The Role of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees - Research Paper Example

 U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Introduction: The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was established as far back as 1950 with the specific goal of rehabilitating refugees and ensuring that they were protected until the crisis in their countries had abated, or successfully repatriated in other countries. This office has been working in accordance with the principles outlined in the Refugee Convention of 1950, which defines who is a refugee and what is the nature and duration of the protection that is to be extended to them. This research effort aims to examine the achievements of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the context of the provisions of the 1950 Convention. The United Nations Commissioner for Refugees: The office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees was established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 14, 1950, following the initiatives of Fridtjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer and scientist who was awarded the Nobel peace Prize in 1922 for his work with refugees1. The major purpose behind setting up of this agency is in initiation of action to protect refugees worldwide and the current High Commissioner is Mr. Antonio Gueterres, who became the Agency’s 10th High Commissioner on June 15, 20052. Initially, the organization was set up for a period of three years, primarily to address the problem of 1.2 million European refugees; however, its mandated has been continuously extended in five year installments since then in order to continue providing assistance to displaced refugees, with its work earning Nobel prizes in 1954 and 1981.3 It has grown from a small agency to a worldwide organization that is helping to deal with the problems created by the estimated 17 million refugees today and about 15 to 21 million displaced persons most of whom are women and children4. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees works with displaced persons and refugees in order to protect them and resolve their problems by providing them sanctuary in another country, or helping them to return safely to their own country and integrate locally. The 1951 refugee Convention: The 1951 Convention relating to the status of Refugees is the key document that deals with protection of refugees. The document defines a refugee as a person who “owing to well founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country…..”5 It offers a flexible and universally applicable definition of who constitutes a refugee, which has also been able to accommodate emerging new categories of refugees over the years6. It was also supplemented with a Protocol in 1967 that has removed geographical restrictions inherent in the former document. It is a properly designed instrument that has been designed with balance in mind. For example, the scope of refugee protection was only to extend to the duration of a conflict. In the words of the first UNHCR’s first High Commissioner, “Refugee status should not be granted for one day longer than is absolutely necessary.”7 Therefore, as soon as the crisis that precipitated the fleeing and refugee status is mitigation or removed, the refugees are to return to their own countries. Moreover, the definition of a refugee as outlined in the Geneva Convention does not include those who flee for purely economic reasons, but rather those who are the victims of political or civil strife in their countries as a result of which they fear persecution. It does not offer protection for those individuals who flee from human rights abuses, rather it applies to those individuals who are displaced outside their state of origin, those who lack the protection of a State and those who fear persecution for reasons that have been defined with the scope of this instrument8. The function of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is to ensure that 107 host nations that have agreed to abide by the Convention respect international standards that have been laid out for the treatment of refugees, especially in the fields of education, residency, employment, freedom of movement and protection against being forcibly repatriated back to their country of origin9. The UNHCR works with both the refugees and the host countries. In the case of the refugees, the UNHCR provides them with access to social workers and legal assistance in processing their claims for asylum. It also provides guidance and assistance to those countries where refugees are being repatriated, and simultaneously works closely with other UN bodies to ensure that a balanced package of emergency relief assistance is provided to the refugees such as food, shelter and medical assistance, apart from education, training and access to social services. Additionally, the UNHCR also arranges for psychological counseling and rehabilitation of refugees. Within the UK, in order to legally qualify as a refugee in the UK under the principles of the Refugee Convention of 1951, he must have a well founded fear of persecution. The fear must arise for a Convention reason, one of which is that the individual must be a “member of a particular social group”, the parameters of which were established by the Court of Appeal in the case of Secretary of State for the Home Department v Sergei Vasilyevrich Savchenkov10. Achievements of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Kazhakstan: One of the significant achievements of the office of the United nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been in Kazakhstan. Although Kazakhstan has accepted the terms of the Refugee Convention of 1951, it has been the office of the High Commissioner that has been responsible for ensuring that the political will to undertake rehabilitation of refugees is actively taken up by the government of that country11. The office of the High Commissioner established the Refugee Status Determination Commission in order to identify refugees who would qualify under the principles of the 1951 refugee Convention. Currently however, the refugee status determination procedure is only operational in Almaty and Chimkent, thereby being limited to asylum seekers from those countries, however the scope of these activities are sought to be expanded by the office of the UN High Commissioner. The office of the Commissioner has also helped to coordinate the working of various government departments. It has conducted training seminars and round tables in order to raise the levels of awareness about refugees among Government officials and to provide them with the necessary training