UN Documents and Exchanges
- HC's Dialogue: "Care and Maintenance," a problem; Local Reimbursement, an Alternative; and Work and Movement Rights in "Unifying Purpose of All the Solutions We Propose"
- UNHCR: "Care and Maintenance" Model "Flawed," to be "Averted"
- Warehousing at ExCom 2008
- Global Needs Assessment Identifies Work and Movement Violations but few Solutions
- NGOs Draft Rights-based Conclusion on Self-Reliance
- RCUSA asks USG to Offer Integrative Aid as Warehousing Alternative
- Note on International Protection
- New Draft Policy on Refugees in Urban Areas
- Warehousing at UNHCR's 42nd Standing Committee
- Protracted Refugee Situations
- Conclusion on Self-Reliance
- RCUSA: Move Beyond Vocational Ed to Right to Work
- NGOs Call for ExCom Resolution on Self-Reliance Rights
- NGOs to Call for ExCom Conclusion on Self-Reliance
HC's Dialogue: "Care and Maintenance," a problem; Local Reimbursement, an Alternative; and Work and Movement Rights in "Unifying Purpose of All the Solutions We Propose"
The annual High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges took place in Geneva December 10-11, 2008, focusing on protracted refugee situations. The bulk of states' attention was on durable solutions rather than the challenges of protecting refugees during such situations; indeed the title on UNHCR's webpage was "Looking for a Way Out." Nevertheless, the rights of refugees made frequent and persistent appearances. High Commissioner Antonio Guterres opened his with remarks including:
the real promise of the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights] lies in its guarantees of equality and non-discrimination, of the rights to education and free choice of employment, of freedom of movement within states and the right to leave and return to one's own state. Refugees in protracted situations may be denied these rights for years. … [T]he unifying purpose of all the solutions we propose is to make good on [these] guarantees.
In "Enduring Exile," an op-ed coinciding with the Dialogue, he elaborated:
In the vast majority of cases, the refugees are left behind, obliged to spend the best years of their lives in shabby camps and shanty settlements, exposed to all kind of dangers and with serious restrictions placed upon their rights and freedoms. …
Many of these refugees are effectively trapped in the camps and communities where they are accommodated. They cannot go home… Only a tiny proportion have the chance of being resettled … And in most cases, the authorities in their countries where they have found refuge will not allow them to integrate with the local population or to become citizens of those states.
During their long years in exile, these refugees are confronted with a very harsh and difficult life. In some cases they have no freedom of movement, do not have access to land and are forbidden from finding a job. …
Packed into overcrowded settlements, deprived of an income and with little to occupy their time, these refugee populations are afflicted by all kinds of social ills, including prostitution, rape and violence. Unsurprisingly, and despite the restrictions placed upon them, many take the risk of moving to an urban area or trying to migrate to another country, putting themselves in the dangerous hands of human smugglers and traffickers.
Refugee girls and boys suffer enormously in such circumstances. A growing proportion of the world's exiles have been born and raised in the artificial environment of a refugee camp, their parents unable to work and in many cases reliant upon the meagre rations provided by international aid agencies. …
I consider it intolerable that the human potential of so many people is being wasted during their time in exile…
Particular emphasis should be placed on providing exiled populations with livelihoods, education and training. With these resources at their disposal, refugees will be able to live a more productive and rewarding life and prepare for their future, wherever that might be.
Tanzania's Prime Minister Mizengo Peter Pinda followed with a keynote address offering the pointed recommendation that combatants feel the suffering of the refugees in camps:
Whenever we have political turmoil, we have had two categories of people who are running away from their homelands and communities, namely the common people and the Rebel Leaders. The common people are the ones called Refugees and they end up in Refugee Camps, whereas, the Rebel Leaders are people in exile and they end up living in luxurious Cities and mansions in Developed Countries. … This kind of luxurious life will never make Rebel Leaders feel that Refugee life is full of pain, torture and suffering. The Rebel Leaders do not know the suffering the Refugees go through in the Camps and therefore they have no hurry to participate in the Mediation Meetings leave alone concluding the negotiations. The challenge before the International Community and the UN in particular is to make the Rebels realise and feel the suffering the Refugees go through in and outside the Camps.
