Updates on achievements
Since 8 December 2014, beginning with a pilot return activity that later expanded, UNHCR has assisted Somali refugees returning to Somalia with return and reintegration assistance. Somali refugee returnees who opt for voluntary repatriation under the UNHCR programme receive an enhanced return package to support their reintegration and to ensure the sustainability of returns. In the chapters below are achievements made during the month of February.
Protection and return management
First returns from Libya
On 17 February, UNHCR together with the National Commission for Refugees and IDPs (NCRI), the Office of the Special Envoy (OSE) for Children and Migrants’ Rights, and IOM welcomed 11 Somali returnees from Libya. This group of returnees will receive the UNHCR enhanced return package.
Cross-border coordination meeting
On 2 and 3 February in Djibouti, the ongoing Assisted Spontaneous Return (ASR) from Yemen to Somalia was reviewed in a cross-border coordination meeting involving UNHCR Somalia and Yemen, IOM Somalia and Yemen, representatives of the Federal Government of Somalia, the Federal Member State of Puntland and the Somali Ambassador to Yemen. Since September 2017, when the Assisted Spontaneous Return (ASR) programme for Somali refugees in Yemen was launched, 1,215 Somali refugees have repatriated.
Return management
During February, Somali refugees were repatriated by road (from Kenya), by air (from Kenya and Libya) and by sea (from Yemen). On 20 February, the repatriation by road from Kenya resumed. This was the first return by road after suspension for 10 months, as movements by road from Kenya to return areas in Somalia were disrupted by rainfall and later by the security situation.
Country of Origin Information
On 14 February, UNHCR shared Country of Origin Information (COI) updates for the month of February with UNHCR operations in Kenya, Yemen, Djibouti and partners. The COI contains up-to-date information on political developments, the humanitarian situation, displacements and evictions, food security and access to basic services. Information on the current situation supports Somali refugees to make informed and voluntary decisions about their possible return.
Between 8 December 2014 and 28 February 2018, a total of 79,941 Somali refugees have repatriated, including 78,088 from Kenya, 1,215 from Yemen and 638 from other countries of asylum. Since 2014, UNHCR also recorded 34,804 Somalis who have returned from Yemen spontaneously, outside the voluntary return programme.