Mali: UNHCR position on returns to Mali - Update I

1. This position supersedes UNHCR’s May 2012 Position on Returns to Mali.

Background and recent developments

1. Following violence, hostilities, human rights violations and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the northern part of Mali since mid-January 2012, large numbers of Malians fled abroad or were displaced internally. As of the end of October 2013, UNHCR and partners continued to address the needs of 169,291 Malian refugees in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger. The estimated number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Mali is 283,726 according to the Malian Commission of Population and Movements