He also quoted Tanzania's first President Julius Nyerere's March 1983 address to the OAU Secretariat:
If 10,000 or a 100,000 Refugees are spared the trauma of living in temporary camps because the local population helps them from a spirit of kinship, this is surely an advantage for both the Refugees and the Aid Agencies. It is, however, still a burden to the local government. Schools and medical facilities, and food supplies, which were adequate for the local population, will no longer be adequate – because of the Refugees.
UNHCR and states gave increased attention to USCRI's alternative, i.e., that the international donor community should reimburse these local institutions as an alternative to warehousing, in the breakout sessions. (This was originally advanced as "Moving Forward: Identifying Specific Measures to End Refugee Warehousing" at the 2004 Pre-ExCom consultations.)
In Guterres' Summary, he noted the value of self-reliance and, implicitly, the right to work independent of any durable solutions, distinguished the rights-based approach from "care and maintenance," and proposed a radical alternative:
Self reliance is not a solution in itself, but it is an important element in enhancing all solutions. For some countries, where there are large numbers of refugees in areas with limited resources, local integration is simply not an option. But self-reliance should be the way to address the needs of refugees. It is our duty to promote self-reliance, even if such advocacy can be difficult in some circumstances. …
Turning to "care and maintenance," we need to try to be innovative and find approaches which allow for rights to be fully respected. To be able to deliver protection, a rights-based approach is important. We need to avoid compounding problems, and instead transform them into solutions. …
In terms of innovative forms of support to refugees that fully respect rights, cash grants may have a helpful role to play. It is normally better to trust people to make their own choices.
UNHCR: "Care and Maintenance" Model "Flawed," to be "Averted"
UNHCR prepared "Protracted refugee situations" as a discussion paper November 20, 2008 for the upcoming High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges. It refers to "the principle of international solidarity and responsibility-sharing," outlines the weaknesses of the "care and maintenance" model of refugee aid, and proposes an alternative approach based on the promotion of livelihoods and self-reliance. Excerpts:
What can be done at the earliest stage of a refugee emergency, for example, to avert the need for long-term care and maintenance programmes? Is the problem of protracted refugee situations being adequately addressed in the process of UN and humanitarian reform? Would a reappraisal of the traditional distinction between humanitarian and development funding make it any easier to find durable solutions for the world's long-term refugees? [or rights-based protection in the meantime?] [p. 4] ...
1. Millions of refugees throughout the world have been living in exile for years or even decades on end, without any immediate prospect of finding a solution to their plight. While some live in reasonable conditions and are able to attain a degree of self-reliance, many are obliged to spend the best years of their lives in shabby camps or shanty settlements, exposed to a wide range of dangers and unable to exercise all of their rights. ...
21. Regrettably, some of the people who have been forced to flee by violations of their human rights may experience further violations of or restrictions to their rights once they have left their country of origin. In too many protracted refugee situations, exiled populations are unable to exercise freedom of movement. Some do not enjoy freedom of assembly or association and live under the arbitrary authority of government officials, security personnel and unrepresentative refugee leaders. ...
37. People who have benefited from education, skills training and livelihood opportunities during their time as refugees, and who have been able to attain a degree of self-reliance while living in a country of asylum, retain their hope in the future and are better placed to create and take advantage of new economic opportunities after their return. ...
53. In the 1980s and 1990s, the predominant response to large-scale refugee influxes in developing countries was the establishment of 'care and maintenance' programmes. According to this model, refugees were admitted to host countries, usually on a group and prima facie basis, and housed in camps on land provided by the authorities. ...
