News
REPORT: Living in Limbo, The Case of Young Sudanese Refugees in Cairo
Jan 5, 2005 (CAIRO) — Attached a field report conducted by Gamal Adam with Sudanese refugees in Cairo in 2003-2004 for the Canada-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
PROJECT CONCLUSION
Young Sudanese men and women in Cairo are suffering because most of them do not have regular jobs, and many of them are not recognized by UNHCR as refugees. Even those who have refugee status have no material support from the international organization if they are not elderly people or have children. As a result of this situation they resort to resource pooling to survive. Family and friendship networks are very important for the survival of refugees in Egypt and even for their resettlement abroad (to Australia in particular). Despite the efforts which the refugees make to survive, the scarcity of resources available to them has led to family breakups, to alcoholism, to addition to drugs and to the formation of gangs especially among the people who are aged between 16 and 20 years. However, of 105 respondents who have been individually interviewed there is only one person who is addicted to drugs meaning that the other 104 are still resilient.
One policy recommendation flowing from my research is that the only way of reducing their problems and utilizing their energy and talents is to settle them in one or two camps outside Cairo since there is little hope for integration of Sudanese refugees in Egypt into Egyptian workforce. A total of 83 respondents out of 105 suggested this option. If refugees have temporarily settled in one or two particular areas outside Cairo that will encourage the organizations that are willing to help refugees to step in and will facilitate the task of these that are already helping. The idea of gathering refugees in particular areas will provide a chance for basket weaving, table cloth and bed-sheet decorating activities which Sudanese female refugees practice to grow into lucrative exporting businesses. Many individuals will again get job opportunities locally (e.g. teaching, medical treatment, carpentry, etc.).
Also gathering refugees in temporary settlements in outskirts of Cairo would have changed the system of UNHCR from refugees visiting the office individually to the employees of the office visiting refugees as groups in their settlement. That would have helped the representatives of UNHCR and other organizations that are concerned with refugee issues to get more precise picture of Sudanese refugees in Cairo in stead of basing their decision on the written cases that the refugees submit individually. Gathering of refugees in a camp is particularly important because in Egypt until the summer of 2004 children of foreign fathers and Egyptian mothers were considered foreigners even if they were born and grew up in Egypt let along talking about refugees’ integration.
My research has uncovered that in Egypt it is not only young male refugees among the few lucky Sudanese that are recognized by UNHCR that have been excluded from the support of international organization (UNHCR) but everybody who is not an elderly person and has no children is allowed to struggle alone in a country where foreigners are not allowed to work whether they are refugees or otherwise. Therefore, young female refugees are also excluded from the little money which the UNHCR pays to the few recognized refugees who have children or who are elderly people.
The proposal suggested for significance that the research will contribute to the studies about young male refugees in urban Africa and the Middle East where the most obvious available contribution has only been Marc Sommers’s (2001) research on young male Burundian refugees in urban Tanzania where he has studied the concept of fear among them. During the interviews I realized refugee children need special research because their parents and relatives mentioned that their children were often locked up in the apartments for long hours because the parents were working. The parents locked them up because they cared for them and they did not want them to be injured or exposed to any danger while they are out playing, going to or coming from school. The schools are based in the compounds of the churches that are located in downtown whereas most of the refugees live in slums that are located in the ends of the city. However, in most cases parents who are not recognized by UNHCR their children are not allowed to be enrolled in church schools. Many respondents also complained that the education offered in some churches is very poor. Moreover, most parents often do not have the money to pay for their children’s transportation and the needs for survival at the same time.
Specifically, I recommend that future research on Sudanese refugees in Cairo be focused on the children who spend most of the weekdays alone in the apartments and on the teenagers about who the respondents argued to be addicted to drugs and to be members of gangs that threaten people in the streets and rob them.
I believe that my fieldwork about young Sudanese male refugees in Cairo will also make a significant contribution to the IDRC policy of development because it describes and analyzes the dilemma of urban refugees in Middle Eastern and North African countries where authorities do not provide any access to refugees for integration.
