Yaounde, Cameroon –The international community commemorated World Refugee Day, on June 20th, 2023. On that occasion, UNFPA supported the Government of Cameroon and other stakeholders, such as the UNHCR, to improve the understanding of refugee issues and to advocate for addressing particular concerns towards women and other vulnerable migrants. It also provided responses to the urgent needs in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and protection against Gender-based Violence (GBV) among refugees such that no one is left behind.

In partnership with CAMNAFAW, UNFPA organized a community-integrated service delivery campaign, through a Mobile Clinic, to provide Reproductive Health, Family Planning, Menstrual Hygiene and GBV protection services in Bertoua, Mandjou, Gado-Badzere and Borgop in the East and Adamawa Regions. About 100 pregnant refugee women awaiting delivery benefited from dignity kits at the Integrated Health Center and Women and Girls Safe Space of Gado-Badzere and Borgop Refugee Camp. Dignity Kits help vulnerable women to preserve their dignity & reduce vulnerability.

These activities were followed by UNFPA’s presence, alongside, UNHCR & the rest of the UN System at the exhibition fair organised at the City Council in Yaounde. This was to showcase the organization’s work in ensuring all women & girls, including refugees, displaced persons & other vulnerable groups, obtain access to Sexual and Reproductive health & GBV related services. Advocacy and sensitization continued through classical and social media in Yaounde and other localities in the country.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Cameroon has hosted 475,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of whom 73%, i.e. 356,250 are Central African refugees settled in the border areas of the East, Adamawa and North regions; Nigerian refugees in the Far North and about 24,000 of different nationalities in urban centers in 2022. Nearly half of these migrants are women and most of them are of childbearing age and therefore have specific needs. They are also a primary target to gender-based violence (GBV), from crisis centers in their countries of origin to the precarious shelters that they very often occupy in host communities.

World Refugee Day is celebrated on the 20th of June each year to honor the strength and courage of those who have been forced to flee their country of origin to escape conflict or persecution. Established in 2001 by Resolution 55/76 of the United Nations General Assembly, it helps to strengthen empathy and understanding of the plight of refugees and to recognize their resilience in rebuilding their lives.