The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons NCFRMI, says there’s need for refugee and Internally Displaced Persons camps to be protected from combatants and fighters.
The Federal Commissioner, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim said this in Calabar, the Cross River State capital at a two-day workshop on the Draft Standard Operating Procedure for the identification of combatants among Cameroonian refugees and asylum seekers.
According to her, the mass influx of Cameroonian refugees, if not properly checked and coordinated, could cause easy infiltration of camps by combatants and fighters, thereby compromising the security ambience.
“As we are all aware, seeking Asylum is an inherently peaceful process with a civilian and humanitarian character. Military activity is incompatible with it, therefore persons who pursue such motives in a country of asylum cannot be regarded as asylum-seekers or refugees”.
“The political crisis in Cameroon has lingered unabated since 2016 and has occasioned reported gross human rights violations, wanton loss of lives and properties, especially, in the two Regions of North-West and South-West of Cameroon”.
According to her, the conflict has spiked emigration of Cameroonians to Nigeria as Refugees noting that about 73,000 refugees have registered in Nigeria as at June, 2021 while an average of 300 Cameroonian Refugees come into Nigeria every week.
“Nigeria and Cameroon are two friendly neighbours and sovereign States of the African continent, who are bound by the African Union (AU) under the1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Africa Refugees Problems.”
“We are committed to bearing each other’s burdens, supporting and accommodating one another, more so in challenging times such this. It is also pertinent to note however that paragraph 4 and 5 of the Preamble to the 1969 OAU Convention express the need for clear distinction between a refugee who seeks a peaceful and normal life and a person fleeing his country for the sole purpose of fomenting subversion from outside.
She adds that there are needs to discourage the activities of such subversive elements.
Lateefah Ibrahim