56. With the benefit of hindsight, however, it is clear that this model was also flawed in several ways. In many cases, armed conflicts persisted and the causes of flight were not eradicated. Refugees were left to live in camps indefinitely, often with restrictions placed on their rights, as well as their ability to support themselves by means of agriculture, trade or employment. Confronted with the need to respond to a spate of new emergencies, donor states became disinterested in and disenchanted with such care and maintenance programmes, which were expensive to implement but which brought few longer-term benefits to refugees, local populations or the host state.
57. … the refugee populations concerned were affected by a growing number of social and political problems: high levels of survival sex and other negative coping mechanisms; sexual and gender based violence; conflicts within the refugee community and between refugees and local populations, onward movements to other countries and growing vulnerability to trafficking; as well as the politicization and militarization of camps. As a result of these problems, refugees were in some situations seen as a threat to local and even national stability, a perception that led to additional infringements of refugee rights, including, in some instances, violations of the non-refoulement principle.
58. In recent years, there has been a new recognition of the fact that refugee situations usually persist for much longer than expected, that voluntary repatriation is often rendered impossible by continuing conflicts in countries of origin, and that the number of refugees who can benefit from resettlement in a third country is usually very limited.
59. These factors have prompted a new emphasis on strategies and solutions in countries of asylum. UNHCR, for example, has taken a number of steps to move away from the care and maintenance model… The [upcoming] Dialogue provides an ideal opportunity to take stock of recent experience and to reassess the strategies that might be pursued to ameliorate and resolve the plight of refugees in countries of asylum
60. When they arrive in a country of asylum, refugees bring their knowledge, skills, qualifications and life experiences with them. As well as this social capital, some also bring valuable productive assets, such as tools, transportation and working animals. …
61. UNHCR considers it essential to capitalize upon these assets, to support the efforts that refugees invariably make to establish their own livelihoods and to enable them to become self-reliant. As recognized by the Agenda for Protection, this strategy has a number of important advantages. It enables refugees to contribute to the economic life of the countries and communities in which they live. It reduces the need for long-term and costly international relief programmes. It promotes positive interaction between refugees and their local hosts and averts the protection problems, including sexual and economic exploitation, that plague many protracted refugee situations.
62. Last but by no means least, it enables refugees to maintain their dignity, to make use of their talents and to prepare them for a durable solution, wherever that might be. As UNHCR has observed elsewhere, "self-reliance is not in itself a durable solution but can be a precursor to any one of the three durable solutions. Even in situations where local integration does not appear to be a viable solution for a refugee population, self-reliance should be vigorously pursued as it does not preclude eventual voluntary repatriation but rather facilitates sustainable reintegration."[c] As the Executive Committee has also recognized, "promoting the self-reliance of refugees from the outset… will enhance the sustainability of any future durable solution." [Executive Committee Conclusion no. 104, 2005.] …
64. …a number of basic principles will have to be observed in the implementation of livelihoods and self-reliance activities. First and foremost, they must be firmly underpinned by measures to enable long-term refugees to exercise their rights and freedoms. One cannot expect exiled populations to establish sustainable livelihoods and become self-reliant in a context where they are unable to leave their camps, find a job, establish a business or have access to agricultural land, and are obliged to eke out a living in dangerous informal sector activities.
In his Opening Statement, UNHCR High Commissioner António Guterres stated
The impact of [water and sanitation problems and anaemia] on the health and welfare of [women and children in camps] has been devastating. …
I understand that a number of States continue to have doubts about local integration. But it is also fair to recognize the efforts that many refugee-hosting countries, even those that have expressed reservations, have made to ensure that refugees can live meaningful and productive lives during their time in exile.
