UNHCR’s Alphonse Munyaneza: championing refugee inclusion in Brussels
UNHCR’s Alphonse Munyaneza: championing refugee inclusion in Brussels
Born in Rwanda, Alphonse spent his early years in Brussels where his father worked as a diplomat. The family returned to Rwanda when he was 11, but less than one year after returning their lives were turned upside down by the 1973 Rwandan coup d'état:
“I discovered the refugee life very early. When I was 12 years old, I fled to Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Zaire at the time. In Rwanda, my mum was put under house arrest, my father was in jail. One day we were also arrested at school - all my siblings. We fell sick under house arrest, and my mum felt that we were about to die, so she decided to escape. It was like a movie - a woman, four children, running in the night being pursued by army soldiers. This is the story of many, many millions of women from South Sudan, from South Africa, etc. My mum made the journey that many African woman did.”
It was during this first experience of flight that Alphonse first encountered UNHCR, through a man named Mr. Hess.
“This is what inspired me about UNHCR - this guy realized that for two years, we could not study… he went and met with the boss of the college…he came back and said to my mum, ‘If they pass the admission exam they are in.’ So UNHCR paid [for] my studies. So, this is a thing that nobody knows, is that I'm UNHCR staff, and my studies were paid by UNHCR!”
Diploma in hand, Alphonse moved to Belgium, and worked for several years in the private sector. Mr Hess’s act of kindness had planted a seed in Alphonse’s mind that soon grew into a desire to help others who like him had been forced to flee. For this, Alphonse had only one destination in mind - UNHCR HQ!:
“So I went to Geneva with a literally one-way ticket and with a guitar, and I played in the metro in Gare Cournavain [in downtown Geneva]. During the day, I was trying to get an interview to work with UNHCR.”
Alphonse’s impressive CV soon landed him a job with UNHCR. Restless to return to ‘the field’, he was quickly deployed to Somalia and then Kenya. There, Alphonse cut his teeth as a protection officer in the Dadaab Refugee Complex, three camps housing refugees from Somalia.
“Dadaab for me was a place where I learned my basics - how to run a camp, how to run a community, how to organize communities, refugee committees, and how to organize the governance of the refugees … they were my formative years.”
Alphonse’s time in the field left him keen to apply what he had learned about refugee protection and needs to the European context.
“I believe what I'm doing in Belgium is a continuum of what I started in Dadaab,” says Alphonse.
Through his own lived experience and professional expertise, Alphonse knew the importance of community-building among refugees, especially in making their voices heard in decision-making.
By approaching various groups of refugees from different countries, listening to their needs, and building networks with local authorities, Alphonse started to lay the long-term foundations for better refugee inclusion in Brussels.
The result: ten Refugee Committees, all operating under one Umbrella Committee, all in direct dialogue with the Brussels-Capital region Government. The committees put refugee voices at the heart of any government decision-making that impacts them, with the aim of finding long-term solutions.
“It’s refugee empowerment and I'm very proud of this project. The government of Belgium when we approached them, they embraced UNHCR’s approach… Seven refugees have been contracted as government officials working directly with regional ministers and senior civil servants responsible for integration. This means they have a direct say in policies impacting refugee.”
Read more on the Refugee Committees making their voices heard in Brussels
With the escalation of the international armed conflict in Ukraine, the arrival of refugees from Ukraine cemented the relationship between the committees and the Brussels Region - The Ukrainian Voices Refugee Committee was born and, from the outset, the close collaboration between Committee, the local authorities, and UNHCR brought concrete results, benefiting both refugees from Ukraine and the many other parts of the world from where people flee.
Refugees are now managing up to 9 hotels and 4 buildings as reception facilities, and running a community centre where refugees can get together, learn languages, work, play sports, and access information and services from the state or private sector.
Despite his achievements, Alphonse shows no sign of slowing down, and will doubtless continue to champion refugee inclusion for years to come.
“I always want to be in a place where I can transform things. And transforming in such a way that it stays after I’ve gone. What is next is another adventure where there is a possibility to save lives.”
