Protracted displacement in the Horn of Africa: internal report

Abstract

This case study provides an overview on protracted displacement in the Horn of Africa and aims to uncover evidence on transnational and translocal connectivity and mobility of displaced populations in the region. The case study contributes to the elaboration of the working paper “Protracted Displacement in the postWWII period” in the framework of the three-year project “Translocal Figurations of Displacement” (TRAFIG), which is financed by the European Union within the Horizon 2020 work programme (Societal Challenge 5 ‘Europe in a changing world’; call MIGRATION-08-2018 ‘Addressing the Challenge of Forced Displacement’). The objective of this case study is to review academic and literature issued by relevant actors in the field of protracted displacement such as international organisations, NGOs or governments to answer the questions whether and how transnational and translocal connectivity and mobility contributes to selfreliance and resilience of displaced populations, both internally and across borders, in the region. In addition, the study looks at policy responses to protracted displacement in the Horn of Africa. For the purpose of this study, the Horn of Africa includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. These countries are all members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional economic community formed to promote regional cooperation and integration to add value to its Member States’ efforts in achieving peace, security and prosperity. When drawing on figures of protracted displacement, the study follows UNHCR’s definition of a protracted refugee situation “as one in which 25,000 or more refugees from the same nationality have been in exile for five consecutive years or more in a given asylum country” (UNHCR, 2018c, p. 22). When drawing on specific examples from the literature, a wider definition of protracted displacement is applied, following TRAFIG’s definition of protracted displacement situations “as situations in which the capability of displaced persons to rebuild their lives after displacement and the opportunities available to do so are severely limited for prolonged periods of time, in other words, in situations where (more durable) solutions are not available or progress towards achieving these is stalled” (Etzold, et al., 2019, p. 22). This case study is structured as follows: section two provides an overview on protracted displacement in the region. It describes the four main protracted displacement situations in the region1 : The Eritrean refugee crisis, the displacement of Somalis internally and across borders and the South Sudanese and Sudanese protracted and emergency refugee and IDP situation. The third section identifies main patterns and selected examples in six dimensions of transnationalism and translocality, namely the emergence and existence of transnational/translocal communities and diasporic links, mobility patterns such as secondary movements, return or resettlement, family dynamics of displaced populations, emerging transnational economic spaces, social remittances, i.e. the circulation of ideas, behaviours, identities and social capital, and transnational political spheres. The fourth section summarises policy responses to protracted displacement in the Horn of Africa and major policy shifts while studying two cases, namely the emergence of encampment in Kenya and the envisaged phasing out of camps and facilitating refugee’s access to work in Ethiopia.