Two assessment missions planned to the camps in western Algeria by humanitarian partners, the first of which embarks 18 March, the United Nations refugee agency announced. Staff of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) will accompany representatives of donor countries and their partners from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on a three-day mission to the camps of Sahrawi people.
Later this month, nutritionists from UNHCR and WFP will visit the camps to assess the current nutritional status of the most vulnerable refugees and to evaluate the current programs and practices. “The aim is to see first-hand the situation in the sites and to assess the overall conditions of the refugees,” UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond said in Geneva, noting that in the last survey conducted in 2008, 61 per cent of the children and 66 per cent of pregnant women in the camps were suffering from anaemia. The mission will also decide on whether to include additional commodities with high nutritional value in the food assistance, specifically targeted to children, pregnant and lactating women. It will also consider the acceptability of the new commodities by refugees.
Participants will visit two of four refugee camps and will meet with beneficiaries, refugee leaders and Algerian authorities, according to UNHCR. Later this month, nutritionists from UNHCR and WFP will visit the camps to assess the current nutritional status of the most vulnerable refugees and to evaluate the current programmes and practices.
Since 1991, the UN mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been
tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two parties and organizing a long-stalled referendum on self-determination.
