TANZANIA: UNHCR denies corruption, intimidation claims

TANZANIA: UNHCR denies corruption, intimidation claims

NAIROBI, 15 March (IRIN) - The UN refugee agency in Tanzania has denied
allegations of corruption and intimidation by officials dealing with
refugees, saying that many of the claims are slight and give little to
investigate, while others are untrue.

Earlier this week, reports of alleged corruption and intimidation within
the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tanzania
emerged in the local press. Some of the allegations were supported by the
national section of the human rights group Amnesty International, but have
been repeatedly denied by the refugee agency.

The Guardian, a Tanzanian daily newspaper, published an article citing
claims that corrupt officials were demanding bribes from refugees and
intimidating others who travelled to the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam,
in search of medical treatment.

"We have very little to go after, so we have to challenge anybody out
there to simply give us a little bit more of a lead which we could follow
up on," Ivana Unluova, External Relations Officer at UNHCR in Dar es
Salaam, told IRIN. "As the situation stands now, we believe that the
allegations are not substantiated," she added.

The Guardian report carried allegations made by a refugee that he had
witnessed three fellow Kenyan refugees bribing UNHCR officials so that
they could be sent to Mkugwa refugee camp in Kigoma, northwestern
Tanzania.

"I fail to understand why UNHCR officials could be bribed. I witnessed
everything, but due [to the fact that] I didn’t have money, I
couldn’t be
accepted," the refugee claimed in a letter written to UNHCR. Unluova
refuted this particular claim entirely. "It has been followed up on and
there is absolutely no substance to it," she told IRIN.

The Guardian also reported that some refugees were reputed to have
contacted local and international human rights organisations about
forceful demands for sexual favours from female refugees by corrupt UNHCR
Tanzania officials. However, the refugee agency said it had received no
such complaints. "We have been given absolutely no information so we have
nothing to follow up on," said Unluova. "Besides, we believe that we have
a fairly good system for tracking these things in the camps."

Commenting on the broad allegations of corruption at UNHCR Tanzania, she
said there was insufficient information to support any of the claims. The
procedure for responding to complaints involved checking all the records
on the cases mentioned and, if there was sufficient evidence, carrying out
further investigations, she added.

However, Baya Mwankemwa, the Section Director of Amnesty International in
Tanzania, believes there are fundamental problems affecting issues ranging
from treatment of refugees and poor living conditions in the refugee camps
to allegations of corruption, and the manner in which these are dealt
with. "Usually they [UNHCR] don’t reply to the allegations that I pass
on," she told IRIN. "When I try to make appointments between the refugees
and the UNHCR, they usually don’t respond."

Mwankemwa also supported the allegations of refugee intimidation that were
made in the Guardian. "I think that the refugees are afraid to go to the
UNHCR offices," she said. "They are intimidated by the junior protection
officers."

Among the complaints made by refugees is their treatment by, and supposed
corruption within the Tanzania Family Planning Association, which operates
the accommodation facilities for the UN refugee agency's urban case-loads
in Dar es Salaam.

Walter Mbunda, Executive Director of UMATI, has refuted such criticism.
"To the best of my knowledge, there hasn't been staff behaviour that could
be classed as malpractice," he told IRIN on Friday. "I haven't received
any such complaints. If anything, we have had compliments."

On claims of corruption within the organisation, Mbunda said: "I have
never heard of those allegations. It has not happened. We try our level
best to be competent and truthful to the UNHCR principles in looking after
refugees."

UNHCR responded to claims of intimidation at the Dar es Salaam office by
poniting to the numbers of refugees that go there for assistance.

"We have our community services department here in the offices, plus our
protection unit, and both of these units are fairly busy addressing
individual queries and cases from the refugees," Unluova said.

[ENDS]

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