Niamey, Niger (April 20, 2015) ‐ While the international community is preparing to "celebrate" the World Refugee Day, Save the Children is calling for a coordinated response to the growing needs of thousands of displaced persons in the Diffa region, southeastern of Niger.
The continuing violence in recent months in Nigeria have caused major waves of displacement, which increased the number of refugees and displaced persons. In the Diffa region, the number of displaced persons is estimated at nearly 150,000 people and that puts a tremendous pressure on the host communities
“I left Damassak six months ago”, says Aichatou, a Nigerian refugee. “I was kidnapped and held captive in my hometown, for 18 days. They let me and some others go – others they kept with them, and I don’t know why it happened this way. They didn’t say why. I suffered there.”
These displaced people are Nigerian refugees but also Nigeriens who were living in Nigeria or Niger’s internally displaced people. Whatever their origin is, Nigeriens or Nigerians, these families have often been forced to leave everything behind. They have lost their jobs, access to education and health care. Families were separated, thousands of children are unaccompanied and youth feel powerless over their uncertain futures.
“For now, I will stay here to see what the future holds”, says Fanna, another Nigerian refugee. “But one day, I would like to go back to my village in Nigeria. I have a house, a family, and I don’t know what’s happened to them.”
The displaced reside in a region already fraught with pre‐existing vulnerability, and where host families face chronic challenges to their lives and livelihoods. Half of the population in Diffa lives on less than $1.25 per day and lacks access to safe drinking water, and the region has one of the highest acute malnutrition rates and lowest school attendance rates in Africa.
In light of the lean period during which food resources and family incomes are declining, host communities and displaced persons become even more vulnerable. In this context, the massive arrival of refugees, including new waves of displacement from the Lake Chad islands, leads these families and an already fragile region into an extremely worrying crisis. Admissions to nutrition centres have doubled, or even tripled, since the first major waves of displacement began in Diffa two years ago, a measure of the burden borne by this region.
"The international community must increase its assistance to meet the immediate needs of people, while integrating the structural issues, including the extreme vulnerability faced by these populations" says Akébou Sawadogo, Director of Save the Children in Niger.
With this growing crisis and the situation continuing to deteriorate, the international community needs to support the government of Niger and humanitarian actors in their response to this growing crisis, in particular with food, cash and agricultural assistance in light of the lean season. It must also and above all take into account the needs of children who make up half of the displaced in Diffa.
"In Niger, in 2015, World Refugee Day, is special. It is an opportunity to remind the international community of its responsibility towards the displaced populations in Diffa, who are waiting for actions for an increased assistance to meet their needs and help thousands of children seriously affected by this crisis”, adds Natasha Kofoworola Quist, Save the Children Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
Media Contacts:
Akebou Sawadogo (Niamey)
Directeur Save the Children Niger (+227) 90 17 31 69 Akebou.Sawadog@savethechildren.org
Samba Dialimpa Badji (Dakar)
WCA Regional Media and Communications Manager +221 77 538 71 75 Samba.Badji@savethechildren.org
