Posted on 13 December, 2011
This week, world leaders will gather in Geneva to commemorate 60 years of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Yet it is an anniversary that the world’s 15.1 million refugees have little reason to celebrate. Today, states are increasingly shutting their borders and restricting the assistance they give to refugees and people seeking asylum.
Photo: Kenya © Lynsey Addario/VII
The registered number of refugees gathering at the tiny village of Doro in South Sudan, as of December 7, was 21,500 and increasing daily. Anywhere from 500 to 1,000 newcomers are registering every day. The walk from their homelands in Blue Nile State, Sudan (north), took anywhere from one week to one month. Although the work to set up a properly organized refugee camp is under way, no family groups arriving at the gathering point at Doro have yet been allocated a plot. So the reality for most is still to find a small tree or bush under which to spread the belongings they were able to carry.
The refugees say they have fled war in Blue Nile State in neighbouring Sudan. A community elder who recently arrived told Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) staff that he believes his entire community of 5,000 has fled to Doro. “We came, all of us,” he said. “No one remains behind.” Read more
Photo: South Sudan © Jean-Marc Jacobs