World Refugee Day 2022: The United States Leads Humanitarian Assistance in Cameroon
Yaoundé, Cameroon —The United States is honored to join the Government of the Republic of Cameroon and the international community in commemorating World Refugee Day 2022. World Refugee Day was held globally for the first time on June 20, 2001, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. This year, we focus on the right to seek safety. Every person on this planet has a right to seek safety – whoever they are, wherever they come from, and whenever they are forced to flee. Cameroon is host to more than 475,000, mostly from the Central African Republic and Nigeria, with others from Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda, living both in camps and out of camps.
The U.S. government is the lead provider of humanitarian assistance to refugees in Cameroon through the United State Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). Each year, the U.S. government contributes more than $80 million (more than CFA francs 50 billion) to assist refugees both in and out of camps, Internally Displaced Persons, and host communities.
USAID and PRM assist humanitarian partners in the domains of health care, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene, education, as well as in agriculture, food security, protection, humanitarian coordination, and humanitarian air services. More specifically, this assistance includes in-kind food assistance such as rice, grains, vegetable oil, and specialized food for the treatment of acute malnutrition, in addition to vouchers and cash for purchasing food from local markets, thereby supporting the local economy. We commend the Cameroonian government for hosting a ministerial conference in April of this year to build an international coalition to seek durable solutions for refugees from the Central African Republic living in neighboring countries.
The United States is committed to working with the international community and the government of Cameroon to improve the living conditions of refugees.
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