ADDIS ABABA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has hailed Ethiopia for boosting refugees' and asylum seekers' access to basic services through an initiative that includes them in the national digital identification system. It envisages facilitating refugees' and asylum seekers' access to basic services such as telecom, finance and other services, the UNHCR said in a statement issued late Thursday. The initiative to include refugees and asylum seekers in the Ethiopian digital ID system was recently launched by the Ethiopian Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) in partnership with the Ethiopian National ID Program and UNHCR. Data from UNHCR show that Ethiopia hosts more than 823,000 refugees and asylum seekers, predominantly from its neighboring countries, South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan, across 24 refugee camps. Mbogori also called on countries across the African continent to emulate Ethiopia's move toward boosting refugees' and asylum seekers' access to basic services.
