World Refugee Day
Jun. 20th, 2011 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nairiporterThe increasing number of displaced people is an increasing problem worldwide. A UNHCR report released today reveals deep imbalance in international support for the world's forcibly displaced, with a full 4/5 of the world's refugees being hosted by developing countries - and at a time of rising anti-refugee sentiment in many industrialised ones.
According to UNHCR, there are approximately 43 million people displaced worldwide today. That is an unfathomable figure. And behind this figure are 43 million personal stories, 43 million people that do not have a secure place to call home.
Some refugee camps are unfortunately made permanent. Children grow up and live their whole life in these camps. I often talk with colleagues about the need to put in place such international programs like for example the European Resettlement Programme. With such programmes we could be able to coordinate our efforts in order to empty an entire camp, but that is only a drop in the ocean.
More than 1 million people have fled Libya over the past few months, the large majority were foreign workers who needed (and received) assistance in returning home. A few have arrived in Europe but a large number of people are still in refugee camps in the neighbouring North African countries. In Tunisia and Egypt there are many people fleeing the Libyan war who now have no homes, or for whom return would be as unsafe as staying in Libya (Somalis and Eritreans for example). We must find solutions for their resettlement, including in neighbouring regions. These people should be in our thoughts even more today, on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, especially as the general attitude among decision makers these days seems to be that it is easier to talk about effective border control than humanitarian responsibility.
And perhaps it is time for changing the way we think about the issue of displaced people:
While camps are often appropriate as a way to organize an immediate response to large-scale refugee outflows ... the displaced prefer the flexibility and relative freedom of living in urban areas, or finding space with a host family in rural settings. The advantages are many: ability to find paid employment, even if only day-labor in the informal sector; access for their children to local schools, especially for internally displaced people; relative freedom of movement and engagement with the outside world compared to the closed confines of a typical camp.
According to UNHCR, there are approximately 43 million people displaced worldwide today. That is an unfathomable figure. And behind this figure are 43 million personal stories, 43 million people that do not have a secure place to call home.
Some refugee camps are unfortunately made permanent. Children grow up and live their whole life in these camps. I often talk with colleagues about the need to put in place such international programs like for example the European Resettlement Programme. With such programmes we could be able to coordinate our efforts in order to empty an entire camp, but that is only a drop in the ocean.
More than 1 million people have fled Libya over the past few months, the large majority were foreign workers who needed (and received) assistance in returning home. A few have arrived in Europe but a large number of people are still in refugee camps in the neighbouring North African countries. In Tunisia and Egypt there are many people fleeing the Libyan war who now have no homes, or for whom return would be as unsafe as staying in Libya (Somalis and Eritreans for example). We must find solutions for their resettlement, including in neighbouring regions. These people should be in our thoughts even more today, on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, especially as the general attitude among decision makers these days seems to be that it is easier to talk about effective border control than humanitarian responsibility.
And perhaps it is time for changing the way we think about the issue of displaced people:
While camps are often appropriate as a way to organize an immediate response to large-scale refugee outflows ... the displaced prefer the flexibility and relative freedom of living in urban areas, or finding space with a host family in rural settings. The advantages are many: ability to find paid employment, even if only day-labor in the informal sector; access for their children to local schools, especially for internally displaced people; relative freedom of movement and engagement with the outside world compared to the closed confines of a typical camp.