In practical terms, that means enabling them to enter the labour market and establish livelihoods, to have access to education and vocational training, and to enjoy a positive relationship with local communities. A failure to do so has negative consequences for the refugees themselves, but may also give rise to security concerns, and stands in the way of the successful reintegration of refugees upon their return. [pp. 3-4]
Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller in her Statement said
International aid, particularly when focused on care and maintenance, is a partial response only. The [Protracted Refugee Situation] initiative is about realising responsibility-sharing more creatively, stabilising protection and re-orienting assistance towards sustainable livelihoods and more tangible benefits for host populations. … The initiative currently under elaboration in Pakistan, which would create a "carpet village" where Afghan carpet weavers can practice their profession while transferring their skills to their local hosts is a fine example.
The General Conclusion on International Protection (No. 108) urged UNHCR and its partners:
to adopt a rights- and community-based approach in engaging constructively with individual persons of concern and their communities [and, in protracted situations, recognized] the need for Governments, UNHCR and the international community to continue to respond to the asylum, protection and assistance needs of refugees until durable solutions are found… [and] Stresse[d] the importance, while searching for solutions, of supporting the efforts of host countries to enhance education, health care and provision of other basic services in refugee-impacted areas, and encourage[d] State parties to respect the full range of rights included in the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol and, mindful of the particular conditions applicable, to explore the most practical and feasible means to accord freedom of movement, and other important rights underpinning self-reliance.
In the General Debate:
Côte d'Ivoire's representative stated that "practices in certain countries similar to refoulement, and the holding of asylum-seekers in conditions not dissimilar to imprisonment were a matter of grave concern."
Iran's representative declared that refugees in his country "had been given access to the same health, education and other facilities as Iranian nationals. Only 3 per cent of the approximately 1 million Afghan and Iraqi refugees lived in camps." He also noted, however, that "The presence of the displaced persons and refugees had created various problems relating, inter alia, to illegal employment."
Yemen's representative noted as a security problem that "refugees often try to flee camps for villages and cities."
Brazil: "[In Brazil] asylum seekers have the right to work, temporary residence permits, and access to the public health and education systems until decision are made with regard to them. They can also circulate freely. … Brazil is ready to on the matter share its experiment with the interested partners."
Namibia's representative declared of refugees and asylum seekers in her country "A number of them worked and contributed greatly to the growth of the economy. Women, in particular, who made up a large share of the refugee community, were encouraged to work."
Gabon's representative said that his country had taken steps to "avoid the creation of refugee ghettoes. Such steps included… integration in the workforce and refugee access to cultivable land."
Mexico's representative said that her country's incorporation of international refugee law included the right "to the free exercise of gainful employment on the national territory."
Sudan's representative observed that "Many refugees continued to live in 'closed' camps without any humanitarian assistance from the international community for basic necessities. His delegation therefore requested that the actual needs of refugees in the Sudan should be included in the Global Needs Assessment. The Sustainable Options for Livelihood Security in Eastern Sudan programme had not been implemented satisfactorily, owing to lack of funding, and he therefore appealed to UNHCR to help evaluate the programme and devise effective alternatives."
Bhutan's observer said that "Given the need for a culture of security in field operations in order to create a safe environment for refugees, acts of violence and intimidation in camps must be dealt with swiftly. He shared the concern of UNHCR regarding violence by persons registered in or operating from refugee camps in Nepal, and emphasized that any form of violence was inconsistent with the civilian and humanitarian character of asylum and refugee status."
The NGO Statement noted "that working with a government that fails to fulfil its obligations under international human rights law is not easy. Public messages from UNHCR, however, should highlight the rights of populations at times, instead of the often seen uncontroversial messages about the numbers of blankets and tents distributed." It also observed that "Urban refugees often reside in cities without legal documentation, have inadequate access to education or health care, and are denied work permits. They are often subjected to periods of prolonged detention, especially in countries with encampment policies."
In the Summary of the Debate on International Protection, October 8, 2008:
The Assistant High Commissioner for Protection stated "There remains however a disturbing number of refugees who do not enjoy the rights which are formally guaranteed them by refugee law." She also observed that "There will remain however cases, probably many, where secondary movement is justified."