in identifying and dealing with refugees. Moreover, it has also helped the General prosecutor’s office to develop a database of refugees and oralmans.12 However, further efforts are also being made for the adoption of a national refugee law in Kazhakstan, in order to create a solid basis for a fair and effective national asylum procedure. In this effort, the office of the Un has been working in accordance with the provisions of the Refugee Convention which mandate that when a crisis situation has abated, the refugees and displaced persons are to return home. In order to ensure that the refugees can be effectively rehabilitated, the UN office has also been working with the local Governments, through clearly demarcating who exactly is a refugee under the refugee determination program. Efforts in African countries: In the past few years, the efforts of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has been focused on the needs of African countries and in helping refugees from these countries deal with post conflict situations. As a part of this effort, humanitarian efforts made by the office of the UN High Commissioner for refugees in coordination with other relief agencies have been organized into clusters of relevant agencies, with a designated cluster lead, namely the Un Commissioner for Refugees. As a part of this cluster effort, the UN High Commissioner’s office has been involved in relief efforts for refugees in the African countries of Liberia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia.13 As a part of this cluster, the office of the UN High Commissioner for refugees has worked for the benefit of internally displaced persons, by providing them emergency shelters. It has made the most headway as leader of cluster activities in Liberia, where it has been working with internally displaced persons who are returning to the same areas. In coordination with its partners, since 2004, it has enabled the return of about 314,000 Liberian displaced persons living in camps. At the same time, it is also trying to find solutions for those in Liberian refugee camps who do not wish to return to their places of origin. The success of the Un High Commissioner’s office in Liberia is because it has been a part of the rehabilitation efforts on behalf of refugees from the beginning. However in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the office of the High Commissioner was not involved with the internally displaced persons before the cluster approach was introduced and as a result, it has faced a more difficult challenge in these countries. In the case of Uganda, despite the initial complications, some collaborative strategies with other organizations as well as response plans have been implemented. In both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, efforts are being made to facilitate the refugees where conditions permit. In Uganda, the efforts of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is now being channeled towards the establishment of an operational presence in the north in order to ensure more effective protection of internally displaced persons and refugees within Uganda14. Since the security situation in these countries is also in a precarious state, extra efforts are made by the office of the Commissioner to provide enhanced protection for the refugees and internally displaced persons. In Somalia, the office has started three quick-impact projects in order to provide protection for displaced women and children. Movement within and outside camps is being facilitated in camps in Uganda, so that the refugees have access to farming and trading areas outside. In the conflict ridden area in Somalia, the region of Somaliland in the northwest has emerged as an oasis of peace and several refugees from nearby Ethiopia who were being supported by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees were rehabilitated in this area. This was a part of the ambitious program of the office of the UN High Commissioner to close up seven refugee camps in eastern Ethiopia by 2000.15 These refugee camps were first set up during the Somalian civil conflicts of 1988-91 and 1994-95 and about 60 percent of the refugees were slowly returned to Somaliland by 2000. Ever since Sudan gained its independence in 1956, it has been beset by civil wars between the North and the South, culminating in the present day bloody crisis that is going on in Darfur. As a result of the conflict dragging out for more than 21 years, the stability, growth and development of the nation has been affected; two million people have died, four million people have been uprooted and more than 600,000 people have been reduced to the status of refugees, seeking shelter in countries other than Sudan in order to escape the incessant conflicts.16 Subsequent to the Naivasha Peace Accord that was signed between the North and South forces, millions of refugees are returning to their homes; however they are returning to areas where the basic infrastructure has been either destroyed or was non existent in the first place. The UNHCR is working in association with other UN agencies as well as Non Government organizations and local community organizations to provide assistance for the returning refugees through Community based reintegration projects in the areas of water, health and education, as well a sin the creation of income generating activities17. For example, one of the programs the UNHCR is supporting is an effective demobilization program has commenced in the Congo’s Ituri District, run and financed by the UNDP at a cost of $2.5 million dollars (www.platformblogs.com). Under the program 4500 ex-combatants will be offered the opportunity to register themselves, hand over their arms and provided assistance so that they can be reintegrated into civilian life18. The programs targets the members of three ex combatant groups and about 30 % of them are to retrained for the armed forces, while 70% of them will be integrated into civilian life. (www.platformnblogs.com). With the surrender of weapons, each ex-combatant will be provided with $110 in order to provide for transportation costs and also an entry card that is valid for them to gain construction work such as rebuilding roads and schools and sanitary systems at a rate of $2 per day for 90 days. These ex-combatants will also be provided with finance to start their own business, if they wish to avail of this option. The UNHCR has undertaken more than 100 rehabilitative projects in the Sudan area, through the construction of hospitals and public health care centres, construction and rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools, while it is also