More than a thousand asylum seekers have been taking part in a mass sit-in in front of the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Agadez in northern Niger since December 16. They are protesting the terrible living conditions that they are forced to endure while waiting for the UNHCR to examine their cases, and are calling for better conditions and an acceleration to the entire process.



A majority of the residents of the UN camp for asylum seekers in Agadez in northern Niger walked the 15 kilometres into town to take part in a protest on December 16.



Nearly 1,600 asylum seekers are still waiting for refugee status. The large majority of them -- more than 1,400 -- are Sudanese. Others hail from the Central African Republic, Chad and Pakistan. Most of them arrived in 2017 and they blame both the UNHCR and Nigerien authorities for the extremely difficult conditions in the camp.





Asylum seekers head to the sit-in in front of the offices of the UNHCR in Agadez, Niger. (Video filmed by our Observer Murtada Jomâa.)

The camp, which is run by the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), is spread out over five hectares on the outskirts of Agadez and is made up of 225 separate dwellings.





Our Observer Mortada Jomâa shared this photo of the camp.