UN agency sets up mobile "legal clinic" to help returnees

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Burundi has launched a mobile "legal clinic" to help returning refugees to deal with property and domestic disputes in the northeastern province of Muyinga, UNHCR reported on Monday. "This initiative is part of our effort to facilitate the reintegration of the returnees, providing them with knowledge of their rights and duties and also encouraging negotiated settlement of the disagreements," Nicolas Kaburaburyo, a UNHCR protection assistant, was quoted as saying. The mobile clinic comprises three lawyers who travel across the province to consult their clients. "As soon as the car stops in an open space, the first 'clients' arrive," UNHCR said. The returnees seek advice from the lawyers on several issues. "Normally, they are related to property and domestic disputes. Many returnees find their land and houses occupied. Others arrive with new families, causing tensions with those they had left behind," the UNHCR reported. It added that Burundi was one of the countries where the UNHCR was implementing the "4 Rs" programme of return, rehabilitation, reintegration, and reconstruction. "It aims to make returns sustainable with an assistance package that includes building houses, schools, wells and medical dispensaries, and providing legal advice, literacy courses for women and income-generating projects," the agency said. As peace takes hold in Burundi after a decade-long civil strife, Burundians are returning home in large numbers from neighbouring countries where they had sought refuge. The UNHCR said an estimated 500,000 Burundians were in Tanzania, 325,000 of whom were assisted by the agency. "Safety and day-to-day survival in Burundi are the main concerns of refugees in Tanzania," the UNHCR reported. "Often they sign up to go back, only to change their minds at the last minute. Nonetheless, the number of convoys has increased. In the transit centre of Kanembwa, in north-eastern Tanzania, weekly convoys have gone up from three to four. Since Kanembwa was opened in late January, around 20,000 persons have passed through this centre."