collaborating with UNMAS to develop mapping of land mines in order, while also funding and expediting mine clearance activities19. In the case of Darfur, the UNHCR is faced with logistics obstacles and security challenges as it tries to assist the 200,000 Sudanese who have fled the Darfur region as well as the 1.6 million displaced within this region. The UNHCR has organized logistics operations to help move refugee camps to distances that are further away from the volatile borders of Sudan and Chad which is conflict laden. At these camps, food and emergency relief supplies as well as medical supplies are provided through emergency airlifts.20 There are also mobile monitoring units of the UNHCR moving around within the conflict laden areas in Darfur, visiting people who are displaced and ensuring that some basic security arrangements are in place for their safety. The operations of the UN office in the African countries has been geared around ensuring that those who have been persecuted and therefore left their home countries or are displaced within them, are provided the means to be able to return to their countries. Due to the efforts of the UN office, there is also temporary provision of shelter and basic amenities to these refugees in order to ameliorate the difficulties they face. Since these refugees from Africa are in most cases the victims of persecution due to their ethnicity or race, for example the Sudanese are victims because they are black Christians as opposed to the ruling Muslim Arabs, they qualify as refugees under the Refugee Convention. Moreover, by also working with local Governments, the UN office is ensuring that these countries also adhere to the principles of the Convention by providing for the repatriation of refugees. Afghanistan and other countries: One of the successful peacekeeping missions which has also aided refugees was that conducted in Albania. This mission was denoted as Albania Harbour. Based upon a request from the Albanian Government, the mission was authorized by the North Atlantic Council on 12 April 1999 and lasted till 26th August. The office of the United National High Commissioner worked closely with the peacekeeping forces to provide humanitarian assistance and to ensure that refugees were rehabilitated21. In Afghanistan, the UNHCR has played a significant role since 2002 in rehabilitating refugees and helping them to return to their country. More than 4.8 million Afghans have been able to return to their countries from neighboring Pakistan and Iran, while half a million internally displaced people have also returned home.22 There are still over 3.5 million Afghans who still have to be repatriated. Nevertheless, the repatriation movement of refugees from Afghanistan between 2002 to 2004 is the largest repatriation operation undertaken by the UNHCR during the last five years. Since Afghanistan now has a democratically elected President with a Parliament as well as a Constitution although there are still challenges that exist in terms of economic development and political transitions in the country. Lack of job opportunities is still driving many Afghans outside the country, however of the refugees who have still not been repatriated, most have grown used to living outside the country and are foreign born, therefore in their case, the UNHCR follows a policy of voluntary repatriation, so that those who opt to return to their country can do so. Efforts in Iraq: In recent times, the conflicts in Iraq have generated large numbers of refugees, creating an enormous humanitarian challenge and a great deal of hardship for millions of displaced Iraqi families23. The displacement first started during 2003 under the former regime, but continued through 2006 due to large numbers of Iraqis feeling conflict ridden areas of sectarian and ethnic violence, such that by 2007, about 2 million Iraqis are projected to have been displaced24. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that one in seven Iraqis are displaced and about 2000 Iraqis are newly displaced each day. Recently, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has also provided assistance to refugees in Iraq. During the recent Muslim festival of Ramadan, the office organized meals for about 9000 needy Iraqi refugees in Damascus just on the first day of the month and about 270,000 meals are projected to be distributed throughout the Ramadan month.25 However, in most instances the escalating violence and unstable situation within Iraq has been forced to render assistance through remote management. The situation is especially precarious in the central and southern regions of the country. Iraq is a current focus of concern, since it is not only an area which generates huge numbers of refugees each day but is also home to about 43,000 refugees, most of whom are of Palestinian origin. The states neighboring Iraq are placed under tremendous pressure because the arrival of large populations of refugees has placed a severe burden upon the limited resources available in those countries.26 In these neighboring countries, the efforts of the UN High Commissioner is on supporting Government structures in order to enable refugee Iraqis to access basic public services and amenities such as education, health and community services. The UN agency is constructing schools, clinics and community centers and providing counseling and special care for the most vulnerable of the refugees27. Steps are also being taken to register these displaced Iraqis, with about 150,000 being registered and 9000 among them who are most vulnerable, such as women at risk, being recommended for resettlement. The UNHCR also supports health care centers and emergency food and other stockpiles that can support about 150,000 beneficiaries28. However the UN High Commissioner’s office is also implementing activities within the country by setting up protection and assistance centers, which were formerly referred top as legal advice and information centers. The office has a strong presence in the northern part of the country and in Baghdad. These centers within Iraq are able to provide emergency assistance to Palestinian refugees. The UNHCR estimates that about 30% of the Iraqi refugees are women and most Iraqi refugees who are being helped by the UNHCR are victims of torture, car bombings, sex or gender based violence or other forms of violence. The UNHCR has also set out objectives for the future, the targeted population of refugees will be increased and measures will be taken to improve educational facilities for Iraqi children, many of whom have not been attending school for the past three years. Additionally, the UNHCR aims to enhance protection