3,800 Liberian Refugees Granted Residence Permit

The government has granted residence permits to 3,800 Liberian refugees who have chosen to integrate into the Ghanaian society, the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ms Chansa Kapaya, has said.

The integration falls within the framework of the local integration policy for refugees approved by Ghana.

The integrated Liberians would receive Liberian passports affixed with Ghanaian residence permit, which would give them an alternative legal status in Ghana.

Ms Kapaya made this known at a ceremony to mark the celebration of 2014 World Refugee Day in Accra.

2014 World Refugee Day

The theme for the celebration, which was marked on Thursday, was “One Family Torn Apart by War is Too Many.”

The event focused on redirecting the attention of the public to the suffering of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons around the world.

The day was organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and supported by the Ghana Refugee Authority, Ministry of the Interior and other stakeholders.

UNHCR

The UNHCR commended Ghana for hosting the refugees for the past two decades and for agreeing to enrol refugees onto the national identification and the national health schemes.

Speaking at the event, Ms Kapaya said the day was also set aside to honour the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who were forced to flee their homes under threat of persecution and violence.


She said 2014 was a year of unprecedented challenges for the UNHCR, citing conflicts in Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan, among other countries, as having pushed global displacement figures higher than ever.

In his key note address, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, Mr James Agalga, asked refugees in Ghana to be law-abiding and focus on the opportunities made available to them for their self improvement.

He called on host countries to accelerate the reconciliation process in order to facilitate the return and integration of refugees into their home countries.

Mr Agalga said the increasing numbers of refugees globally was a worrying situation, stressing that “the situation calls for global rethinking and the need to promote the use of non-violent means in resolving political disagreements.”