Australia's representative, after describing his country's resettlement program, said "It is also important to stress the improvement of the conditions under which refugees live in prolonged situation, in particular, allowing them to have income-generating activities."
The United States' representative said "Refugees often bring with them skills that when applied are beneficial to the host communities and countries. Refugee self-reliance requires the support of the entire international community. It is not a means to an end but rather a path to dignity while in exile."
The Russian representative, referring to refugees fleeing the conflict with Georgia, said his country responded "in particular by opening its labor market" to them.
The Venezuelan representative said that, in his country, "All asylum applicant have the right to work in the national territory. Many companies have expressed intention to hire asylum seekers and refugees, who can also open bank accounts to facilitate their social integration."
Sudan's representative said his government "helped refugees arrive at self-sufficiency."
Norway's representative noted that "asylum seekers have in particular the right to have access to just and effective asylum procedures, to education, work and a decent standard of living, and to benefit from freedom of movement."
In his Closing Remarks, the High Commissioner stated:
The empowerment of women must also remain a central focus of our work in the coming year. This is a key component in achieving protection and solutions. Girls' education, access to livelihoods and economic empowerment create the conditions through which rights can be most effectively articulated and exercised. ... Traditional models of protection, assistance and solutions, based on the establishment of camps, will be less and less relevant. But what will take their place? In particular, we must ask ourselves: How can public institutions and civil society in urban areas develop the capacity required to provide services not only to their usual clients but also to displaced populations? [p. 3]
Global Needs Assessment Identifies Work and Movement Violations but few Solutions
As part of its Global Needs Assessment, UNHCR also issued an October 2008 pilot report, Refugee Realities, on eight countries and the impact of warehousing on poverty and protection gaps was evident in most of them, including
Cameroon (p. 5): "those who find work often suffer from unpaid salaries and few legal rights. Women and girls may be exposed to sexual exploitation and other abuses. The fragile economic situation of many refugee families increases domestic violence."
Ecuador (p. 7): "Freedom of movement may also be problematic for those without documentation as ad hoc checks raise the risk of arrest and detention… Asylum seekers and unregistered refugees do not have access to formal employment and are compelled to work in the informal sector, where they are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse." (P. 7.)
Rwanda (p. 12): "A lack of documentation hinders free movement and protection of refugees."
Tanzania (pp. 18, 19):
The 1998 Tanzanian Refugee Act and the Tanzanian Refugee Policy mainly conform to principles of international refugee law, except for some provisions, particularly the requirement that refugees and asylum seekers stay within designated areas, and the limitation on their right to work which is restricted to small income-generating activities within refugee camps. These restrictions leave refugees entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance. …
The encampment policy and work restrictions make refugees totally dependent on assistance provided by UNHCR and its partners. This contributes to the incidence of SGBV, including survival sex, in the camps. Refugees are also exposed to a high risk of rape and assault when, driven by the need for fuel and income, they leave the camps. Some families resort to selling their food rations to buy firewood or charcoal, negatively affecting their food security and nutrition. Lack of clothing and school uniforms negatively impacts on school attendance rates and increases the vulnerability of girls to sexual exploitation or having to resort to survival sex to pay for clothes/uniforms. Poor living conditions contribute to a relatively high incidence of pneumonia, a major cause of child death.
Zambia (p. 23): "Although self-reliance is promoted, refugees face a number of constraints including lack of freedom of movement, restrictions on where they are able to work, the prohibitive cost of work permits and limited opportunities."
The report, however, identifies few rights-based remedies although, in Ecuador, it noted that a planned mass registration of refugees will improvetheir rights to work and move freely. In Zambia, it called for advocacy on Zambia's refugee policy to improve protection, but proposed only $3,000 for the task. In Thailand (p. 17), the report said gaps in "basic material support and services" could lead to "harmful consequences for refugees. These gaps could force refugees to seek work outside the camps." It did not, however, propose advocacy for alternative to warehousing that would legalize such work.
