties can move forward.” But Ms. Kaag reiterated that the UN does not pronounce itself on the status of territories, on the delimitation of boundaries, or on issues related to entitlement to natural resources, unless it is mandated to do so by a competent United Nations organ or is otherwise requested by all the parties concerned.

Ms. Kaag regretted the absence of a women’s quota in the new electoral law but hoped that all parties would ensure a meaningful participation of women candidates in the elections.

In turn, Deputy Special Coordinator/Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator Lazzarini focused on the UN’s support to Lebanon’s stability and socio-economic stabilization, including from the impact of the Syrian crisis and over 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “When we met in Brussels (in April), we said collectively what we have done has not been sufficient to reverse the tide. …Hence, we need to have a new approach to complement our collective effort in the country,” he said. “The only way to try to reverse the tide under these circumstances is to create growth, to create jobs, for the economy and if we are creating jobs this will benefit equally both the Syrians and the Lebanese here. That’s when we started to talk and we are engaged with the Government about modalities of what more needs to be done in terms of investment, the Prime Minister also talked about this Capital Investment Plan, investing in infrastructure and also trying to position as a country for possible future reconstruction in the region, Lazzarini added.

Regarding the funding for Lebanon, Lazzarini said Lebanon received in 2016 about $1.6 billion of international assistance, primarily humanitarian grants but also some development grants. In Brussels, the international community committed the same for 2017, he said. But he noted the slow disbursement of grants and commitments made and stressed the need for predictability.

Regarding the issue of refugee return to Syria, SCL Kaag and Mr. Lazzarini reiterated the UN position that any return of refugees to the country of origin be voluntary and be done in conditions of safety and dignity. “This is a central principle of international law. Whether or not it will be possible to have in Syria in the near future areas where refugees will be willing to go back, it’s something impossible to answer right now. We seem to be far from having it at that level, because the situation remains very fragile and the conflict continues in a very dramatic way.” The UN Secretary-General has also been clear that it is important to have sustained support for countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey as well as the refugees themselves. Ms. Kaag stressed that there is no talk of the permanent settlement of refugees in Lebanon. “It is always temporary,” she stressed.

FOREWORD

Today’s global challenges continue to grow. We currently have five ongoing emergencies ranked at the highest level of operational complexity and urgency in Iraq, Nigeria, South Sudan, in the Syria region and Yemen. While the majority of these are conflict emergencies, the frequency of natural disasters is also on the rise – with Cyclone Winston hitting Fiji in February 2016 and Hurricane Matthew striking Haiti last October. The need to strengthen preparedness and resilience is becoming more and more critical.

On behalf of the entire humanitarian community, participants at the launch of the UN’s One Humanity: Shared Responsibility report at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in 2016 called for a commitment to empower affected people as the driving force of humanitarian response. The need for a unified approach in crises is needed now more than ever before. This ties in directly with the mandate of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC): to ensure that all those responding to humanitarian emergencies - including affected communities - have access to vital communications services.

2016 was the year that showed great progress towards this goal!

Over a year into the ETC2020 strategy, it is clear we are headed in the right direction. With the ETC activated for preparedness activities for the very first time in the Pacific region in December 2016, our work on improved and decentralized response readiness, as well as increased communications resilience, is now becoming a standard of operation.

In the spirit of One Humanity, the ETC also launched its first ever Services for Communities (S4C) project – providing Internet connectivity directly to Syrian refugees in Domiz camp in Iraq in cooperation with UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The project aimed to connect Syrian refugees to the world, enabling them to contact their families scattered by war, look for job opportunities and also use the Internet as a learning tool.

We paved the way for innovative cooperation to underpin better humanitarian response through strengthened collaboration - bringing both the Crisis and Humanitarian Connectivity Charters closer to operationalisation - and new partnerships - Action Contre la Faim becoming the twenty-fourth cluster member.

Our continued strong commitment to the cluster members, investing in new partnerships and together learning from our experiences will help us achieve our ETC2020 strategy in the coming years, ensuring that those affected by disasters are at the centre of our response.

