UN targets electrifying all of world’s refugee camps

GENEVA: The UN set itself a daunting challenge this week aimed at improving the lives of displaced people, reining in climate change and even preventing conflict: to bring electric power to all refugee camps by 2030.

The target is enormously ambitious given that more than 90 percent of refugees living in camps currently have little or no access to electricity, while surrounding communities can also live with overloaded electrical systems and long power outages. At a global refugee summit in Geneva this week, the UN stressed the urgency of the problem, which can significantly worsen the daily struggles of many displaced people. Lack of power poses a challenge for cooking, keeping warm or studying, while women and girls especially face far greater safety risks in camps shrouded in darkness. Electricity is vital, especially for women, Joelle Hangi, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who has lived in the Kakuma camp in Kenya, told the gathering in Geneva. “Energy is synonymous with protection, with security. It is this very protection we flee our countries to find,” she said. Living without power usually means more pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, since people resort to burning firewood or charcoal to meet their household needs, while community facilities use diesel-guzzling generators to keep the lights on. With many of the nearly 26 million refugees registered worldwide living in camps, the target of providing sustainable and reliable power to all such settlements and surrounding communities within a decade is staggering.

“This is a massive and ambitious undertaking,” acknowledged Andrew Harper, who next month will become the UNHCR´s first special advisor on climate action. “But I don´t think we´ve got any choice given the current situation,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Global Refugee Forum, pointing to the close interconnection between the climate crisis and surging numbers of displaced people.