Archbishop Mpundu commends President Hichilema over refugee policy

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Archbishop TRERESPHORE MPUNDU

Archbishop Mpundu commends President Hichilema over refugee policy

September 14, 2023

LUSAKA – Emeritus Archbishop Telesphore Mpundu has commended President Hakainde Hichilema for approving a national refugee policy and has supported calls for granting citizenship to refugees in line with Article 37 of the Constitution of Zambia.

In a media statement, the former Archbishop says more can and should be done under our current legal framework to address the legal status of refugees in Zambia.He said refugees are an embodiment of ‘strangers’ to whom Jesus referred in Matthew 25:35-40.

He said granting citizenship to refugees who meet the legal requirements aligns with Zambia’s commitment to human rights and will harness their skills to contribute to our country’s socioeconomic growth.

“Denying refugees and their children, who have known no other home but Zambia, the
opportunity to obtain citizenship renders them stateless – an inherently inhumane situation that we must rectify,” he said.

Archbishop Mpundu has instead implored President Hichilema to transfer remaining perpetrators of genocide, if there are any who were not tried in Arusha, to Geneva or another neutral country in Europe or the USA where they can receive a fair and impartial trial in accordance with international law.

Zambia is currently a home to an estimated total of 89,100 refugees out of which 17,305 former refugees and their children who have been declared stateless by virtue of the cessation clause declared in 2013 and have lived in Zambia for 30 years.

(C) THE FALCON

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