Judith Rae
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sudan
UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) has a huge operation in Sudan covering a wide variety of contexts and human rights problems. In fact, the operation is divided into three areas – Darfur, South Sudan and East/Rest of Sudan – that are each so large on their own that they generally function separately, with their own fundraising campaigns, program planning, personnel and reporting. In the South, UNHCR assists with post-conflict reconstruction and particularly with the thousands of refugees and internally displaced people now slowly returning to the area. As everyone knows well, conflict continues unabated in the western Darfur region, where UNHCR is involved with camps for the displaced both in that area and in neighbouring Chad.
My work focused on the portion of UNHCR’s Sudan operations that garners the least international attention, though it is also the most “traditional” in terms of UNHCR’s mandate; this is the situation of refugees in Sudan, most of whom have fled conflict in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Over 100,000 refugees remain in desperately poor refugee camps in eastern Sudan, while thousands more live in Khartoum and other cities. Many of these refugees came during the 1980s, some even earlier, with more arriving during the 1999-2000 border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Thousands of people per year continue to stream steadily across Sudan’s eastern border today, escaping the routine human rights abuses that have become entrenched in the Horn of Africa.
UNHCR asked me to look at how they handle “separated or unaccompanied children” among the refugees in Khartoum and in the East. These are children and youth, under 18, without their parents or other normal caregiver. Children may become separated from their families in the course of displacement, or may flee on their own to escape particular abuses directed against them such as recruitment into armed forces. Even in a major city like Khartoum, free from the war and chaos that have occurred in other regions, it can be a major challenge to respond adequately to children in this situation. There is no well-established government child welfare system, and the traditional child protection mechanisms that refugee communities would have used back home are based on village, extended family and tribal group connections that have been seriously disrupted during exile and tend to no longer be functioning.
While it was easy for me to identify the international laws and guidelines that indicate how agencies and governments are supposed to proceed with separated/unaccompanied children, it was very difficult to figure out with UNHCR staff and others – NGOs, government, refugees – how we can implement improvements on the ground. I think we produced some positive first steps, though challenges remain that were beyond my control. For instance, understaffing at UNHCR means there are not enough people to meet with each child and follow through on each case. In addition, many new refugees ‘escape’ the camps quickly and go underground, in an attempt to seek a better life and avoid the harsh restrictions placed on refugees by the Sudanese government.
All in all it has been challenging, though rewarding. The opportunity to focus on a specific project allowed me to really dig in and get into things, which can be daunting in a big UN organization like UNHCR. It has also been interesting to make comparisons and connections with my experiences working with newcomers in Toronto who face barrierswhen trying to access social services, as well as with Aboriginal Canadians who are trying to obtain equality within mainstream child welfare services and to develop self-government within their own child protection systems.
Working at UNHCR has given me exposure to some of the obstacles faced by humanitarian workers trying to protect human rights in very challenging conditions. It can be frustrating work; at times slow and painstaking, at other times fast-paced and hectic. I would like to thank U of T, the IHRP, and UNHCR for offering me the opportunity to join this effort in a small way.