Govt, civic societies, global agencies collaborate to enhance refugee skills, rights

Government says it is developing programmes to improve skills and abilities of refugees in partnership with international organizations and civil societies.

Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, Senior Refugee Officer, William Lwando, said the skills involved greater access to educational opportunities, healthcare services and life opportunities.

Speaking during the world Refugee Day under the theme, empowering refugee, developing solutions and skills for a brighter tomorrow in Lusaka on Thursday, Lwando said empowering refugees with skills training and legal rights awareness was crucial for fostering self-reliance and resilience within refugee communities.

“We recognize that to thrive, refugees need access not only to basic necessities but also to opportunities for growth and personal development,” he said.

Speaking at same event, Coordination of the Refugee Communities in Zambia, Chairman General, Emile Hatungimana, said that refugees were seeking proper documentation supported by humane and progressive legal provisions.

“Refugees are tired of being considered like investors and prohibited illegal immigrants by the refugee Act of 2017,” she said.

Hatungimana said that while building new skills was a positive step, the existing skills were not being utilised.

“The Zambian labor laws are very segregate to refugees,” he noted.

She said that the recruitment of teachers and health professionals left all qualified refugees out.

“They are still hoping to be made useful to the country that has trained them,” she said.

Meanwhile, Caritas Czech Republic, Project Coordinator, Grace Banda, stated that the law needed to be amended, adding that it should distinguish between refugees and immigrants.

“There is a mismatch in the law, non-national is the only provision in the law. The law has to be worked on,” Banda said.

She made these remarks during the launch of the book titled “Lusaka Urban Refugee Women’s Stories.”

The author of the book, Munukayumbwa Mwiya, stressed how women refugees want to be acknowledged.

“Refugee women cannot imagine a fragment of what they have gone through. Their priority is survival,” Mwiya said.

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