Refugees, IDPs Crisis: ECOWAS speaker calls for collaborative efforts

By Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja

This increasing number of refugees and Internally Displaced Person (IDPs) In West Africa has moved the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament,
Mustapha Cisse Lo, to call for more collaborative efforts to tackle the
scourge and give hope to the victims. The Speaker made this call while
making his remarks during the five-day delocalized meeting of the
ECOWAS Parliament Joint Committee on Health and Social Services Agriculture, Environment, Water Resources and Sustainable Development Infrastructure , Energy Mine and Industry Human Rights, Child Protection and Other alterable groups, which commenced in Lome, Togo on Tuesday.
The Crisis which is engendered by political conflicts, the activities of
Jihadist group in Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and other countries has
lingered despite the enormous efforts being made by the regional bloc and international organizations and support groups, the speaker noted. He also noted that refugees and IDP crises are partly caused by inter-ethnic clashes and the climate charge, which the region may not control. He however, assured that the ECOWAS parliament which is the interface between the executive and national parliaments of member countries is working hard to insure that model laws can be enacted to respond effectively to the scourge. He said “we must coordinate and reflect on a more efficient mechanism to provide succor to the victims of displacements. We must therefore adopt parliamentary standard and take concerted actions within the capacity of member states and in solidarity with our partners and the international community”.
Declaring the event open, the Speaker of the Togolese Parliament, Yawa Djigbodi Tsegan, said Refugees and displaced persons are the most vulnerable people in the world that have been denied basic rights to food and nutrition, education and health. She noted that in recent ties “supports for displaced persons and refugees are at the lowest ebb” adding that it has become incumbent on the region especially the parliament to have a
parliamentary approach and standard to address the menace.
She said that ECOWAS, the International Organization for Migration (IOM),
the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and civil
society organizations are working together to achieve the purpose of
tacking the challenges of vulnerable groups in our community. We must
use available resources to tackle this scourge, she said.
The numbers of refugees in the world is rising again, according to the June 2018 report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with more than 68 million people uprooted in 2017 and for the fifth year in a row, wars, violence and persecution have pushed up forced displacement across the world and developing countries are the most heavily affected.
According to the reports, some 10.9 million Nigerians living in the three
most affected states in northeastern Nigeria are in need of humanitarian
assistance. More than 228,000 refugees fled to Cameroon, chad and Niger.