Chadian Returnees from Libya Need Reintegration Support: IOM
An IOM assessment of the conditions of Chadian migrants who
returned from Libya has found that most are in urgent need of
reintegration support in their communities. The study also found
the returnees are struggling financially to provide for themselves
and their families.
The ECHO funded assessment, which was carried out between
January and March 2012 in the 14 regions of Chad with the highest
number of returnees, interviewed 1,000 returnees.
Many said they faced daily challenges living in host communities
because of language, lack of work and lack of basic services. A
majority said that they were unable to meet their basic needs for
food, housing, health and education.
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Many of the estimated 90,000 Chadian returnees had lived in
Libya for many years and had little or no connection to their
places of origin. Children and adults born in Libya were unable to
communicate in French or in the Chadian dialect of Arabic, making
it difficult for them to attend schools or socially integrate.
The assessment has also found that heads of families in this
patriarchal society were suffering from high levels of stress, due
to their reduced ability to provide for their families.
According to the study, the arrival of the returnees has
exacerbated the vulnerability of their host communities –
many of which were already suffering from severe drought that Chad
and the Sahel region have experienced since 2011.
The current food shortages in many parts of the Sahel region
mean that the returnees have no food stock to rely on. Finding
employment outside the traditional agricultural sector is extremely
difficult in rural areas, resulting in many heads of households
seeking employment in urban centres.
According to profiling of Chadian returnees carried out by IOM
since the onset of the Libyan crisis in March 2011, the majority
have only had limited formal education. While in Libya, some of the
returnees acquired low level skills, mainly in the construction
sector or in driving specialized vehicles like tractors. There is
little demand for these skills in rural Chad.
Since their return, only a small number of them have found
steady jobs. Most have had to resort to petty trade such as selling
cigarettes and sweet tea. In some rural areas, returnees have set
up parallel markets known as "Libya Markets," where they sell goods
that they brought back with them, in order to feed their families.
In some places this has led to conflicts with existing markets and
local traders.
IOM, with funding from the German Government, is currently
providing psychosocial care to some Chadian returnees. A second,
one-year project providing social reintegration assistance will
begin in May. But given the acute problems faced by the returnees,
particularly in rural areas, more support to create livelihoods is
urgently needed.
For more information, please contact:
Anne Schaefer
Tel: +23562901118
E-mail:
"mailto:schaefer@iom.int">schaefer@iom.int
or
Dr Qasim Sufi
Tel: ++23562900674
E-mail:
"mailto:qsufi@iom.int">qsufi@iom.int