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The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says the population in Mantapala Refugee Settlement in Nchelenge District of Luapula Province has reduced by 61 percent as of December 31, 2022.
In its Achievement Report, the UNHCR said from the population of 18,774 refugees, the number has reduced to 7,320 refugees as of December 31, 2022 due to the Voluntary Repatriation (VolRep) programme.
The United Nations (UN) Agency said in 2022, a total of 10,2022 refugees were voluntarily repatriated to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of whom 97 were repatriated in January, and 10,105 between July and December due to an improvement in the security in the areas of return.
In the report, it has been noted that during the year, 723 new arrivals which comprised of 51percent female and 49 percent male were received and registered in proGresv4 database in Mantapala and majority cited inter-tribal violence in areas of origin while the rest cited family reunification for seeking asylum in Zambia.
UNHCR supported government to conduct a refugee population verification exercise targeting 18,774 refugees and asylum seekers in Mantapala settlement in July 2022 and a total of 16,306 refugees were verified at the end of the exercise.
According to the report, a total of 618 birth certificates and 510 Alien registration cards were issued to refugees in Mantapala settlement.
It has also been established that Gender Based Violence (GBV) reported cases reduced minimally from 215 in 2021 to 212 cases in the course of 2022 because of strengthened prevention interventions and the decreased population as the refugees returned voluntarily to the DRC.
Contributed by Augustine Sichula
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