Reports on the mission of a delegation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to East and West Africa in late 2002. The USCCB’s Committee on Migration observed first hand the efforts under way to achieve long-lasting solutions to the plight of refugees. Protracted wars and ethnic conflicts in Africa have produced more than 3 million refugees, many languishing in refugee camps. This report provides an overview of the committee’s visits to refugee camps in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Guinea, hosting a combined population of more than 250,000 million refugees from Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Among the key findings were that the camps were deteriorating due to reduced funding for basic needs such as food, water, and sanitation, and that capacity limits in programs aimed at vulnerable and special groups resulted in delayed or no service delivery. Recommendations, presented to officials of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), included recognition of resettlement as durable solution for tens of thousands of refugees in East and West Africa, and dissemination by UNHCR of uniform standards and protocols for conducting “best interests” assessments on behalf of separated refugee minors.