Enrica Porcari,
Chief Information Officer of WFP & Chair of the ETC

The Security Council would consider questions spanning four continents this month, and its work would include action on peacekeeping and political mandates, as well as holding two open debates and a briefing on Syria, on the heels of peace talks expected to resume tomorrow, Liu Jieyi (China), its President for July, said at a Headquarters press conference today.

Releasing the Council’s monthly work programme, he said the 30 meetings on the schedule would be dealing with issues in the Middle East, Africa, Latin American and the Caribbean and Europe. More specifically, the Council would focus on Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Colombia, Haiti and Cyprus.

On 10 July, he continued, the Council was scheduled to establish its second special political mission for Colombia to monitor implementation of the final peace agreement. On 17 and 24 July, it would extend the mandates of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), respectively.

On Syria, the President said the Council would focus mainly on three dimensions: the political process, chemical weapons, and humanitarian conditions. July was an especially crucial month for the political process, with new peace talks scheduled to begin tomorrow in Kazakhstan. The Council expected to hear Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, brief members on the latest developments in that country

Regarding the situation in Yemen, he expressed hope that the Council would help bring the parties to the negotiating table in order to resolve outstanding issues through political means and abandon the notion of a military solution. A briefing on Yemen was scheduled for 12 July, he added.

Two open debates were scheduled for the month, he said. The first, on 18 July, would focus on “enhancing African capacities in the areas of peace and security”, a continuation of the Bolivian June presidency’s focus on cooperation between the Security Council and the African Union. Egypt and Ethiopia, who would hold the August and September presidencies, respectively, were also likely to hold debates on Africa-related issues, he said. “We always seek African solutions to African problems.”

The second open debate, scheduled for 25 July, would focus on the Palestinian question, he said, expressing concern over the direction in which that situation was heading. The debate should generate positive momentum to move both sides to negotiation, which in turn would lead to a lasting two-State solution, he added.

Asked about challenges relating to cooperation, the President emphasized every Member State’s duty to support multilateralism, noting that the entire international community shared “a common future and a shared destiny”. That notion must override all differences, he added.

Concerning the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he said the focus was on three elements: denuclearization, ensuring security, and resuming negotiations. If tensions continued to rise at the current rate, the consequences could be disastrous, he warned. Denuclearization, security and a peace plan could potentially address the concerns of all parties on the Peninsula, he said, underlining that applying sanctions was not the only way to deal with the matter. “We have always been opposed to unilateral sanctions,” he stressed.

When asked whether the Council would support Haiti’s recovery from the cholera outbreak, the President said the Council was focused on phasing out the peacekeeping mission there. Funding the recovery was not up to the Council, but rather the General Assembly, where ways to provide support for the Haitian people were under discussion.

Asked whether the July presidency would push support for the Syria political talks in Astana and Geneva, he said the 15-member Council would continue to promote political dialogue and try to encourage a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned process. It was important that the Council encourage whatever positive developments that may emerge from the Astana and Geneva processes, he added.

For the Council’s full programme of work, please see www.un.org/en/sc/programme/.

For information media. Not an official record.

Introduction

Following the 2015 peak in arrivals of refugees and other migrants to Europe, the number of overall asylum applications doubled. While the number of positive decisions gradually increased in line with the rise in applications, the increase in the number of negative decisions was significant.
Although the total number of people returned did increase substantially in 2016, a large number of rejected asylum seekers remain in Europe.

Less attention is paid to what happens to asylum seekers once rejected, despite the fact that these individuals face similar vulnerabilities to those still claiming asylum. The objective of this briefing paper is to draw attention to the protection challenges that rejected asylum seekers are confronted with. It will also provide an indication of the number of rejected asylum seekers who remain in Europe by looking at Eurostat data, whilst also highlighting the limitations and discrepancies within this data.
The paper is structured into three sections. The first section will outline the rate of rejection and return. The specific data analysed with regards to return concerns all those individuals who are registered as having left Europe via one form or another: this may be by means of forced return, assisted return, or departing spontaneously without assistance. The objective here is not to analyse the way in which return happens, but rather to gain an understanding of the discrepancies between rejected asylum seekers who have left and those that remain. This section will also explain the delays in implementing voluntary and forced return. The second section analyses the different situations faced by three broad categories of rejected asylum seekers: those who await a final return decision; those who cannot be returned; and those who likely remain in Europe but who have disappeared and are unaccounted for.1 It will draw attention to the human rights deprivations and humanitarian needs that rejected asylum seekers are confronted with. The paper concludes by providing policy recommendations and ideas for further research.

