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Refugees and IDPs

Refugees and IDPs

Armed conflicts and other tense situations often cause large population movements, as individuals flee persecution or violence. A refugee is a civilian who no longer is receiving protection from his or her own government, and crosses a national border to escape the conflict or persecution. Refugees are protected by international law. According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." Since...
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Burkina Faso: A Constant Flow of Refugees

09 May 2012
Malians refugees in Burkina Faso
Malians refugees in Burkina Faso
56,000 Malians have taken refuge in Burkina Faso after fleeing fighting that began in Mali in mid-January. They are living in makeshift shelters in camps where the sun beats down relentlessly and where aid is severely lacking.
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A Month in Focus - May 2012

14 May 2012
Month in Focus 2012: Burkina Faso, Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic
MSF Month in Focus 2012
Four stories in this month's news update: Burkina Faso - A constant flow of refugees Chad – Malnutrition rates soar South Sudan – Aid needed before the rains starts CAR – A new lease of life
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South Sudan facing multiple emergencies

27 April 2012
  MSF supporting health structures near the border with Sudan and assisting displaced people   Tensions and hostilities continue unabated between South Sudan and its northern neighbour Sudan, and MSF is scaling up its emergency response by treating people injured in the latest violence, giving material and staff support to local clinics and hospitals, and providing relief to people displaced by the fighting.   MSF currently provides life-saving surgery in Aweil and Agok for patients wounded in the recent violence. The organisation also reinforced its surgical response capacity in case of a general degradation of the situation.   MSF has also donated medicines and medical supplies to local hospitals in Abiemnom and...
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Mauritania: Nearly one thousand Malian refugees pour into the Mbera camp every day

19 April 2012
Mauritania, refugee camp
Doctor treating malnourished child, Mbera camp.
Since late January, some 57,000 Malians have entered the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania. Refugee numbers are steadily increasing, from 200 arrivals on April 5 to 1,500 a day. In response to this massive influx, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is bolstering its activities and emergency medical aid in this desert area, where access to medical care is extremely limited.   Doctor treating malnourished child, Mbera camp. Photo: Francois Talla/MSF   Fighting between the Malian army, Tuareg mouvement and other armed groups is forcing thousands of people to flee to Fassala, Mauritania, located 3 kilometers from the Malian border. “The presence of armed...
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South Sudan: "We have so many cases of diarrhoea"

14 March 2012
MSF's clinic in Jamam refugee camp, South Sudan
MSF's clinic in Jamam refugee camp, South Sudan
MSF has collected numerous testimonies from refugees entering the Doro and Jamam camps. They talk of bombing and violent fighting in the Blue Nile State, their nightmarish journeys into South Sudan and the difficulties they currently face. A testimony of of Dr Kirrily de Polnay, MSF doctor in Jamam camp       MSF's clinic in Jamam refugee camp. Photo: Robin Meldrum   I’m constantly in the MSF hospital and so kind of isolated from the refugee camp. So it means that most of the patients you see are very polite, they’ve done that thing that people everywhere around the world do – make themselves look nice for the doctor – so they look nice...
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South Sudan: "Many of us fled, many are on the way"

14 March 2012
Jamam Camp, South Sudan
Jamam Camp, South Sudan
MSF has collected numerous testimonies from refugees entering the Doro and Jamam camps. They talk of bombing and violent fighting in the Blue Nile State, their nightmarish journeys into South Sudan and the difficulties they currently face. A testimony of Jahra Farjahlla, whose 10-year-old son Yussuf was transferred by MSF ambulance from the border-crossing at El Fuj to Jamam.   Washing clothes in Jamam camp, prior to taking them to the market to sell in order to have enough money to buy food. Photos: Robin Meldrum   Yussuf is in a lot of pain. When we came here we walked very far, walking walking. And Yussuf has a bad fever. We got to El Fuj (the border crossing point) two days ago....
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South Sudan: "Since we arrived, we are still under a tree"

14 March 2012
Jaman refugee camp, South Sudan
Jaman refugee camp, South Sudan
MSF has collected numerous testimonies from refugees entering the Doro and Jamam camps. They talk of bombing and violent fighting in the Blue Nile State, their nightmarish journeys into South Sudan and the difficulties they currently face. A Testimony of Amani, who brought her daughter Harrap to the field hospital in Jamam for treatment   Jaman refugee camp, South Sudan. Photo: Robin Meldrum   The rainy season is coming. And the place we are living, it looks like it will be in the water. We need to find another place. I know this soil, and when the rains come this will be a swamp, this will be filled with water… this is a bad place.   My daughter has diarrhoea with blood. This...
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South Sudan: "The rainy season will bring problems"

14 March 2012
Younassa Lifa Lenya, a refugee from Blue Nile, South Sudan
South Sudan: Younassa Lifa Lenya, a refugee from Blue Nile, now working as a nurse in MSF's field hospital in Doro
MSF has collected numerous testimonies from refugees entering the Doro and Jamam camps. They talk of bombing and violent fighting in the Blue Nile State, their nightmarish journeys into South Sudan and the difficulties they currently face.   Younassa Lifa Lenya, a refugee from Blue Nile, now working as a nurse in MSF's field hospital in Doro. Photo: Robin Meldrum     A testimony by Younassa Lifa Lenya, a refugee now employed as a nurse in the MSF field hospital in Doro.   I am a nurse in the clinic. I come from Blue Nile and I am now living in Doro camp. I have been here now for about four months.   One of our big challenges will be the rainy season. I...
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South Sudan: Time running out for 80,000 Sudanese refugees

14 March 2012
MSF's clinic in Jamam refugee camp, South Sudan
MSF's clinic in Jamam refugee camp, South Sudan
Juba –  Tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees in South Sudan urgently need humanitarian aid to be scaled up in a short window of opportunity that is rapidly closing before the rainy season starts, warns the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Since last November, 80,000 refugees from Sudan’s Blue Nile State have sought shelter in two camps located in a remote and barren region of South Sudan where humanitarians confront massive logistic challenges to access and assist refugees. Refugees in Jamam refugee camp. Photo: Robin Meldrum     New arrivals tell of ongoing bombing and fighting in Sudan’s Blue...
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by Dr. Radut.