In total, it proposed spending an additional $63.5 million on food, health, water, sanitation, non-food items, firewood or fuel alternatives, education, enhanced reception facilities, documentation, asylum systems, training, technical support, border monitoring, unspecified support for "community security measures" and "justice mechanisms," safe houses, and "opportunities for women's self-reliance."NGOs Draft Rights-based Conclusion on Self-Reliance
A number of NGOs from refugee hosting and donor nations have drafted a rights-based Conclusion on Self-Reliance with equitable international responsibility sharing for consideration at the 2009 session of UNHCR's Executive Committee. This is the product of extensive discussions over the past few years (see below) and is the successor to the USCRI-RCK draft put forward earlier.
USCRI's President and CEO Lavinia Limón sent a letter September 16, 2008 to the U.S. Department of State encouraging them to consider the draft and to share it with their fellow ExCom members at upcoming meetings in Geneva. If you would like to send a similar letter to your foreign ministry and other influential ExCom members, here's one you can modify to taste that we will deliver for you.
RCUSA asks USG to Offer Integrative Aid as Warehousing Alternative
Refugee Council USA, in its September 12, 2008 letter to the U.S. Department of State in advance of UNHCR's ExCom meeting, advised it
to encourage its fellow members of the Executive Committee to ensure that a rights-based Conclusion on Self-Reliance with equitable international responsibility sharing remains one of the possible areas of consideration. ExCom's guidance on this important topic is long overdue and unfinished business from the Agenda for Protection. It is important for PRM to show its support especially for this theme and to reach out to host country members and show our good faith in supporting integrative modes of assistance as an alternative to forced encampment and exclusion from the labor market.
Note on International Protection
The June 30, 2008 Note on International Protection was reorganized with new sub-sections explicitly entitled "The right to freedom of movement" and "The right to work" in the section on the right to enjoy asylum. The note stated:
Cases of camps attacked by rebel groups and forced recruitment of children by armed groups posed problems in a number of operations, including Chad. …
The right of persons of concern to freedom of movement and residence (UDHR, Article 13(1)) was curtailed in other ways. Sometimes, they were required to relocate to certain areas of the country or were restricted to camps. In this respect, Rwanda's removal in April 2008 of its reservation to Article 26 of the 1951 Convention on freedom of movement was welcome. In numerous countries, UNHCR documentation helped facilitate greater freedom of movement. Nevertheless, the compounding effects of corruption by public officials and abusive arrest and detention of refugees and asylum-seekers remained problematic in a number of situations. …
Asylum-seekers, refugees and others of concern seeking access to justice often had difficulty in securing recognition as a person before the law, equal protection of the law, an effective remedy for violations of their rights and/or full equality in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal (UDHR, Articles 6–8 and 10; 1951 Convention, Article 16). Sometimes, they were too far from or denied access to national courts. Displaced women and girls were discriminated against in traditional justice mechanisms in camps. …
Continuing difficulties in securing access to the right to work for asylum-seekers and refugees (UDHR, Article 23; 1951 Convention, Articles 17–19), reflected many States' reluctance to allow foreigners access to national labour markets. Yet, access to employment is essential to realizing other human rights and is inherent to human dignity. It can protect against SGBV and is integral to achieving self-reliance and durable solutions. …
Where refugees were confined to camps, [lack of access to housing, healthcare and other services] could result in serious health problems, as in the case of the 2,700 Palestinian refugees who continued to live in the Syrian/Iraqi border area.
New Draft Policy on Refugees in Urban Areas
On June 13, 2008, UNHCR issued a new draft Policy on Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Urban Areas. This includes refugees who refuse to live in camps, even if they settle in rural areas. (The High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges, December 10-11, 2008, will include this issue along with Protracted Refugee Situations, its main topic.) Excerpts (emphasis added) include:
Protection interventions and strategies should aim at States authorities assuming full responsibility for the protection of asylum-seekers and refugees by treating them in accordance with refugee law and human rights standards…
In an urban setting, it is particularly important that the protection of and asssitance to asylum-seekers and refugees be integrated into national systems, and parallel structures be avoided. …
[R]egistered refugees from camps move spontaneously into towns and villages and reside among local populations, … usually without authorisation, and may be considered as unlawful by the authorities. In these situations, the "registered" status of the refugees when residing inside camps may no longer be recognised by the authorities.
