THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES IN CAMEROON: A HISTORICAL INVESTIGATION FROM 1982 TO 2011
David Nchinda Keming
University of Yaounde I
The study examines and assesses the intervention of the UNHCR’s humanitarian assistance to rural and urban refugees in Cameroon from 1982 to 2012. It premises that the political stability of Cameroon, its resources and citizen’s receptibility to expatriates made it a favourable destination to refugees and thus necessitated the extension of the UNHCR’s aid to the country. The conjecture captures: context and evolution, Cameroon/UNHCR’s diplomatic cooperation, extent of implementation of the UNHCR’s assistance, a comparative analysis to the provisions and explores the consequences of the assistance and refugees on Cameroon. The emphases were achieved with a meticulous exploitation of: primary, secondary and tertiary data interpreted and analysed with quantitative and qualitative methods. The results suggest that the UNHCR provided international protection (security, shelter, repatriation, resettlement, certification) and humanitarian assistance (food, water, electricity, health, education, finances) to refugees. Besides assisting refugees, the UNHCR largely contributed to the socio-economic development of Cameroon and our inability to exhaust findings on refugees should open the window for other scholars to branch out from the mainstream. Nonetheless, the activities of the UNHCR in Cameroon were implemented differently in specific locations, its mission in the country was a success though accomplished with some feeble flaws.
ISBN 9783862901401 (e-book, pdf). LINCOM Studies in Social Politics 03. 350pp. 2020.
