16 June 2023
Over 800 kilometers from Addis Ababa, a rugged road cuts through thickets of shrubs while the hot sun above and continually blowing dusty winds welcome you to Bokh District, an extremely remote area in Ethiopia's Somali region that is now home to around 100,000 refugees who fled the fighting in neighboring Somalia earlier this year. Over the last few months, UN agencies and their humanitarian partners have been providing vital assistance to the refugees, majority of whom are women, children, and people with various special needs.
While painting a picture of the refugee situation in the country, the UNHCR Country Representative for Ethiopia, Mr. Mamadou Dian Balde stated, "Ethiopia currently hosts over one million refugees, mostly from South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea who are fleeing conflict, violations of human rights, and events affecting public order in their own countries." "UNDSS plays a critical role in enabling our refugee operations because the majority of UNHCR protection and solution activities are in the periphery where security issues are prevalent."
Registration of refugees is one of the primary procedures in any refugee setup that allows UNHCR to plan appropriately for service provision during an emergency. UNDSS assists humanitarian organizations from the start of any humanitarian crisis by conducting advance security assessments and thorough analysis that enables situational forecasting. According to Mathias Ntawiha, a UNHCR water, sanitation, and hygiene officer and the officer-in-charge of UNHCR in Bokh, "as a humanitarian worker, I cannot discharge my duties optimally if I do not feel safe, either psychologically or physically." Thus, the availability of UNDSS to support refugee operations provides a foundation for delivering services to the people we serve."
A strong collaboration between UNDSS and UNHCR not only allows for the delivery of aid to refugees, but also provides reassurance to humanitarian workers such as Ellen Twizere, a field officer with UNHCR, who mentioned, "After a long day in a refugee site, seeing someone who has walked a long journey finally having shelter, comfortable, and children playing around puts a very big smile on my face." Additionally, "Having a personal sense of safety and peace of mind in the field, knowing that UN security colleagues have done their homework, allowing me to work in a difficult-to-reach area, and finally returning to my family after months-long humanitarian missions gives me a deep sense of satisfaction."
As UNHCR and its partners continue to collaborate with host communities and governments to meet the growing needs of refugees, UNDSS remains committed to providing much-needed security assistance. Participation in humanitarian country team coordination meetings and the security cell that brings together Security Officers and security focal points from UN agencies has strengthened the security partnerships as indicated by Hadi Malkawi, the UNHCR field security officer in Bokh. “We rely on UNDSS’ guidance to do security assessments before we can start any kind of operation.” “As UNHCR staff provide services to the refugees, they also need a secure operating environment, communication, and transportation to and from the refugee sites, and this can only be achieved collaboratively” added Malkawi.
