Joint IAWG NGO Policy Brief | East Africa: A refugee haven under threat

East Africa has long hosted major refugee populations, owing both to the presence of some of the world's most severe and protracted crises - whether in the region or at its borders - and to the open-door refugee policies adopted by several of its countries. Violence and hunger caused by conflicts in South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have continuously forced millions to flee in the past decade. Some six million refugees come from those four countries alone. Today, the growing impacts of climate change further exacerbate these displacement trends, with droughts and floods becoming so severe that people have no other choice but to cross borders to seek asylum and cover their basic needs.