available to refugees and to identify and provide focused assistance to the most vulnerable internally displaced refugees within Iraq and has appealed for 223 million U.S. dollars for its Iraq operations in 2007.29 Conclusions: D-Adesky points out that in recent times, the number of refugees has been increasing; the end of the Cold War brought an influx of East European refugees while the Gulf war has displaced numerous people in the middle eastern regions.30 With the rising influx of refugees, many nations that are faced with their own problems of racism and xenophobia are reluctant to accept and rehabilitate more refugees. In the words of Albert Peters, the head of the UNHCR’s New York office, “the problem of refugees has not only grown in size but in complexity, to the point where it truly is a global problem – all nations are affected.”31 However, in applying the provisions of the Refugee Convention, the office of the UN High Commissioner for refugees has been acting strictly in accordance with the definitions and provisions laid out in it. As demonstrated through the description of its efforts above, this office has provided assistance only to those who are genuine victims of political or ethnic persecution, rather than those who may flee their countries purely on the basis of economic need. The UN office has also worked in tandem with other agencies, NGOs and local bodies to ensure that temporary shelter and emergency facilities are also provided for those who are in a state of fleeing from ongoing conflict situations, as in Darfur. Moreover, the aim of the Convention is to ensure that refugees are repatriated as soon as possible, when conditions in their home countries favor their return, which has been the policy followed by the UN office as it works with local Government agencies in order to provide them with the necessary assistance they need to help the returning refugees. In view of the fact that the number of refugees is ever increasing, there is a growing reluctance on the part of other nations to accept poor, homeless refugees into their borders and to provide for their needs. However through the efforts of the UN office, there is also additional assistance available for these neighboring countries, as for example Syria which is the neighboring country to Iraq, so that additional infrastructure and facilities can be provided to cope with the increasing influx of refugees. The UN office also works in tandem with other UN bodies, assuming the leadership role in some clusters and adopting a subsidiary role in some clusters, so that the burden of aiding and assisting and providing humanitarian aid to refugees is not loaded on one agency or country, but can be distributed among various agencies. The UN office for Refugees however, does play a pivotal role in coordinating relief efforts for refugees in all parts of the globe. The aim of the Refugee Convention is to deal with a manageable number of refugees and it was initially intended only to rehabilitate those refugees from eastern Europe after the IInd world war. Providing for an unlimited number of refugees would be an untenable position because means and resources would not be available. Since the parameters of what constitutes a refugee have also been clearly spelt out in the Refugee convention, this ensures that the UN office and public bodies are not burdened with the responsibility of providing for those refugees who have left their home countries purely for economic reasons, since those would not constitute an acceptable definition of a person who is a refugee under the Convention. The plight of a refugee is heartbreaking, however they do represent a drain on the economic and social resources of those countries that are the recipients of refugees. Therefore, the office of the UN High Commissioner has been serving a vital purpose in the wake of the growing tide of refugees. It has provided relief to millions of refugees all over the world and also facilitated the efforts of those countries where refugees take shelter in their efforts to help these people in their time of difficulty. It has been functioning as a global agency, coordinating relief efforts all over the globe and successfully repatriating numerous refugees back to their home countries. It has ensured that the principles of the Refugee convention are successfully applied in the context of refugees and internally displaced persons in helping to alleviate the humanitarian crises generated by civil and political conflicts over the globe. 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[online] Retrieved September 17, 2007 from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_n3_v28/ai_11547649/pg_1 * “Ex-Militia members in DR Congo’s Ituri district to begin demobilizing –UN” [online] available at: http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2007/07/ex-militia-memb.html * “Growing needs amid continual displacement” [online] retrieved September 17, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/iraq?page=intro * Harvey, Colin, 2000. “The meaning of persecution” New Law Journal, 159 (6945): 1120 * “Iraq situation response: Update on revised activities under the January 2007 supplementary appeal.” [online] Retrieved September 17, 2007 from: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-753D7P?OpenDocument * Protecting refugees” [online] retrieved September 15, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/protect/3c0794574.html * Secretary of State for the Home Department v Sergei Vasilyevrich Savchenkov (1996) Imm AR 28 * “Somalia: Repatriation threatens stability in Somaliland.” [online] Retrieved September 16, 2007 from: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/729/ * South Sudan Operation. [online] retrieved September 17, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/southsudan?page=intro * “The wall behind which refugees can shelter” [online] Retrieved September 17, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/home/PUBL/3b5e90ea0.pdf, at page 15 * “UNHCR: Basic Facts” [online] Retrieved September 14, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/basics.html * “UNHCR lays on free meals for Iraqi refugees during Ramadan.” [online] retrieved September 16, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/home.html * UNHCR’s expanded role in support of the inter agency response to internal displacement situations.” [online] Retrieved September 15, 2007 from: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/excom/opendoc.pdf?tbl=EXCOM&id=44892fc82 * United nations High Commissioner for refugees” [online] Retrieved September 14, 2007 from: http://www.un.kz/script_site.php?id=39 Read More