The United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Union on Friday signed a cooperation agreement to support sustainable return and integration of returnees.
Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative in South Sudan, said the cooperation agreement will enable returnees to have access to protection centers, self-reliance-oriented support, and integration of peace and development.
“The signing is a 7 million Euros project for over 3 years, and it focuses on areas that we considered as a pocket of hope in South Sudan,” Jamal told journalists during a ceremony held in Juba on Friday.
The project aims to support displaced persons and local communities in 7 counties across the country.
Jamal said the project will make a difference in the lives of returnees.
“We have the vision of development, productivity, and hope in South Sudan and this is why we are focusing on those areas where we feel that there is productivity and opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people,” he said.
“The overall objective of this project is to enable displaced persons and local communities to have access to protection centers, self-reliance oriented support that advance the integration of peace and development,” added Jamal.
Ambassador Timo Olkkonen, European Union Head of Mission to South Sudan, said the support aims to bridge the humanitarian gap among the returnees.
“There is a lot of work to do in South Sudan, the humanitarian emergency of course is very severe and we need to assist the people of South Sudan to meet the challenges,” said Timo.
“We need also to move forward in the developmental terms about how we can support South Sudan in the medium and long term and this program are about that.”
The ambassador said the project will ensure the protection of returnees’ livelihood and their rights.
“We need to support returnees so that they would feel safe, protected and they would have a livelihood and their rights would be protected,” he said.
