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UNICEF Ethiopia Humanitarian Situation Report #1 – Reporting Period: January 2019

Countries
Ethiopia
+ 4 more
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date

Highlights

  • On 15 January 2019, Ethiopia’s parliament passed a new law allowing refugees to move out of camps for regular education and work opportunities and improve access for refugees to documentation and financial services. This law is part of the “Jobs Compact,” a US$ 500 million programme, aiming to create 100,000 jobs (30 per cent will be allocated to refugees).

  • The mobile health and nutrition teams in Somali and Afar regions made a total of 39,661 new medical consultations in December 2018; 42.8 per cent were for under five children and 32.3 per cent for women.

  • Programme interventions in Oromia region have been limited by continued insecurity and instability which consequently restricted access to IDPs and IDP hosting woredas.

Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs

UNICEF requires US$124.1 million to meet the humanitarian needs of women and children in Ethiopia in 2019. The cost per sector incorporates the needs on the ground, agreed targets, and UNICEF and partner capacities to deliver. The costs reflect an increase in the targeted number of beneficiaries for nutrition and WASH compared with the 2018 Humanitarian Action for Children appeal mostly due to the rising IDP numbers (2.95 million) and the suboptimal rainfall affecting recovery of the population. The cost of reaching new refugee arrivals is also included. The limited number of operational partners, insecurity and inaccessibility due to poor infrastructure continue to hamper humanitarian assistance.

On 15 January, the House of Peoples' Representatives passed a law that allows refugees in Ethiopia to enjoy more rights. The new legislation is part of the “Jobs Compact,” a US$ 500 million programme to create 100,000 jobs - 30 per cent of which will be allocated to refugees. The law allows refugees to move out of the camps, attend regular schools, and travel and work across the country. They can also formally register births, marriages and deaths, and will have access to financial services such as bank accounts. Ethiopia currently hosts over 900,000 refugees mainly from neighbouring South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, as well as smaller numbers of refugees from Yemen and Syria, making it host to Africa's second largest refugee population.