More than 4000 refugees from Africa and Asia have stranded in Tunisian refugee camps. They are not welcome here – but they have nowhere else to go. The Danish Refugee Council is working in the camps to ensure the safety of the refugees while they remain there.
Edomwonvi T. Great, a 30 year old Nigerian, is fleeing for the second time. He fled when unrest in his hometown forced him to seek the opportunity of a normal life in Libya. Now he is fleeing again, this time because the Libyan police arrested him and other clandestine workers and deported them.
“Why am I always the victim?” he asks in tears, while explaining how he lost contact with his wife and son when he was arrested and deported. Now he lives in Shosha Refugee Camp.
More than 530.000 people have fled into Tunisia since the civil war broke out in Libya. Among these more than 400.000 migrant workers, who were quickly aided to their home countries. Left in Tunisia are now over 60.000 Libyan refugees, mainly housed by host families, and approximately 4000 asylum seekers primarily from Africa, now referred to makeshift refugee camps.
“The refugees can neither return home or go back to Libya – they are stranded where they are, and not especially welcome,” says Lone Bildsøe Lassen, the North Africa and Middle East Programme Coordinator for the Danish Refugee Council.
Four weeks ago, the Shosha Refugee Camp was attacked and burned to the ground by a mob of angry Tunisians. Now, Edomwonvi and the other refugees have returned to the camps, where safety is lacking and the opportunities to occupy oneself is minimum. This is why Danish Refugee Council has also introduced activities to the refugees, who besides basic protection and knowledge about their rights, also need a platform to activate themselves.
“It is primarily young men from countries in sub Sahara, who are in the camps at the moment. They are caught in an unsustainable situation and this tends to create frictions and unrest in the camps. That is why it is paramount that we are present right now”, says Lone Bildsøe Lassen.
The Danish Refugee Council is also focusing on the Libyan refugees who are mainly staying at host families. The Tunisian people have welcomed the Libyan refugees, but Southern Tunisia where the refugees are located, is a very poor area. Many families are hosting two to three Libyan families, which will typically mean that a single household have grown from seven to 33 persons. This is why Danish Refugee Council, among other things, is distributing relief packages, but the need is great – and still growing.
