Integrating Liberian Refugees in Ghana: A Case Study of Liberian Refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in

Ghana

MethodParticipants

The population for this study is all refugees between the ages of 16-83 years of age seeking refuge at the Buduburam refugee camp in the Central Region precisely located at the Gomoa District in Ghana.

Random Sampling

A total of 250 refugees between the ages of 16-83 were randomly selected from the population of 45,000 refugees at the camp using randomized house numbers by zones. The refugee camp is divided into 11 zones with each zone comprising of 1-100 households.

AbstractThe refugee crisis is a universal

phenomenon. The integration of refugees into the local communities pose a serious challenge both to the UN Refugee Agency, the governments of host countries, the local communities in which refugees are hosted and the refugees themselves. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world’s refugee population is estimated to be about 14 million. This study investigated the integration of refugees in the host country and the impacts that warehousing refugees in camps has on the prospect of local integration. A total of 311 Liberian refugees at the Buduburam refugee camp participated in a survey in 2009. SPSS version 17 was used to analyze the data by conduction correlation analysis. We hypothesized that refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host has a relationship with their inability to locally integrate and lack of local integrate is influenced by warehousing refugees in camps. The evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and their inability to locally integrate (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119). The evidence also suggests that there is a positive correlation (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between the warehousing of refugees in refugee camps (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and lack of integration (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119).

IntroductionThe local integration of refugees into

the host communities is a major challenge to governments, non-governmental organizations and other institution working directly with refugees. The types of settlement that national governments and organizations working with refugees implement enhance these challenges and make it extremely difficult for refugees to locally integrate. For example, the warehousing of refugees into camps and reception centers by national governments to contain the influx of refugees is one of such examples in which refugees are restricted to a piece of land with their basic rights denied. In this situation, refugees who are caught outside the camps or reception centers are arrested by state security forces and are either deported to their home country or held up in separate camps with more restrictions.

In the 2008 World Refugee Report, it is estimated that there are about 8.5 million refugees that are warehoused in refugee camps and reception centers where they are restricted to interact with local host communities. The lack of interaction by refugees with people of the host community has a significant impact on their ability to socially, economically and culturally integrate in the host community. This is true because, the lack of interaction prevents refugees from becoming socially and economically self-sufficient. The study will also investigate how refugees were able to use local religious institutions to facilitate the process of integration despite they were warehoused at the Buduburam refugee camp for more than two decades.

Purpose of the StudyThe purpose of the study is to

investigate the integration of refugees in the host country vis-à-vis warehousing. Several studies have proven that for refugees to fully integrate into the host community the availability of resources is the hallmark for local integration (Otunnu, 1992). Most developing countries hosting refugees encounter economic challenges and constraints which are enhanced by natural disasters, civil wars, unemployment, poverty and the collapse of social services which are meant to promote human development and the integration of the refugee population (Otunnu, 1992).

Buduburam Refugee CampThe United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees established the Buduburam Refugee camp located in the Gomoa District in the Central Region of Ghana in October of 1990 hosts refugees fleeing the Liberian civil wars (Dovlo, et al, 2003). According to the UNHCR-Ghana estimate as of 2008, the camp hosts about 40,000 Liberian refugees.

Jenkins Macedo, Advisor Assistant Prof. Fortunata S. Makene, Department of Sociology, Worcester State College

April 28, 2010 Celebration of Student Scholarship and Creativity

Data Analysis1.Does refugees’ lack of interaction with local host significantly correlate with their inability to locally integrate?

2. HypothesisoHo: Refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host does not have a significant relationship with their inability to locally integrate.oHI: Refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host has a significant relationship with their inability to integrate locally. (Claim)

3. Test: Correlation

4. Test StatisticsThe descriptive statistics for

refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host reveals (M= 7.31, SD= 5.569) and their inability to integrate locally reveals (M= 3.62, SD= 1.119). The test statistics also reveals a (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), and Alpha (0.01).

5. DecisionFrom the test statistics presented

in the above results, we reject the null hypothesis because the P-Value (0.000) is less than the Alpha Value (0.01). We therefore support the claim that refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host community has a significant relationship with their inability to integrate locally.

6. InterpretationThe evidence suggests that there

is a positive relationship (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and their inability to locally integrate (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119).

Q. 2. Does warehousing refugees into refugee camps have a significant relationship with the lack of local integration?

2. Hypothesis

oHo: The warehousing of refugees into camps does not have a significant relationship with the lack of local integration.1.H1: The warehousing of refugees into camps has a significant relationship with the lack of local integration. (Claim)

3. Test: Correlation

4. Test Statistics The descriptive statistics for warehoused refugees reveal (M= 2.58, SD=0.975) and lack of integration (M= 1.88, SD= 0.839). The test statistics also reveals (R (303) = 0.121, P (0.036), Alpha = (0.05)).

5. DecisionFrom the test statistics presented

in the above results, we reject the null hypothesis because the P-Value (0.036) is less than the Alpha Value (0.05). We therefore support the claim that the warehousing of refugees in refugee camps has a significant positive relationship with the lack of integration in the host community. 6. Interpretation

The evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship (R (303) = 0.121, P (0.036), Alpha (0.05) between the warehousing of refugees in refugee camps (M = 2.58, SD = 0.975) and lack of integration (M = 1.88, SD = 0.839).  

