Benedicta Obodoruku Refugees and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) information access and information services Poster at BOBCATSSS 2017

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Refugees and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
Information Access and Information Services
Benedicta Obodoruku, B.Sc., M.A, Ph.D.
Long Island University-Post Campus, Palmer School of Library and Information Science and Political Science Department
720 Northern Blvd., New York, 11548, United States
E-Mail: benedicta.obodoruku@my.liu.edu
Introduction
q Since 1951, when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) was founded, the pervasive surges in the numbers of refugees
have been of fundamental concern to United Nations (UN) and the
UNHCR worldwide.
q This exploratory study presented a laconic history of the world’s refugees,
the history of UNHCR, the history of refugees mainly from Burundi,
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Somalia, as well as the
history of Tanzania, the hosting country of these refugees.
q This research examined information access to refugees in Tanzania and
the UNHCR’s information services. This research study also investigated
how UNHCR fit into the information age of technology and recordkeeping
by reviewing the following questions:
q (1) What are the roles of technology in UNHCR? What are the services
offered by UNHCR? What are the processes employed by UNHCR to
reshape their organization such as the organizational theory, innovational
theory, and change theory, if any? How has the UNHCR changed, and, if
so, what brought about the change?
q (2) How does technology stimulate change in the UNHCR, if any? Are
there changes to UNHCR since it was created in 1951?
q (3) How does UNHCR think about technology or do they think in a
different way about technology? Is technology relevant to UNHCR’s
works? How does UNHCR share information? What are the information
services provided by UNHCR? How does UNHCR provide access and
share information?
q (4) What is the information access and service provided by UNHCR?
Methodology
A
B
Literature Review
Blasko, J. (2011) Child protection effects at refugee camps in Tanzania. (n.d). The United Nations Children's
Fund. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/burundi_2780.html>
Fouéré, Marie-Aude. (2012). Traditional Knowledge in Refugee Camps The Case of Burundian Refugees in
Tanzania (n.d). United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved from
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/doc/src/00364-EN.pdf
Keynote Address by Mrs. Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for Microsoft Tech-
Ed 2000 Europe, Amsterdam. (2000). Retrieved from
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search
page=search&docid=3ae68fc524&query=%20technology%20in%20UNHCr
United Nations (2000). Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization. A/55/1
United Nations General Assemble. (2010). Retrieved 08/21//2012
http://legal.un.org/ola/media/info_from_lc/A_55_1E.pdf
UN (2010). Assistance to refugees and displaced persons in Africa. General Assemble Official Records Sixty-
second Session. (A/65/324). Retrieved 08/21//2012 http://www.unhcr.org/4c99f8289.pdf
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2000). A Humanitarian Agenda. The State of
the Word Refugees. Retrieved 08/21//2012 http://www.unhcr.org/3ebf9bb60.html
Obodoruku, B., (2016, December 9). U.N. Has a Responsibility in Congo. The New York Times, p. 17.
Obodoruku, B. (2016). “Social Networking: Information Sharing, Archiving and Privacy.” BOBCATSSS’s
Conference 27-29 January 2016, Lyon, France. BOBCATSSS 2016 ACTs & Proceedings.
http://www.enssib.fr/bibliotheque-numerique/documents/66999-bobcatsss-2016-information-libraries-
democraty-proceedings-abstracts.pdf
Obodoruku, B. (2014). Refugees’ Protection Policies: An Examination of Multiple UN Policies. Paper
presented at: IFLA WLIC 2014 - Lyon - Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge <http://
library.ifla.org/view/conferences/2014/> in Session 192 - Genealogy and Local History.
Obodoruku, B., (2014). Human Information Behavior Among African Refugees in Tanzania: An Exploratory
Study of the Nyarugusu Camp (Doctoral Dissertaion). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Global.
Obodoruku, B. (2015, May 25). Fiddling as Burundi Burns. International New York Times, p. 7.
Findings
The findings suggested that in organizational level, UNHCR worked to
advance performance through reform and restructuring by streamlining UN
Headquarters in offering general direction and maximum assistance to
workersinthefield,andbymergingfunctionsviarelocatingsupportservicesto
thefield.UNHCRalsoprovidedaccesstoinformationtotheirstaff.
With regards to the role of technology in UNHCR, the study finds
out that according to EPAU Evaluation Reports (1998), UNHCR
have played a major role in utilizing various forms of technology
while carrying their role (services) as a protection organization in
protecting populations in crisis situations.
UNHCR utilized several communication strategies and was able to
repatriate 1.3 million refugees from Tanzania (who were Burundi
and Ugandan). With the use of the Radio BBC Programme,
Rwandan refugees were able to return in 1998.
In regards to information dissemination in refugee camps in
Tanzania, in general, there is inadequate information for refugees
in Tanzania camps – refugees lack the essential information
required, particularly on food distribution.
Figure 1. Concept Map of Information Dispersed by Stockholders
Figure 3. Innovative Approaches of UNHCR – Field Level
Figure 4. Innovations on Organizational Levels
Conclusions
q By employing content analysis, this study presented
numerous findings based on various studies and literature
examined and analyzed to:
q demonstrate information access on food for
refugees in Tanzania, information on security and
protection for refugees in Tanzania and how it
could influence the international community to
make available information for refugees in
Tanzania and to provide adequate food, security and
protection.
Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku. Refugees and Researcher -Dr. Benedicta
Obodoruku in Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania. 2013.
Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku. Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania. 2013.
Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku. Shelters and Refugees in Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania. 2013.
Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku. Shelters and Refugees in Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania. 2013.
Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku. Refugees and Researcher -Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku in Nyarugusu Camp,
Tanzania. 2013.
Figure 2. Difficulties in Cooking at Tanzania’s Refugee Camp
IMPROVE
PERFORMANCE
THROUGH REFORM
IMPROVE
PERFORMANCE
THROUGH
RESTRUCTURING
q The findings of this study suggested that refugees in Tanzania lack adequate food,
adequate protection/security and adequate information.
q According to CHS (2010), there is inadequate food for refugees and refugees
depend on the international community for support (CHS, 2010).
q In regards to food protection/security in the Tanzania refugee camp, WFP & UNHCR
(2005) noted that food-related domestic violence totaled 15-20% in Tanzanian
refugee camps.
q It must be known that women and children are exposed to non-secured
environments/camps in Tanzania. Women and children have been raped in
Tanzanian refugee camps because of lack of security (WFP & UNHCR, 2005 &
Blasko, 2011) (Obodoruku 2014).
Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku. Refugees and Researcher - Dr. Benedicta Obodoruku at the
Registration Centre in Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania. 2013.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
The Difficulties Refugees
Encountered in Cooking
Reasons why refugees in
Tanzania have difficuties
Cooking
.
Table 1