HIGHLIGHTS
UNHCR opened a field unit in Menaka, Gao region.
More than 300 households, or more than 950 returned refugees, were registered in December, coming back from Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
Members of the Malian parliament gathered on 16 December to adopt the texts on the accession to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Mali becomes the 10th member state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to accede to the 1954 convention and the ninth ECOWAS member state to accede to the 1961 convention.
The 2015 cash-based intervention (CBI) pilot project successfully came to an end, benefiting a total of 4,307 returned refugees (2,479 in Gao, 336 in Mopti and 1,492 in Timbuktu). Returnees received $110 per adult and $50 per child. The beneficiaries expressed their deep appreciation for this initiative, which contributed to enhancing self-reliance among returnees. The project will continue in 2016.
Operational Context
Mali is slowly pulling out of the intense political and military crisis that started in 2012. Insecurity across the country remains high due to aggravated terrorist and criminal threats with lawlessness characterizing large swaths of territory. Violations of basic human rights are still reported, prices of basic necessities are high and local populations are in dire need of access to public services, documentation, water and food security. To date, more than 140,000 Malian refugees in neighboring countries and nearly 62,000 displaced persons in Mali are waiting to see whether conditions in their areas of origin improve to allow them to return in safety and dignity.
Malian armed forces have launched anti-terrorism and anti-criminality operations in the regions of Mopti and Ségou. However, unsecured roads make the use of escorts and armored vehicles mandatory in the riskiest areas, including where UNHCR has field offices (entire Gao and Timbuktu regions, and parts of Mopti region); access to persons of concern is therefore increasingly difficult. Although terrorism and crime constrain freedom of movement, there is no doubt that the agreement between parties in the North has created new hopes for stability and conducive conditions for returns in some areas. Community dialogue is bearing fruit in several conflict-prone areas. Nonetheless, insecurity and absence of state control increases displaced persons’ vulnerability to endemic criminality. In December, two unidentified armed men stole a UNHCR vehicle in use by its partner, Mercy Corps, in Timbuktu. Regular criminal acts continue in the regions of Mopti, Timbuktu and Gao, where UNHCR operates, even in urban areas. During the holiday season, the threat of terrorist attacks was high throughout the country and many public events had to be canceled. In the wake of the November 2015 attack on the Radisson Hotel in Bamako, the Malian government extended the state of emergency until 31 March 2016.