Refugees

imagine having to fear for your life and the lives

of those around you because of your gender or ethnicity

or political standing.

Imagine making that final decision to leave behind all that

you know, and then have to travel for days or

weeks to safety, arriving physically and emotionally exhausted, only to

be turned away by soldiers at the border.

This is the reality of many refugees and displaced people

across the world Refugee as defined by the 1951 Convention

of the status of refugees is someone who was forced

to flee their country due to fear of persecution, war

or violence.

41.3 million people are internally displaced around the world and

10 million people are stateless or at risk of being

stateless. Currently, there are many South Sudanese people trying to

escape the increasing violence and rapidly deteriorating social and economic

conditions of their country.

Majority of those fleeing are women and Children.

South Sudan is amongst the poorest and least developed countries

in the world, ranked 169 out of 188 in the

human development index country is home to over 13 million

people spread among 60 major ethnic groups, is one of

the most diverse countries in Africa.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced during fighting across

various states.

While many remain internally displaced, more than two, many of

people have fled to neighbouring countries.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

The final outcome of the 2005 peace deal negotiated the

end of the 22 years of war in 2013, President

Salva Kiir accused his vice president Riek Machar of planning

against him and sacked the entire cabinet.

They were from two different ethnic groups.

The president was a part of the Dinka tribe, the

largest ethnic group, and the vice president is a member

of the Nuer tribe.

The second largest fights erupted in the streets of juba,

leading to one of the biggest humanitarian crises in modern

history. Women and girls were adopted, raped, enslaved, and sometimes

forced into marriages.

Sexual and gender-based violence has affected over half of the

populations. Women and girls aged 15-24 to add to the

struggles of violence and harassment.

On 20 February 2017, the un if had officially declared

a famine in South Sudan.

The 100,000 people facing starvation and up to one million

more people on the brink of starvation.

Also, when the rainy season comes, their needs are compounded

by flooding, food shortages and disease.

This is on top of the economic struggles of the

country, with the majority of the population living on less

than a dollar 25 per day.

Most of the refugees live in camps in neighbouring countries

in Ethiopia.

Over half of the 450,000 refugees have spread among five

camps in Gambella, in kenya, over 14,000 have settled into

a camp in Kakuma.

The largest camp is found in Uganda.

The biddy biddy camp, housing over 270,000 refugees report suggests

that refugees fleeing South Sudan, maybe those who are better

off are able to move around international borders.

One more one will group stay behind or remain internally

displaced. The sheer number of refugees causes the camps to

often be overcrowded and lacking in resources.

In these camps, they often arrive exhausted having walked for

days without adequate food and water.

The immediate needs of the arriving families include food shelter,

the trains, clean water, utensils, bedding and other non food

items. Camps are often severely underfunded and lack in areas

of education, health care and food supplies.

The Universal Declaration of human rights sets out the basic

rights and freedoms which are applicable to all people her.

But this is not a treaty and cannot be forced

upon a country.

This called for the 1951 convention relating to the status

of refugees to protect these vulnerable people.

The document outlines who is a refugee, their legal protection,

their right to assistance and asylum, notably there is the

principle of non refinement, meaning that a country cannot turn

away asylum seekers as a refugee.

They still have the right to education, freedom to move

throughout the world to have a nationality and expect a

decent standard of living, which includes the basic needs of

shelter, nutritional food and clean water.

Host countries are trying their best to ensure that the

needs and rights of the displaced people are being met.

According to Leo Dobbs, a UNhcR spokesperson, these countries have

commendably kept their doors open to new arrivals, beating the

rights of a refugee to be granted asylum.

However, this does not mean that the host countries are

not struggling to accommodate the influx of people arriving at

their borders.

Let's turn our attention to the largest South Sudanese refugees

camp, which is called biddy biddy in Uganda.

Although the camp has helped many people escaped the violence

of South Sudan.

The living conditions provided a less than adequate Food distributions

are insufficient and sometimes delayed, causing some refugees resorting to

selling their non food items to pay to feed their

families. Water supplies neither adequate nor sustainable.

The camp relies on water trucking to provide over 20%

of the water, and boreholes are regularly out of service.

The shortage of water has led to lola train coverage,

which in turn has contributed to poor sanitation and an

increase in infection levels.

Large families are often not provided with adequate housing as

there is not enough water to make the bricks required

to build the houses overcrowding and disease and major problems

who have a biddy biddy does provide the Children with

education, even the girls and the adults provided with post

trauma counselling and support to build a new life and

receive employment.

Uganda does meet the refugees rights to education and to

work. Uganda as a host country is trying to provide

sustainable resources to the refugees have they're not prepared for

the sheer number of refugees and have failed in providing

the right to a decent standard of living.

Non government organizations have also been hard at work in

providing for the refugees.

The United Nations Children's Fund in partnership with the ZO'or

refugee care have aimed at providing refugees with a decent

standard of living by providing refugees in the MPB camp

with access to latrines and sanitation effectively lowering disease and

infection rates.

70% of the villages they have worked and now have

the trains and hand washing facilities, the biddy Biden camps.

They have constructed enough the trains to go from 1

to 150 people to one, the train to 20 people,

which is a dramatic improvement.

So has implemented health and work clubs as well as

supporting schools for the Children.

This provides the refugees have the right to education as

the adults are learning skills for employment.

Both Children and adults are learning about hygiene and sanitation.

The situation for many South Sudanese refugees at the moment

seems a bit gloomy.

However, with the reason end to the conflict has been

decided that refugees may start going home if they wish.

According to the un.

Since January this year, approximately 25,000 refugees have returned.

While this number may seem small, it is evidence of

progress and hope for the future.

Refugees

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