By the Deputy Interior Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia
Geneva, 6 OCTOBER 2015
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the High Commissioner, and also give our heartfelt appreciation to the Executive Committee generally and particularly UNHCR Somalia for their grate work for Somali refugees and IDPs.
Mr. Chairperson, I would like to begin by saying that Somalia aligns itself with the statement of the African Group.
Over 2 million Somalis remain in what is one of the world’s most protracted displacement situations, which has lasted 25 years and affected three generations. Approximately 1.1 million Somalis are displaced within Somalia and nearly one million are refugees in the subregion: 420,711 in Kenya, 249,350 in Ethiopia, 32,447 in Uganda and 12,044 in Djibouti; in addition to about 240,000 registered as refugees who are in Yemen.
Having said that, I would like to add that tangible improvement of conditions were made in Somalia in recent years which would lead to the voluntary returns of Somali refugees. Since last Excom meeting of October 2015, Somalia experienced both achievements and challenges.
In Kenya alone, from 2011 to August 2015, a significant number of the 97,785 Somali refugees are no longer active in UNHCR’s population database and that may have spontaneously returned to Somalia. Furthermore, over 4,000 refugees have been supported to voluntarily and spontaneously return to safer parts of Somalia. For your confirmation, Mr.Chairman, while we thank the Kenya people and government for hosting Somali refugees for so many years and also for their troops who are participating in the fighting against Al-Shabab and liberating many areas in Somalia; while we also express our deep sympathy for the tragedies Kenya experiences because of terrorist activities; we would like to state that there is no link between the presence of Somali refugees in Kenya and the terrorist activities. However, as we all know, Somalia even experienced terrorist activities more than
Kenya and we believe whatever may be a terrorist or criminal activities the rule of law must always applied.
