SIMON MUNTEMBA writes
AS the world prepares to mark World Refugee Day on 20 June, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Zambia has started hosting events and activities to prepare the people for the day.
World Refugee Day is an opportunity to remember that there are several refugees and displaced persons around the world, who are forced to flee their homes because of war, conflict, and persecution.
Zambia is one of the countries in the Southern region that has hosted refugees from the region since the 1960s.
Bucking global trends, Zambia has adopted more refugee-friendly policies amid a rising number of arrivals and it has given residency rights to former refugees from Angola and Rwanda and committed to a new form of settlement for newly arrived refugees from DRC.
Asylum seekers, stateless persons, and internally displaced people are residing in Zambia.
In May 2013, the Zambian Government in collaboration with UNHCR declared, pursuant to Article 1C(5) and (6) of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of Refugees, Article I(4)(e) of the 1969 Organization of the African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (conventions to which Zambia is party), that the refugee status of Rwandan refugees in Zambia who fled Rwanda as a result of inter-ethnic violence, persecution, genocide and civil war between 1959 and 1998 ceased on the 30th of June 2013.
UNHCR Kicked-off World Refugee Day activities with a Debate where Kabulonga Girls David Kaunda Technical Secondary School battled it out last week on Wednesday, June 10.
The two schools slogged it out in the 2019 World Refugee Day Schools’ debate dubbed “Refugees can positively contribute to economic and cultural growth of Zambia”.
Competitors argued whether Refugees can or cannot positively contribute to economic and cultural growth of Zambia.
After a heated and tightly contested debate, David Kaunda Technical Secondary School outsmarted Kabulonga Girls and emerged victorious.
Summarising the debate, Tashalesa Chabula, a Grade 12 pupil of David Kaunda said refugees can increase competition in particular labor markets, increasing the incentive for natives to acquire certain skills.
Tashalesa said workplace diversity can boost productivity and that Countries that host refugees often experience positive impacts on the economic growth by the economic needs of host countries.
Firstly, she said, the refugees are a very diverse group of skilled people, some of whom are teachers, lawyers, nurses and so on.
And from the opposing side, Kumoyo Banda, a Grade 12 pupil from Kabulonga told the Sun after the debate that she was happy to have participated because she learnt from the debate that while it can takes several years for refugees to fully integrate and realize their full economic potential in their new homeland, over time they become significant drivers of our prosperity and economic growth.
Kumoyo said contrary to what she thought, the positive impact of refugees has supplied much-needed labour and stimulated economic growth and services, contributing to the country’s GDP.
