United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Protection Unit, Rabat, Morocco
Kate Oja (right) with refugee during World Refugee Day events in Rabat |
I have been working as an intern at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Rabat, Morocco, since the middle of May. My internship is in the Protection Unit, which is the division dealing with all the elements of the refugee status determination procedure, follow-up of vulnerable cases, and reinstallation procedures for refugees.
Morocco used to be considered merely a transit country for asylum seekers trying to reach Europe, but in recent years has become a destination country in itself for people fleeing a diversity of sub-Saharan African countries, and also other Arab countries both in Africa and the Middle East. The majority of people granted refugee status by the UNHCR in Morocco are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Iraq. There is also a significant trend of Nigerian claimants, largely fleeing for economic reasons. One of the aspects of my internship I have found most valuable is that it has provided me with specialized experience with regards to both North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa at the same time, and the intersection of these two regions as felt in the cadre of refugee law.
Working in the Protection Unit involves a high level of direct contact on a daily basis with refugees and asylum seekers. As an intern, my tasks include registering asylum seekers, a process which is done over the course of two days, every two weeks. Registration is one of the most demanding aspects of our work here at the office, as it requires going over a six-page form individually with every claimant, often with significant language barriers. By virtue of this fact, registration is also one of the most interesting activities for interns, because it allows us to hear a range of stories from a very diverse group of claimants, on a one-on-one basis. Through the facts collected during registration, I am becoming familiar with the current situations in countries such as DRC and Cote d'Ivoire. I am developing very strong interview skills both through registration and through other contact with refugees and asylum seekers, often on very difficult subjects such as rape, torture, and other war crimes. I am also becoming sensitized to issues of credibility, and am able to identify potential points of interest to be flagged for the Eligibility Officers, who conduct the refugee status determination interviews and make the decision as to whether each claimant will be recognized, based on questions of both law and fact. I have sat in on several status determination interviews and will have the chance over the next few weeks to write my own mock decision for one of those claimants.
This is my first time working directly for a UN agency, and the experience has been very different from, for example, my internship last summer with a small NGO. The bureaucracy and hierarchical structure of the UNHCR, which is designed to serve a large number of asylum seekers and refugees throughout the world in a consistent way, can at times be frustrating and leave one with a feeling of helplessness when dealing with individuals. Adding to this frustration is the fact that Morocco has no national body designed for refugee determination, and no legislation which recognizes refugees who have been granted status by the UNHCR. As a result, even those persons given refugee status by our office do not have the right to work legally or the right to obtain residence permits, and so remain largely vulnerable and without legal protection. Discrimination against people from sub-Saharan Africa by the general population and law enforcement officials is a significant problem here in Morocco. Sub-Saharan Africans are frequently arrested in the streets, sometimes in large groups, during 'identity checks,' are detained and most often deported to the Algerian border. An important improvement seen in the past year with regards to this problem is the fact that the Moroccan police will now generally release persons with either a refugee card or asylum seeker certificate granted by the UNHCR. The Protection Unit is responsible for dealing with calls from the police with regards to persons arrested and negotiates the release of asylum seekers and refugees registered with the UNCHR. We also coordinate with one of our partner organizations with an office near the Algerian border to assist in the return of asylum seekers and refugees who were arrested and deported because they did not have their papers with them at the time of their arrest.
I was personally very involved in the case of one woman refugee who was arrested and, because she did not have her refugee card with her at the time, was deported to the Algerian border, where she claims to have suffered a set of very difficult experiences. After being stuck in Algeria for several weeks with an injury, she was able to cross the border back into Morocco, where I helped to coordinate for her return to Rabat. Since her return, I have assisted in the follow up of her case, involving documentation of her experience, and accompanying her on various visits to partner organizations here in Rabat. The chance to follow a case like this from 'start' to 'finish' and to see its resolution is (unfortunately) rare for interns at the UNCHR, where work is often triaged to other departments and organizations, and was one I found very rewarding and that allowed me to develop a personal relationship with an individual refugee.
This being my second summer on an IHRP internship, I was worried before coming to Morocco about not having decided to spend my summer working in a more traditional legal environment in Canada. Instead, I've found that my experience here has been precisely the reminder I may have needed as to the reason I came to law school in the first place - which was to pursue a career in international human rights. I've found it incredibly valuable and reassuring to be able to step outside the competitive pack mentality of the law school environment and have felt truly in my element during my internship over the past two months. Regardless of whether I return to this kind of work immediately after law school or at some later point in the future, I can say with confidence that my decision to intern for a second time was the right one.
World Refugee Day event in Rabat
