Remarks by UN Zambia Resident Coordinator, Dr. Coumba Mar Gadio Official Opening of Meeting on advancing local integration in Zambia (via Teams)

• Heads of agencies and representatives of the three organizations that have partnered with the government to organize this event: the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), World Vision and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• Members of the UN Country Team
• Representatives of the various Non-Governmental Organizations
• Distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Good morning.

Let me start by joining the moderator and welcoming you all to this important event.

I am informed that this meeting is aimed at providing stakeholders in local integration an opportunity and a platform for sharing ideas on how best we can advance local integration in Zambia.

The Permanent Secretary, Ladies and gentlemen

Local integration presents one of the three durable solutions for addressing refugee situations, along with repatriation and resettlement. It represents a means to resolving refugee situations by allowing refugees to become full members of their host community in their first country of asylum.

Attaining local integration is a complex and gradual process requiring stakeholders to address legal, economic, social and cultural dimensions. The complexity of these dimensions entails that local integration as a solution imposes significant demands on the individuals seeking to be integrated, the host community, the host government and sometimes even the countries of origin. The complexity and the demands that come with this process have partly led to having very few countries especially in Africa committing to the solution of local integration.

Allow me therefore, to congratulate and appreciate the Zambian government for being one of the very few countries that have not only been welcoming to and are hosting refugees but have also committed to locally integrating refugees in the country. The Zambian government has moved from commitment to practical steps with a sizeable number of former refugees having received resident permits. However, a lot more needs to be done, to fast track this process and ensure that other dimensions of inclusion such as the socio-economic and cultural dimensions are realized.

Permanent Secretary, ladies and gentlemen

Zambia made 7 pledges at the Global Refugee Forum and 5 at the High-level Forum on ending statelessness. Two of the pledges directly address local integration, while others, though not directly related, can reinforce local integration.  In 2019 Zambia committed to:

1. Completion the local integration exercise of former refugees from Angola and Rwanda; and
2. Complete the issuance of Residence Permits to all former refugees who opted to locally integrate in Zambia, and to facilitate their naturalization, by 2021.

The UN in Zambia has been working with the Zambian government to implement and actualize local integration of, especially, former Rwandan and Angolan persons of concern, previously under the Local Integration Programme and now under the Sustainable Resettlement Project. The support provided has included providing financial and technical support for accessing legal documentation, enhancing livelihoods, self-reliance and fostering economic inclusion, as well as interventions aimed at promoting peaceful co-existence and social integration of persons of concern. 

The UN in Zambia stands ready and will build on the on-going collaboration to support the Zambian government in ensuring that the local integration and other pledges are actualized. The UN in Zambia also remains committed to reaching out to and collaborating with other partners including NGOs and development partners in the implementation of the pledges.  Our commitment is in the spirit of the burden and responsibility sharing as well as the whole of society approach contained in the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants as well as the Global Compact on Refugees.

In conclusion, allow me to state that this meeting represents an important step and opportunity to not only explore the current approaches, challenges and opportunities for advancing local integration but also to help us forge dynamic partnerships on attaining real integration of persons of concern. We should, therefore, seize this opportunity.

I THANK YOU.