UNHCR

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UNHCR

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
• - Numbers as of 31st December 2006

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What is UNHCR?

• International refugee organisation, aim to
  protect refugees
• High Commissioner, elected by UN General Assembly
• Mandate, indviduals beneath the Conventions 1
  article (i.e. definition of a refugee)
• Provide protection and assistance for those
  indviduals

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Background the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, 1948

• What is the meaning of universal rights?
• Morality
• Status condition

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Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted
and proclaimed by the United Nations, on December
10, 1948

• Article 13
• 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement
  and residence within the borders of each State.
• 2. Everyone has the right to leave any country,
  including his own, and to return to his country.
• Article 14
• Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy
  protection in other countries asylum from
  persecution.
• This right may not be invoked in the case of
  prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political
  crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and
  principles of the United Nations.

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Who is a refugee? Definition in Article 1, 1951
Geneva Convention

• 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 nationality, and is unable to or,
  owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself
  of the protection of that country...

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Convention against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

• Article 3
• No State Party shall expel, return (refouler)
  or extradite a person to another State where
  there are substantial grounds for believing that
  he would be in danger of being subjected to
  troture.
• For the purpose of determining whether there are
  such grounds, the competent authorities shall
  take into account all relevant considerations
  including, where applicable, the existence in the
  State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross,
  flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

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1951 Convention in Relation to the Status of
Refugees (GC)

• Forms a base for international refugee law
• Puts forward nation state obligations for
  recognised refugees (the right to be treated in
  the same manner as citizens of the host society
  in general)
• To be investigated further what does these
  rights mean?
• What is the difference between refugee rights and
  subsidary form of protection?
• What is the problem with returning?

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Two fundamental principles of international
refugee law

• asylum discretionary provision by states of
  formal legal status to refugees
• - non-refoulement absolute obligation on state
  parties not to return refugees to countries in
  which their lives or freedom would be threaten

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UNHCR numbers of concern

• 32.9 million persons of concern
• of these 9.9 million refugees globally
• does not include 4.3 million Palestinian refugees
  who fall under the responsibility of UNRWA
  (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
  Palestinian refugees in the Near East)
• Other regional documents
• OAU Convention governing the specific aspects of
  refugee problems in Africa, adopted on Sept, 1969
• Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, Colloquium on
  the International Protection of Refugees in
  Central America, Mexico and Panama, Nov 1984

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persons of concern

• (a) refugees (30.1)
• (b) asylum-seekers (2.3)
• (c) internally displaced persons (IDPs) (38.9)
• (d) refugees who have returned home (returnees)
  (2.2.)
• (e) IDPs who have returned home (5.7)
• (f) stateless persons (17.7)
• (g) a category for other persons in a refugee or
  returnee-like situation (3.2)

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IDPs - 12.8 million (100 increase)

• newly displaced, notably in Colombia, Iraq,
  Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste
• UNHCR has taken up lead roles for the clusters of
  protection, emergency shelter, and camp
  coordination and management as a result
  expansion of IDPs notably in the Democratic
  Republic of the Congo and Uganda

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Major refugee hosting countries

• Pakistan 1.3 million
• Islamic Republic of Iran 387,000
• United States of America 844,000
• Syrian Arab Republic 702,000
• Germany 605,000
• Jordan 500,000

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Major source countries of refugees

• Afghanistan
• Iraq
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Congo
• Burundi

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Three durable solutions for refugees

• voluntary repatriation to the home country
• local integration in the country of asylum and
• resettlement in a third country

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Local integration a two-way and
multi-dimensionalprocess of acclimatization

• Legal rights
• Freedom of movement and the capacity to travel
  with valid travel and identity documents
• Access to education, the labour market, to public
  relief and assistance, including health
  facilities,
• The possibility of acquiring and disposing of
  property
• The realization of family unity
• Process which should lead to permanent residence
  rights and ultimately, the acquisition of
  citizenship
• Economic rights
• being able to pursue sustainable livelihoods and
  contributing to the economic life of the host
  country
• Socio-cultural rights
• understood as an interactive process involving
  both a process of acclimatization by refugees and
  accommodation by nationals and local communities,
  and based on the principles of non-discrimination
  and non-exploitation

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Major countries of resettlement

• United States 41,300
• Australia 13,400
• Canada 10,700
• Sweden 2,400
• Norway 1,000
• New Zealand 700
• Finland 550
• Denmark 530
• Netherlands 500
• United Kingdom 380
• Ireland 200
• Brazil 50
• Chile 40
• Argentina 20
• Mexico 10

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Asylum-seekers

• are persons whose applications for asylum or
  refugee status are pending a final decision
• - assistance
• - freedom of movement
• - registration, documentation and temporary
  permits
• - groups with special needs

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Asylum-seekers 596,000 pending

• Of these 503,000 lodged first time in 2006
• Most applications were registered in Europe
  (299,000), followed by Africa (159,000), the
  Americas (78,000), Asia (53,500), and Oceania
  (7,100)
• South Africa is the main destination for new
  asylum-seekers and one of the largest recepient
  in the world

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Recognized

• 196,000 asylum-seekers were recognized as
  refugees or given a complementary form of
  protection
• In Europe, 33,200 asylum-seekers were granted
  individual refugee status under the 1951
  Convention and another 37,500 a complementary
  form of protection (humanitarian status or
  subsidiary protection).
• Africa was the second largest region in terms of
  the number of asylum-seekers being recognized in
  2006 (53,800), followed by Asia (34,900), and
  North America (32,500).
• Noll, Gregor (1999) Rejected asylum seekers the
  problem of return Online http//www.unhcr.org/re
  search/RESEARCH/3ae6a0cd0.pdf

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CEAS and the Hague programme, November 2004

• The European Commission adopted on 17 February
  2006 a Communication on Strengthened Practical
  Cooperation in the area of asylum. With this
  Communication, the Commission presents its vision
  of how Member States should further cooperate on
  asylum with a view to the establishment of a
  fully harmonised EU system. The Communication
  sets out a work programme for operational
  cooperation between Member States which should
  lead to improvements in the efficiency and the
  quality of the asylum systems of Member States.

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Four main legal documents on asylum in the
European Union

• the Reception Conditions Directive guarantees
  minimum standards for the reception of
  asylum-seekers, including housing, education and
  health.
• the Asylum Procedures Directive will ensure that
  throughout the EU, all procedures at first
  instance are subject to the same minimum
  standards.
• the Qualification Directive contains a clear set
  of criteria for qualifying either for refugee or
  subsidiary protection status and sets out what
  rights are attached to each status.
• the Dublin Regulation clear rules about the
  Member State responsible for assessing an
  application for asylum.

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