INTRODUCTION

Ongoing conflict in Iraq resulted in the continued flight of Iraqis into both Syria and Turkey in May, with the number of Iraqis received at Syria’s Al-Hol camp increasing by more than 1,800, while more than 1,000 Iraqis were apprehended attempting to cross the border into Turkey. Meanwhile the number of Syrian refugees in Iraq increased by 0.7% in May compared to April figures. Internal displacement in Iraq, where more than 3.02 million are displaced, led UNHCR to open its twelfth Iraqi camp in May. Internal displacement similarly continued in Syria, with 166,000 people newly displaced in the northern governorates, and more than 14,000 in the southern governorates in May alone. The number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries continued to grow in May, reaching 5,057,499 by the end of May. More than 2,110 people travelled from Turkey to Greece by sea in May. While Syrians and Iraqis comprised the largest percentage of arrivals, diversity continues to increase compared to 2016. People from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Algeria have made up 6.3% and 6.1% of arrivals in 2017, respectively. Turkish citizens are also continuing to seek asylum in Europe following the attempted coup in July 2016, though reports indicate that Turks attempting to cross the Evros river into Greece are being ‘pushed back’. As the number of people and shelters along Syria’s southern border with Jordan reportedly grew in May, conditions continued to deteriorate. Reports of Syrians being deported from Jordan also continued in May, alongside an increase of more than 3,000 persons of concern in the country. As of 1 May some 8,000 to 12,000 Syrians in Lebanon had been forcibly evicted from informal settlements in the Bekaa Valley, without plans for relocation. Roughly 4,300 had resettled elsewhere in the Bekaa Valley as of mid-May, though thousands more are unaccounted for or struggling to relocate.
The following sections of this report describe monthly developments related to mixed migration by country, including reported arrivals, departures, internal displacement relevant to cross-border movement, and discussion of relevant policy changes.

1 Summary

Lebanon opened its borders to approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees. The vast humanitarian needs of the refugees and the host population exceed the capacity of the Lebanese authorities and international support to date has not been sufficient. Humedica provides primary medical healthcare services in the Bekaa Valley, where approximately one third of some 500,000 refugees are living in informal tented settlements (ITSs).
The project consists of mobile medical units (MMUs) that treat acute diseases for one to two days a month in around 35 ITSs. As well as this, there is a midwife and a special case officer who looks after individual patients for further examination and treatment. Humedica also supports the health education measures and aid for chronically ill patients provided by partner organisation Medical Teams International (MIT) as well as a healthcare centre by providing medication and financing examinations.
The project meets the humanitarian requirements and the priorities of the main players in the region and is therefore seen as being relevant. This also applies for the deployment of mobile teams whose work it has not yet been possible to replace through healthcare centres.
The MMUs are to continue to be deployed where the need is greatest, also treating Lebanese patients.
The project is well on the way to reaching its objective, results, and indicators. The medical quality is high and acknowledged by other players. Because of this, the project is deemed to be effective. Humedica should continue the cooperation with MTI, ensuring that their respective efforts supplement and bolster one another.
The Humedica team works very systematically and is clearly organised and transparent in its activities.
The design of the project entails a certain amount of work. The team works systematically and towards a specific purpose. Owing to the high long-term workload, there is a risk of personnel dropping out and needing to be replaced. As the evaluation did not identify any significantly more efficient alternatives, the project is deemed to be efficient. Humedica aims to reduce the strain of the project team’s work and to make it more varied.
Humedica is an official partner in the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan and is active in coordination committees. The productive collaborative efforts are praised by the Ministry of Health, the UNHCR and partner organisations. Because of this, the coherence and coordination of the project can be seen as being positive. Humedica should increase the accountability towards patients and their participation, thereby improving appropriateness.
Increased support for healthcare centres and care for especially vulnerable Lebanese villages or population groups would improve the connectedness of the project in the medium term.