Today is World Refugee Day:

The long road Home

By Pramod De Silva

Conflicts between nations and groups are rife in our world and no part of the world has been spared. All conflicts lead to human suffering, but the worst aspect is the plight of the innocents caught in the crossfire. These people often have no choice but to flee to safer areas, often outside their own country. They thus become refugees - people who have been uprooted from their own homes due to conflict and persecution and who flee across international borders seeking safety and shelter.

Environmental and climate change disasters also displace people, but there is no international legal instrument to deal with them at present. A need for such a mechanism is now being felt.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defines a refugee as "a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his or her nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself or herself to the protection of that country".

In addition, the UNHCR's mandate is extended to any person who is outside his or her country of origin and unable to return there owing to serious and indiscriminate threats to life, physical integrity or freedom resulting from generalised violence or events seriously disturbing public order.

Right now, the world has 43 million of them. Today, World Refugee Day (WRD), the world will remember them and contemplate on measures that can be taken to improve their living conditions and in the long run, to resettle them. This year's theme for WRD is appropriate in this context - Home. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is focusing especially on displaced children under the slogan 'They took my Home, but they cannot take my Future'. Children are the most vulnerable segment of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons.

The purpose of World Refugee Day is to draw attention to the plight of refugees, celebrate their courage and resilience, and renew commitment to solving refugee problems. It is also an opportunity to recognise the contributions that refugees make to the countries that host them although hardliners in these countries may oppose their very presence.

Some 43.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2009, the highest number of people uprooted by conflict and persecution since the mid-1990s, according to UNHCR's annual 2009 Global Trends report, released last week. Alarmingly, the number of refugees voluntarily returning to their home countries has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years.

"Major conflicts such as those in Afghanistan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo show no signs of being resolved," says UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

"Conflicts that had appeared to be ending or were on the way to being resolved, such as in southern Sudan or in Iraq, are stagnating. As a result last year was not a good year for voluntary repatriation. In fact, it was the worst in 20 years."

Annual symposium

The High Commissioner, addressing the annual Berlin Symposium for Refugee Protection on the first day of his second five-year mandate, added that "already a majority of the world's refugees have been living as refugees for five years or more. Inevitably, that proportion will grow - if fewer refugees are able to go home."

The UNHCR report shows that only 251,000 refugees went home in 2009, the lowest since 1990. This compares to a norm over the past decade of around a million people repatriating each year.

The number of people uprooted by conflict within their own country grew by four percent, to 27.1 million at the end of 2009. Persistent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Somalia mainly accounted for the increase in the overall figure. Here in Sri Lanka, the remaining IDPs are being rapidly resettled in their own homes and areas. A considerable number of Sri Lankans also live in India as refugees.

Some refugees opt not to go to their home country and instead apply for asylum in the country they flee to or in another (third party) country such as the UK and Australia. The number of new individual asylum claims worldwide grew to nearly one million, with South Africa receiving more than 222,000 new claims last year, making it the single largest asylum destination in the world. However, there are many who seek to migrate to the West or to other rich countries purely on economic grounds, but they cite (often non-existent) persecution at home as a reason. The latter category has given rise to human trafficking on a large scale.

The annual 2009 Global Trends report, which reviews statistical trends and patterns of conflict-related displacements, also covers Stateless persons. The number of people known to be Stateless at the end of 2009 was 6.6 million though unofficial estimates range as high as 12 million.

Also with resettlement - through which refugees hosted in one asylum State, usually in the developing world, are permanently relocated to another State, usually in the developed world - UNHCR submitted a record 128,000 individuals for resettlement in Third World countries, the highest level in 16 years.

At the end of 2009, 112,400 refugees were admitted for resettlement by 19 countries, including the United States of America (79,900), Canada (12,500), Australia (11,100), Germany (2,100), Sweden (1,900), and Norway (1,400).

The main refugee groups resettled in 2009 were from Myanmar (24,800), Iraq (23,000), Bhutan (17,500), Somalia (5,500), Eritrea (2,500), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2,500).

UNHCR protection

Out of the total number of displaced persons across the world, only about half fall under the protection of the UNHCR. In 2009, the UNHCR was protecting 10.5 million refugees and 15.6 million IDPs - leaving 28 million displaced people worldwide who were not able to avail themselves of the protection of the UNHCR.

The office of the UNHCR, which will turn 60 in December, protects, assists and seeks solutions for refugees. The persistence of conflict makes voluntary return to countries of origin, the solution preferred by host countries and refugees alike, more difficult.

High Commissioner Guterres has said that the main challenges were the "growing resilience of crises," the shrinking humanitarian space in which refugees can find shelter and humanitarian agencies can work, and the erosion of asylum space.

"Being forced from your home by conflict or persecution is a tragedy whether you've crossed an international border or not. Today, we are seeing a relentless series of internal conflicts that are generating millions of uprooted people," he has said.

There should be greater support from all countries, especially developed countries to resolve the refugee crisis. The amounts needed to rescue these people are less than what is needed to rescue banks, according to the UNHCR. The overwhelming burden of displacement is borne by developing countries. Eighty percent of refugees are in the developing world. Generosity and wealth are not proportional to each other.

The best hope for the world is that conflicts would end, as it happened in Sri Lanka. In the meantime, the international community must do more to address the problems faced by refugees and the countries they belong to, as well as the countries they go to. A concerted effort is needed to improve their lot and make them feel at 'home' wherever they are. As the UNHCR slogan says, securing their future is the most important task in hand.

Facts on refugees

* 43.3 million people forcibly displaced (up from 42 million in 2008) - this is the highest number since the mid-nineties.

* Figures for refugees remained stable in 2009, at 15.2 million (10.4 million receiving protection or assistance from the UNHCR).

* 27.1 million conflict-generated IDPs (from 26 million in 2008).

* 15.6 of the 27.1 million IDPs are receiving protection or assistance from the UNHCR.

* UNHCR presented more than 128,000 refugees for resettlement consideration by States, the highest in 16 years.

* The number of refugees in a protracted situation remained high at over 5.5 million, spread across 21 countries.

* Developing countries hosted 8.3 million refugees, or 80% of the total refugee population under the protection of the UNHCR.

* Three countries hosted more than one million refugees in 2009: Pakistan (1.7 million), Iran (1.07 million) and Syria (1.05 million).

Origin of WRD

For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks. As an expression of solidarity with Africa, which hosts the most refugees, and which traditionally has shown them great generosity, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 55/76 on December 4, 2000.

In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention, and that the Organization of African Unity had agreed to have the International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on June 20. The Assembly therefore decided that from 2001, June 20 would be celebrated as World Refugee Day.