(ST)
Living_in_Limbo.doc
Young Sudanese men and women in Cairo are suffering because most of them do not have regular jobs, and many of them are not recognized by UNHCR as refugees. Even those who have refugee status have no material support from the international organization if they are not elderly people or have children. As a result of this situation they resort to resource pooling to survive. Family and friendship networks are very important for the survival of refugees in Egypt and even for their resettlement abroad (to Australia in particular). Despite the efforts which the refugees make to survive, the scarcity of resources available to them has led to family breakups, to alcoholism, to addition to drugs and to the formation of gangs especially among the people who are aged between 16 and 20 years. However, of 105 respondents who have been individually interviewed there is only one person who is addicted to drugs meaning that the other 104 are still resilient.
One policy recommendation flowing from my research is that the only way of reducing their problems and utilizing their energy and talents is to settle them in one or two camps outside Cairo since there is little hope for integration of Sudanese refugees in Egypt into Egyptian workforce. A total of 83 respondents out of 105 suggested this option. If refugees have temporarily settled in one or two particular areas outside Cairo that will encourage the organizations that are willing to help refugees to step in and will facilitate the task of these that are already helping. The idea of gathering refugees in particular areas will provide a chance for basket weaving, table cloth and bed-sheet decorating activities which Sudanese female refugees practice to grow into lucrative exporting businesses. Many individuals will again get job opportunities locally (e.g. teaching, medical treatment, carpentry, etc.).
Also gathering refugees in temporary settlements in outskirts of Cairo would have changed the system of UNHCR from refugees visiting the office individually to the employees of the office visiting refugees as groups in their settlement. That would have helped the representatives of UNHCR and other organizations that are concerned with refugee issues to get more precise picture of Sudanese refugees in Cairo in stead of basing their decision on the written cases that the refugees submit individually. Gathering of refugees in a camp is particularly important because in Egypt until the summer of 2004 children of foreign fathers and Egyptian mothers were considered foreigners even if they were born and grew up in Egypt let along talking about refugees’ integration.
My research has uncovered that in Egypt it is not only young male refugees among the few lucky Sudanese that are recognized by UNHCR that have been excluded from the support of international organization (UNHCR) but everybody who is not an elderly person and has no children is allowed to struggle alone in a country where foreigners are not allowed to work whether they are refugees or otherwise. Therefore, young female refugees are also excluded from the little money which the UNHCR pays to the few recognized refugees who have children or who are elderly people.
The proposal suggested for significance that the research will contribute to the studies about young male refugees in urban Africa and the Middle East where the most obvious available contribution has only been Marc Sommers’s (2001) research on young male Burundian refugees in urban Tanzania where he has studied the concept of fear among them. During the interviews I realized refugee children need special research because their parents and relatives mentioned that their children were often locked up in the apartments for long hours because the parents were working. The parents locked them up because they cared for them and they did not want them to be injured or exposed to any danger while they are out playing, going to or coming from school. The schools are based in the compounds of the churches that are located in downtown whereas most of the refugees live in slums that are located in the ends of the city. However, in most cases parents who are not recognized by UNHCR their children are not allowed to be enrolled in church schools. Many respondents also complained that the education offered in some churches is very poor. Moreover, most parents often do not have the money to pay for their children’s transportation and the needs for survival at the same time.
Specifically, I recommend that future research on Sudanese refugees in Cairo be focused on the children who spend most of the weekdays alone in the apartments and on the teenagers about who the respondents argued to be addicted to drugs and to be members of gangs that threaten people in the streets and rob them.
I believe that my fieldwork about young Sudanese male refugees in Cairo will also make a significant contribution to the IDRC policy of development because it describes and analyzes the dilemma of urban refugees in Middle Eastern and North African countries where authorities do not provide any access to refugees for integration.
(ST)
Living_in_Limbo.doc