• The governments of Chad and Nigeria, together with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have signed a tripartite agreement to establish a structured framework for the eventual voluntary repatriation of Nigerian refugees currently hosted in Chad.

• A Tripartite Commission will be established, with responsibility for developing the standard operating procedures for implementing the agreement, including through facilitating ongoing dialogue, joint assessments, and coordination between Chad, Nigeria, and UNHCR. 

• The signing of this agreement is part of a broader commitment by the governments of Chad and Nigeria to strengthen protection and solutions for forcibly displaced populations. 

• This includes ongoing cooperation with neighbouring countries to enhance regional coordination on voluntary repatriation and reintegration efforts.

• Chad recently signed a Tripartite Agreement with the Central African Republic and UNHCR for the voluntary repatriation of Central African refugees hosted in Chad demonstrating its engagement towards sustainable solutions for refugees. 

• Nigeria has signed a tripartite agreement with Cameroon a few years ago with the same purpose.

Crisis in Nigeria

• In Nigeria, Boko Haram and other non-state armed groups as well as clashes between herders and farmers have pushed millions out of their homes, especially in parts of North-East Nigeria and the country’s Middle Belt, but increasingly also in North-West Nigeria.

• Over 3 per cent of the world’s 120 million forcibly displaced people are Nigerians.

• More than 3.6 million are forcibly displaced within their own country by factors ranging from conflict instigated by non-state armed groups to communal clashes exacerbated by scarce resources. 

• The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has been gradually increasing and many continue to rely heavily on humanitarian assistance.

• Chad hosts more than one million forcibly displaced people, including 580,000 refugees from conflicts in neighbouring Sudan, the Central African Republic and Cameroon. More than 125,000 refugees and asylum seekers from the Central African Republic have fled to Chad escaping different waves of violence since 2005.

Who is a refugee?

• Refugees are people forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as a result of who they are, what they believe in or say, or because of armed conflict, violence or serious public disorder.

• Many have been forced to flee with little more than the clothes on their back, leaving behind their homes, possessions, jobs and loved ones. 

• They may have suffered human rights violations, been injured in their flight, or seen family members or friends killed or attacked.

• Today, there are 43.4 million refugees globally. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is mandated to protect over 30 million refugees and 5.8 million other people in need of international protection. 

• A further 6 million Palestine refugees are supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was set up in 1949 to care for displaced Palestinians.

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

• The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. 

• UNHCR emerged in the wake of World War II to help millions of Europeans displaced by the conflict. 

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly with a three-year mandate to complete its work and then disband. 

• On July 28, 1951, the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees — the legal foundation of helping refugees and the basic statute guiding UNHCR’s work — was adopted.

• In 1954, UNHCR won the Nobel Peace Prize for its groundbreaking work in Europe.

• In 1981, it again won the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to repatriate refugees in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the 1970s.

• The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol are the key legal documents that form the basis of UNHCR’s work.

• They define the term ‘refugee’ and outline their rights and the international standards of treatment for their protection.

• UNHCR now has 18,879 personnel working in 137 countries. It has helped more than 50 million refugees to successfully restart their lives, and continue to protect and provide support for the 89.3 million people currently displaced.

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