  

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Dr. Stephen Healy for his constructive supervision during the period of the research. Thanks to Mr. Richlue O’Burphy, Program Coordinator of RESPECT Ghana who was instrumental in the collection of data from Ghana.

ReferencesElom Dovlo & Samuel Sondah (2003). “Singing the Lord’s Song in

Strange Land: Christianity among Liberian Refugees in Ghana.”

University of Ghana. EBSCO Publishing: Accra-Ghana.

Gaim Kibreab (1997). “Environmental Causes and Impact of Refugee

Movements: A Critique of the Current Debate.” Blackwell Publishers:

Oxford, UK.

Kwame Boamah-Gyau (2008). "The Socio-Cultural and Economic

Impacts of Refugees on the Host Indigenous Communities in West Africa: A

Case Study of the Liberian Refugees at the Buduburam Community in

Ghana." University of Tromos, Norway.

Kate Hampshire, Gina Porter, Kate Kilpatrick, George Oppong, Peter

Kyei, & Michael Adjaloo (2008)."Liminal Spaces: Changing Inter-

Generational Relations among Long-Term Liberian Refugees in Ghana."

Journal of Society for Applied Anthropology: Volume 62, Number 1,

London, UK.

Sharon Tete (2005). "Narrative and Hope? Displacement Narrative of

Liberian Refugees Women and Children in the Gomoa-Buduburam Refugee

Camp in Ghana." Norwegian University of Science and Technology

(NTNU): Trondheim, Norway.

Shelly Dicks (2002). "Liberians in Ghana: Living Without Humanitarian

Assistance." UNHCR Working Paper No. 57, Oxford University: Oxford,

UK.

Ogenga Otunnu (1992). "Too Many, Too Long: "African Refugee Crisis

Revisited." Refugee Journal, Volume 12, No. 3.

Desiree’ Nilsson (2003). "Liberia-the Eye of the Storm: A Review of the

Literature on Internally Displaced, Refugees, and Returnees." Studies on

Emergencies and Disaster Relief No. 10, Tryck Jouren: Uppsala, Sweden.

Maurice Mbago (1991). "Integrating Refugees into Host Countries."

IDRC Report: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Ana Low (2005). "Local Integration: A Durable Solution for Refugees?"

UNHCR Reintegration and Local Settlement Section: Geneva, Switzerland.

International Labor Office, (2003). "(RE) Integrating Refugees and

IDPs." Geneva, Switzerland.

Photographs: Photos in this study were taken by Mr.

Joseph M. Johnson, freelancer at Buduburam refugee camp 

and Mr. Doely Barlee, SAP-Liberia

Liberians an d Friends Journal

http://liberiaandfriends.blogspot.com/2008/03/plight-of-libe

rian-refugees-in-ghana.html

Accessed: 04/10/2010

New Liberian News Media: http://newliberian.com/?p=71

Accessed: 04/202010

DiscussionThe warehousing of refugees influence

their inability to interact and subsequently integrate in the host community. The Buduburam Liberian refugee camp in Ghana is no exception evident in the analysis provided and results. As stipulated in the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees’ Protection, refugees are expected to receive the protection and services of the host country and these services include the ability for the refugee population to locally integrate into the host country. In most developing countries, because of the high population growth rate and poverty, the integration of refugees become a major problem not only on the governments, but also on the local citizens and the economy as a whole.

In Ghana for example, with an increase in the Ghanaian population, which currently stands at about 22 million and the high poverty rate, the local integration of Liberian refugees is a major problem, facing both UNHCR and the government of Ghana.

The lack of social interaction of Liberian refugees with the host community is facilitated by their inability to speak local Ghanaian languages, cultural diversities, nationalism and the general stereotypes associated with both the refugee population and local host communities.

From the survey conducted, about three hundred respondents out of the three hundred and eleven participants, which is about 96.5%, answered that their lack of interaction with the host community was due to their inability to speak one of the local languages such as Twi, Ewe and Fanti. Another 80% stated that their lack of interaction was due to their inability to be socially accepted in most Ghanaian local communities. While another 95% stated that the reason for their lack of interaction with the host community was related to lack of programs for refugees and local Ghanaian citizens to interact more frequently. Out of this group, about 75% stated that social activities such as soccer, parties and contests, which involved both the refugee and local communities members usually ended up in conflicts. prohibiting local integration.

 

Research Questions

The research question for this study will be:1. Does refugee’s lack of interaction with local the local host communities significantly correlate with their inability to locally integrate?2. Does warehousing refugees into organized camps have a significant relationship with their lack of local integration?

 

MeasuresI developed a 40 questions

instrument to be used in the process of gathering data from the selected sample size of 311 refugees and internally displaced persons respondents from Ghana.

Data CollectionTwo research assistants were

recruited in at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana to administer the questionnaires to the targeted sample population. The data collection process started October 14 and ended November 10, 2009. The questionnaire was emailed to research assistants in Ghana. They printed and photocopied the amount of questionnaires needed to be distributed to the sample population. After the questionnaires were completed funds were sent to the research assistants and the packages containing a total of 310 questionnaires were shipped via UPS from Ghana to the US.

Buduburam Refugee CampPhoto Source: Google Earth, 2010

Digital Orthophoto Source: Google Earth, 2010