Zimbabwe to Host the World Refugee Day Celebrations in Chipinge, Emphasizing Solidarity and Inclusion

By Ilyana Sithole

Zimbabwe will be celebrating along with the rest of the world the World Refugee Day on 20 June 2025, and the day of national celebration will be celebrated in Chipinge. The UNHCR and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare addressed the media in preparation for the celebrations reaffirming the nation’s unwavering commitment towards the safety and well-being of refugees.

The Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Hon. Advocate Mercy. M Dinha, and UNHCR Country Representative, Mr. B. Bamba, also emphasized the most important need for solidarity with refugees, particularly in view of the ongoing crises prevailing around the world at present.

The UNHCR Country Rep before getting into his remarks thanked the Minister for a chance to highlight the situation of the refugees, saying, “It is not only here, but it is around the world.” He reiterated the significance of World Refugee Day, which celebrates and honors “the resilience and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home to escape conflict and persecution.”

This year’s theme, “Solidarity with Refugees”. “Solidarity is respecting refugees, not with words, but with actions. It is listening with depth, letting room to their testimonies. It is fighting for their rights, in order to seek safety, and solutions to their issues,” Mr. Bamba ensured. He emphasized that solidarity in fact means “to speak clearly and boldly that refugees are not alone, and that we will not turn our back on them.”

Zimbabwe has a population of about 17,000 refugees in the Tongogara Refugee Settlement and the remaining in urban towns such as Harare. Most of the refugees enjoy access to land for farming with irrigation facilities, healthcare, education, and water among others in the camp. Mr. Bamba appreciated the efforts of the Zimbabwean government in empowering and helping refugees through the current Tongogara transformation plan to upgrade the settlement to a center of services for refugees and host communities.

“Most of them are in the settlement with access to land for farming, including irrigation, to health care, to education, and to water services in Tongogara,” Mr. Bamba stated. He also mentioned a recent success story, saying, “I was glad to hear last week that one of the football players in Tongogara had signed with a Zimbabwean club to play. This is an indication of the integration of refugees into society.”

In spite of international funding limitations on humanitarian actors, Mr. Bamba asserted that “solidarity with refugees is well alive” in Zimbabwe because of support from the government, the district authorities, UN agencies such as WFP (through food), and other foreign NGOs such as World Vision among others in addition to national organizations and refugee-led organizations.

Deputy Minister Dinha reaffirmed Zimbabwe’s commitment to international and national law systems that are the foundation for refuge protection. She said, “Zimbabwe is a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocols, the 1969 OAU Convention and other world pieces of legislation that enshrines the protection of refugees and asylum seekers.” These world instruments have been internalized into the Zimbabwe Refugees Act [Chapter 4.03], the 1985 Regulations, and other policy support guidelines.

The Honourable presented the refugee population composition, which showed that the 17,200 asylum-seekers in Zimbabwe are largely from the Democratic Republic of Congo (76%), with Mozambique (11%), Burundi (4%), Rwanda (3%), and other small nationalities making up the other 6%. She explained that the flow is largely attributed to “the down trail movement from the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa,” and that “entrenched civil unrest in North and South Kivu DRC” is one of the main causative factors. The national trend of influx foresees continued increase with an estimated 18,000 refugees by December 2025.

While Zimbabwe largely employs a settlement system in accordance with its reservations to the 1951 Convention, Deputy Minister Dinha explained that “some refugees who are business people and professionals are given authority to work and are living outside Tongogara Refugee Settlement.”

The Ministry is also working to provide civil documents to the refugees, such as birth certificates for the born-in-Zimbabwe refugees, IDs to everyone, and refugee passports to allow them to access schools and travel outside the country.

Deputy Minister Dinha also highlighted the six Zimbabwean government commitments to the UN Global Refugee Forum of 2019 and renewed in 2023. The commitments brought onto center stage livelihood opportunities promotion, improvement of access to civil documentation, provision of asylum rights, integration in sports, education access, and review of national legislation for enhancing protection of refugees. As part of these initiatives, the government has provided 175 hectares of arable land for refugees at Tongogara Refugee Camp, and Tongogara FC is now playing in Division 1.

The Zimbabwe Refugees Act, enacted into law in 1983, is being revised to give effect to alignment with evolving international trends toward universal refugee protection.

The collaborations of the Ministry also do not limit to different organizations such as UNHCR, Terre Des Homes-Italy, World Vision, other UN agencies, and development partners across different sectors.

In anticipation of World Refugee Day, Deputy Minister Dinha reiterated that the day is “not only as an occasion but an opportune space to re-affirm our commitment in promoting refugee inclusion in all spaces as enshrined in our national development strategy ‘leaving no-one and no-place behind’.

Both speakers invited the media and the public to attend and celebrate with them at Tongogara on 20th June, calling for a shared commitment to improved lives for Zimbabwean refugees until durable solutions are pursued for each of them.