drc.dk: Andreas Kamm welcomes The Danish Minister for Development to the Dadaab refugee camp

Andreas Kamm welcomes The Danish Minister for Development to the Dadaab refugee camp

28.10.10

Category: Africa, Horn of Africa, Relief work

Andreas Kamm Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council, gave the following speech at the DRC compound in Dadaab, welcoming The Danish Minister for Development Søren Pind to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya on the 26th of October 2010.

Dear Minister, Excellencies, friends and colleagues.

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Dadaab and especially to DRC’s compound. DRC has been working in Dadaab since 2005, initially by supporting the work of CARE Kenya and the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, and since 2009 with direct implementation of activities ourselves - very deliberately targeting both refugees and the host communities.

None of our work here would be possible without the support and partnership of our donors and the Government of Kenya, particularly the Department for Refugee Affairs, I would like to use this opportunity to thank especially Danida, UNHCR and the Kenyan Government for your support.

The complexity and sheer length of the humanitarian crisis in Somalia – with no ending in sight so far - calls for comprehensive, collaborative and long-term approaches to address the many challenges, such as:

Seeking durable solutions for millions of conflict-affected people, where no “traditional” durable solutions are possible
Providing assistance and recovery inside Somalia, where the political situation is increasingly fractionalized and where the humanitarian space is shrinking
Relieving the burden of neighboring countries and areas hosting the displaced, and avoid the spreading of xenophobia

Governments, international organizations and NGOs must work jointly to agree on broad strategies that understand the context, does away with box-thinking and builds on the comparative capacities of all the actors, including the communities themselves. In this light DRC welcomes the Danish Government’s recently publicized policy for interventions in fragile states, which acknowledges the need for regional and comprehensive thinking and planning. We look forward to continue working in close collaboration with the Ministry in the realization of this policy.

The regional impact of the Somalia crisis is probably at its most visible here in Dadaab. We recognize the big responsibility and burden carried by the Kenyan Government in hosting one of the largest refugee populations in the world. It is thought provoking that the number of refugees in Dadaab is much higher than the number of asylum seekers in Europe in 2009.

Security concerns – and fear of the conflict being exported
Environmental degradation - particulary due to firewood collection and the negative impact of changing grassing patterns
Political challenges of balancing concerns of the host population with international protection obligations

With respect to Dadaab we highly appreciate the Government’s efforts to allocate additional land to extending the Ifo camp – this is a very important measure to ensure dignified living conditions and sufficient protection for the refugees. Unfortunately the situation in Somalia does not seem to be improving, and we continue to see new refugees arriving every day. In this light we therefore also appeal to the Government of Kenya to continue to seek solutions for further necessary extensions of the camp – and we pledge to provide whatever support we can as DRC in these efforts.

So, DRC is committed to continue working in Dadaab to contribute to the protection and dignified living conditions of the refugees and the host community alike. Inspired by the recently completed socio-economic and environmental impact study funded by the Danish and Norwegian Governments we would like to highlight the need for working on a comprehensive planning framework for refugee and host community interventions, and underline our interest to engage in this process.

With these words I once again welcome you to Dadaab, and thank you, minister, for the interest you have shown in seeing the reality on the ground.

Thank you.

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