Wednesday, September 2, 2009

After several years of persistent efforts to overcome numerous delays due to fragile security and often-hostile weather, the first 75 refugees including 45 from Darfur, Sudan have been resettled to the United States out of Chad.

Church World Service is among key partners in this pilot resettlement effort. Under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. State Department, CWS prepares the case files for all refugees people fleeing persecution in sub-Saharan Africa who are being considered for U.S. resettlement. Then, following a meticulous screening process, CWS helps move those whom the U.S. government accepts toward departure.

"From 2005-2007, prior to beginning the operation in eastern Chad, we had departed some 165 Darfuris from the region, 158 of them from the Krisan Refugee Camp in Ghana along with four out of Cameroon, two out of the Central African Republic and one out of Senegal," said Vicky Knight, who heads the CWS-administered Overseas Processing Entity (CWS-OPE) office in Accra, Ghana.

"However, it is only this year that it has finally become feasible to start a resettlement operation at the center of the Darfuri refugee crisis in the humanitarian hub of Abeche in eastern Chad."

All refugees resettled to the United States are assigned to one of 10 U.S. resettlement agencies, including Church World Service. In June, CWS received its first case out of Chad, a family of three from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The second, a Central African Republic family of five, arrived from Chad in July.

Other resettlement agencies have received the rest of the arrivals out of Chad so far, including 45 Darfuri refugees, three non-Darfuri refugees from Sudan, 15 refugees from the Central African Republic, and four refugees from the DRC.

Of the 165 Darfuris resettled to the United States from countries other than Chad, 14 were received by Church World Service.

More than 250,000 refugees, most of them from Darfur, live in 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad. Some 60 percent of them are women and children. Another 70,000 refugees in five camps in southern Chad are mostly from the Central African Republic. More refugees live in Chad's capital N'Djamena.

Between February and June 2009, CWS-OPE staff were in Chad to interview nearly 300 refugees from camps in southern and eastern Chad, preparing case files for U.S. Department of Homeland Security review.

CWS-OPE worked in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify the most vulnerable individuals, and with the International Organization for Migration to transport, house and feed applicants coming to the interview site.

Resettlement out of Chad comes with many challenges. Heavy rains for four months a year limit the mobility of refugees, aid workers and resettlement staff. The dry land floods, forming rivers that block road movement.

The fragile security situation, especially in eastern Chad, also can delay case processing for months at a time. Violence spills over the border from Sudan, and there is ongoing fighting involving rebels from both Sudan and Chad. Many young boys, idle with no school to attend in the crowded refugee camps, risk being recruited as child soldiers.

Furthermore, the overpopulated desert has been drained of water, firewood, and grazing and farm land, leading to a forced dependency on international assistance.

Many of the refugees in Chad are from rural areas and know little about life outside their villages. During CWS-OPE information sessions, interviews and cultural orientation sessions, the refugees constantly asked questions about life in America.

"Can my children go to school in America?" was one of their most frequently asked questions. Most parents' faces lit up and fears began to dissipate with talk of their children going to school and continuing their education.

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676 lcrosson@churchworldservice.org