The National Commission for Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRI) Somalia in collaboration with IGAD successfully conducted a capacity building training for officials from the Federal Republic of Somalia and the regional government on Refugee Protection from the 15th to 17th August 2023 in Mogadishu, Somalia.
The training aimed to support understanding refugee protection principles through specialised training sessions on refugee law, international and regional frameworks with a particular focus on protection and the Global Compact for Refugees.
Participants included technical staff from the National Commission for Refugees and IDPs (NCRI), Legal Officers, Protection Officers, Refugee Status Determination Officers, Durable Solutions Officers, Inclusion Officers, field staff and IGAD technical staff.
Other thematic areas such as the protection of refugee children, responding to gender-based violence (GBV) in refugee contexts and emergencies and refugee status determination principles, standards, and procedures were explored.
The training that was facilitated by technical staff from IGAD, the UNHCR Somalia Representation and NCRI staff also facilitated a better understanding of the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF).
Despite facing numerous displacement challenges, Somalia has demonstrated its commitment to providing humanitarian access and protection to refugees and asylum seekers on its territory. Latest data shows that Somalia has hosted over 12,000 registered refugees and 14,570 registered asylum seekers. Among these, 69% were Yemeni, 28% Ethiopian, and 3% originated from Syria and other countries. Furthermore, over 92,000 refugees have voluntarily returned to Somalia with the assistance of UNHCR, primarily from countries such as Kenya, Yemen, Djibouti, Libya, Sudan, and Eritrea.
