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As the world celebrates this year’s Refugees Day, a humanitarian agency has recommended that refugees must be allowed to participate fully in shaping policies that affect their lives.

The agency noted that their participation in processes like the Global Refugee Forum must be substantive and non-tokenistic in order to achieve better results for them.

US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is pushing for the phasing out of legal restrictions and reduction of informal barriers to employment that hinder displaced persons from getting jobs in the host countries as well.

According to USCRI these efforts, combined with policies protecting freedom of movement, would boost refugee access to the labour market, for the benefit of both refugees and host communities.

Additionally, the refugee advocacy agency has called for flexible and robust funding for local actors including Refugee-led organizations (RLOs) and community-based organizations noting that they are the groups who understand the needs of the displaced populations “Multilateral, bilateral, and philanthropic funding in humanitarian responses ought to be more geared toward groups like RLOs to effectively build their capacity in a systemic way,” USCRI said.

USCRI has been in forefront to oppose confining refugees in the rural settlements, often in remote areas noting that the practice denies them freedom and opportunities.

Terming the practice as warehousing of refugees, the agency says the move also restricts mobility, enforces idleness, and increases dependency among the displaced people.

The agency notes that governments and the United Nations aiming to providing durable solutions to displacement can focus on improving conditions in countries of origin for refugee to return safely and voluntarily.

Additionally, they can be integrated into local communities in he host countries or can be resettled in other countries.

However, the agency states that this has not been the case as refugees and other forcibly displaced persons often end up languishing in camps for years and decades instead.

“Years and decades of refugees’ lives pass by in limbo. All the while, refugees in protracted crises face barriers to meaningfully enjoy rights they are entitled to receive under the 1951 Refugee Convention—such as freedom of work, freedom of movement, access to education, and more,” USCRI explained citing Daadab camps in Kenya that have been hosting Somali refugees since 1991  

During his recent visit to Kenya, USCRI Chief Executive Officer Negash Eskinder noted that confining refugees in camps for a long time is a bad strategy which is not even supported by existing human rights conventions.

 “We don’t believe in camps. We are here to work with the Kenyan government and other NGOs to find a permanent solution for refugees. No human being should be confined to a camp for life, even for a day,” Eskinder said.

 He added camps are meant to be a temporary transition for refugees but not a permanent solution.