UNHCR: 80 Per Cent Of Refugees In Developing Countries

By Manik Mehta NEW YORK, June 4 (Bernama) -- Some 80 per cent of the displaced refugees are to be found in the developing countries, said Antonio Guterres, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Speaking at the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York recently where he launched his book called “The State of the World’s Refugees: In Search of Solidarity”, he called for greater international solidarity to address this challenge. This, he said, encompassed providing greater resettlement opportunities for refugees in the industrialised world, focusing development cooperation projects to foster sustainable voluntary return or local integration, and supporting host communities. Most of the world's 43 million people forced to flee their homes today are not refugees but people who are displaced within their own countries, commonly referred to as internally displaced people, or IDPs. Globally, some 26 million people fall into this category, compared to around 15 million to 16 million refugees and a further one million asylum-seekers. Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, said the present flashpoints in Syria, Sudan and Mali were unleashing waves of refugees. Indeed, the year 2011 had recorded the highest number of refugees. He also spoke about the idiosyncrasies of the unipolar and bipolar world. “The kind of U.S. intervention, as it took place in East Timor, would not be possible in today’s unipolar world,” he responded to a question by George Rupp, head of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) during a Q & A session at the CFR. But he also admonished that “old crises do not die”. He cited the examples of Afghanistan, Somalia, Congo, etc. Guterres acknowledged that with the ongoing economic crises in a number of donor countries, the willingness to increase or even maintain the hitherto levels of assistance was declining. “Humanitarian space is shrinking,” he maintained. “The UNCHR has not been able to act effectively in countries of the Third World,” he said. It was not easy having a dialogue with elements such as rebel groups and militants who were also responsible for causing refugee exodus. Indeed, even the work of United Nations peacekeepers and humanitarian volunteers tends to overlap and, at times, they perform duties that exceed the purview of their work. “Much of the movement (of refugees) today is taking place not across borders but within the borders of the country affected. But matters become worse when neighbouring countries where the refugees head are poor,” he added. Displacement of refugees from conflicts was compounded by a combination of causes, including climate change, population growth, urbanisation, food insecurity, water scarcity and competition for resources. All these factors combined to increase instability and conflict, and forced people to move. According to Guterres, the world is creating displacement faster than it is producing solutions. "And this means one thing only: more people (will be) trapped in exile over many years, unable to return home, to settle locally, or to move elsewhere. Global displacement is an inherently international problem and, as such, needs international solutions - and by this I mainly mean political solutions." According to Guterres, the space for humanitarian intervention is shrinking exactly when the need for humanitarian help is increasing. Pressures on the international protection system are clearly growing. In some industrialised countries, in particular, one discerns fortress mentalities that serve only to shift responsibility and compassion elsewhere. “International solidarity is very important ... it is difficult, for example, to tell a country like Jordan to accept Syrian refugees, although that country already has Palestinian refugees,” Guterres said. Guterres emphasised that to mitigate the problems worldwide, it was necessary to find political solutions. There are a lot of “sleeping conflicts” in the world. Prevention of conflicts is also better because it obviates human suffering and also saves costs. -- BERNAMA