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South Sudan UNHCR Operational Update (16-31 January 2019)

Countries
South Sudan
+ 6 more
Sources
UNHCR
Publication date

1,100 Refugee entrepreneurs received business coaching in Maban.

131,975 SSP Earned by 110 refugee women entrepreneurs in Maban.

84 Refugee students registered in Makpandu secondary school for 2019 academic year

KEY FIGURES

INSIDE SOUTH SUDAN

292,428 Refugees inside South Sudan as of 31 January 2019.

1.87 million IDPs in South Sudan including 192,853 in UNMISS Protection of Civilians sites as of 31 January 2019.

US $750.6 million Funding requested by UNHCR for the South Sudan Situation in 2019.

PROTECTION

Achievements and Impact

Central Equatoria

■ UNHCR continues to work closely with the Commission of Refugee Affairs (CRA) in addressing the reported arbitrary arrest and/or confiscation of identity documents of asylum-seekers and refugees in urban Juba in the context of the ‘Screening of Foreigners’ exercise that began in early January 2019. CRA was able to promptly intervene ensuring the release of one asylum-seeker, while the confiscated identity documents of 13 asylum seekers and refugees were returned to their owners.

■ The Population, Registration, and Identity Management Eco System (PRIMES) deployment team has been in Juba since 27 January 2019 to deploy proGres v4 across the refugee operation in South Sudan. ProGres v4 includes a wide range of new tools which helps strengthen the protection of persons of concern by providing reliable and trusted information.

Upper Nile

■ On 25 January 2019, in Doro refugee camp, UNHCR in collaboration with partner Danish Refugee Council (DRC) facilitated a meeting on access to justice and rule of law. The judge, public prosecutor, police commissioner, Director of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), all members of the customary courts in Doro from both host community and refugees, representatives of the camp based police in Doro and the Community Night Watch groups attended and discussed issues pertaining to justice and rule of law.

■ Nine cases comprised of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), theft, accident, child protection (CP), physical assault, registration needs were reported during the month of January. Referrals and support were provided to all cases that were received and a follow-up was done by the respective sectorial partners.

Unity

■ During the reporting period, 794 (431 women, 363 men) newly arrived Sudanese refugees from South Kordofan were registered, which is a decrease of 48% when compared to the same period last year.

■ During the reporting period, 1,181 refugees were relocated to either Jamjang refugee camps (394 to Ajuong Thok, 832 to Pamir). Among them 942 were new arrivals while 239 were Yida residual refugees. Last year in the same period, 564 refugees were relocated with 29 being Yida residual caseload.

■ UNHCR and partner International Rescue Committee (IRC) provided case management services to 12 SGBV cases in Ajuong Thok and Pamir refugee camps and Yida refugee settlement. A total of 29 SGBV cases have been supported by IRC in 2019 (13 in Ajuong Thok, 10 in Pamir, and six in Yida).

Identified Needs and Remaining Gaps

■ On 24 January 2019, UNHCR undertook a protection mission to the Shatta border area (25.5 km east of Bunj town) between South Sudan and Sudan to monitor potential spontaneous South Sudanese refugee returns from Ethiopia. Also to establish contacts with the local authorities for effective and regular monitoring and coordination of potential spontaneous South Sudanese refugee returns. The security situation in the Shatta border area is relatively calm though many armed SPLA-N soldiers were observed moving towards Yabus (Blue Nile State in Sudan). There are spontaneous refugee returns from Ethiopia’s refugee camps of Sherkole, Bombasi, Tongo, Kubri Hamza, Guri, and Sori. On average 5-10 persons on foot and 10-12 persons in private light vehicles have been observed coming across the border per week with their refugee cards issued by the Ethiopian Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) and UNHCR in January 2019. These movements are also dependant on the General Food Distribution (GFD) in the refugee camps in Ethiopia. These returns comprise different ethnicities such as Mabanese, Nuer, Dinka, and Shilluk.