Attachments
Executive Summary
Under the co-leadership of the Government of Ethiopia’s Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) and UNHCR, the Ethiopia Country Refugee Response Plan (CRRP) for 2024 is the interagency refugee response in the country which lays out the refugee coordination structure and the financial requirements to respond to the needs of refugees and their host communities in Ethiopia. It provides a platform for joint coordination and collaboration through transparent, respectful, and mutually beneficial partnerships in support of the Government of Ethiopia’s refugee response. The CRRP is guided by the Refugee Coordination Model (RCM), developed to ensure accountable, inclusive, predictable, and transparent leadership and coordination in responding to refugee situations. The key objectives of the Ethiopia CRRP are included in the Ethiopia Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) [1], targeting 15.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia in 2024. The CRRP includes the needs and response to refugees and asylum-seekers from Sudan and South Sudan reflected in the 2024 Sudan Emergency Regional Refugee Response Plan [2], and the South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan [3] in dedicated country chapters.
With almost 1 million refugees, Ethiopia is one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in Africa and in the world. Ethiopia has a long tradition of providing protection for refugees and asylum-seekers from neighbouring countries in the region, including South Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Kenya. The refugee population in Ethiopia consists of protracted groups and individuals who have remained in Ethiopia for more than three decades, while others have recently arrived and continue to cross the border into Ethiopia, following the outbreak of conflict in Sudan and Somalia in the first months of 2023. Following the eruption of conflict in Sudan, thousands of Ethiopian refugees have also returned, with the majority currently residing in the Tigray Region in Northern Ethiopia.
The refugee population in Ethiopia has diverse needs and vulnerabilities which are best addressed by multi-sectoral interventions, including the provision of immediate lifesaving interventions, access to basic and specialized protection services, long-term investments in the inclusion and selfreliance for refugees, and continued attention and support to maintain and ensure refugees have access to fundamental rights, including access to asylum space. This further includes prevention, risk mitigation, and response to gender-based violence (GBV) and child protection. In line with Ethiopia’s Refugee Proclamation from 2019 and the pledges made by the Government during the 2019 and 2023 Global Refugee Forums (GRF), more investment is needed to strengthen the integration of services for refugees and host communities, including in the education, health, WASH, and energy and environment sectors, and work towards capacity-building of local services, systems and infrastructure to enable the necessary capacity to absorb needs of both refugees and host community members. Engagement with development actors and advocacy for investments capable of strengthening national systems further enable social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, benefiting refugees and citizens alike, and allowing both communities to thrive.