The unauthorised stay of camp refugees outside camps, does not, ipso facto, vitiate the refugee status of the individuals concerned. … Protection interventions should include advocacy with the authorities to recognise the protection problems existing in camps which lead to the movement of refugees from the camps, and setting in place strategies and plans of action to address these problems…
Every person has the right to work, and States are required to take appropriate steps to safeguard this right. [Art. 6 ICESCR.] The right to work and achievement of self-reliance supports the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to highest attainable standard of health.[c]
The 1951 Convention contains extremely progressive provisions in relation to refugees' right to wage earning employment, self employment, practice of liberal professions as well as to the protection of domestic labour laws and social security.[c] As regards asylum-seekers, the right to work is less clear. Nonetheless, the ExCom has recognised that it could be mutually beneficial if asylum-seekers could attain self-reliance through provision of opportunities to do so. [ExCom Conclusion No. 93 (LIII) para. b (vii).] …
In the urban context, realising the right to work in respect of asylum-seekers and refugees is particularly important as this contributes to reinforcing coping mechanisms, enhances the standard of living of the individuals concerned, reinforces access to services, and facilitates local integration and other durable solutions. … For women, particularly those who are in poverty, the availability of livelihood opportunities [ExCom Conclusion No. 105(LVII) paragraph (k)(ii)] contributes to avoiding negative coping measures, such as recourse to survival sex, and is therefore critical to the protection of refugee and asylum-seeker women. …
[I]n many situations, refugees are not able to move toward self-reliance due to … absence of a right to work in the country; [and] non-recognition of academic qualifications…
[W]here UNHCR-recognised refugees do not have lawful status, advocacy with the authorities for the right to work … is crucial. In this context, advocacy strategies may include advocacy to extend the right to work to refugees in the same way as nationals or residents, or as an exception within national laws and policies, or as a component of wider policies for migrant workers in the country. …
It would also be necessary to monitor the protection situation to ensure that refugees are not exploited or arrested for "illegally" working, and to make interventions accordingly. …
Durable solutions should be pursued without discrimination between camp and urban refugees …
Where appropriate, cooperation with other UN agencies involved with development programmes such as UNDP, ILO could also be explored with a view to mainstreaming integration programmes for refugees into national development and funding plans. …
Whether accommodated in camps or residing in urban areas, protection should be ensured to asylum-seekers and refugees without discrimination as to their location…
In countries where refugees are required to be accommodated in camps, it is not uncommon for refugees to move from camps to urban centers in the hope of securing employment … UNHCR does not, as a matter of principle, support governments' encampment policies which limit freedom of movement… UNHCR offices should not be part of or take any action to compel refugees who have moved to urban areas from camps to return to the camps…
There is no basis for a punitive approach toward those who move from camps to urban areas. There may in fact be protection reasons existing in the camps which give rise to the movement to urban areas. Therefore, no punitive measures should be implemented on refugees who move to urban areas from camps.
Warehousing at UNHCR's 42nd Standing Committee
Leading up to the 42nd meeting of the Standing Committee, the June 2, 2008 Draft Report of the 41st Meeting of the Standing Committee (4-6 March 2008) reported that
In countries where comprehensive solutions were not yet feasible, [the Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific] challenged both the refugee hosting countries and the donors to suggest what could be done to promote interim solutions to allow refugees and asylum-seekers to live decent and dignified lives. The Director encouraged all stakeholders to have a frank discussion about what was required to accomplish these vital goals. She … not[ed] that excluding categories of people from the socio-economic fabric of hosting societies can leave them prey to extremist groups and criminal elements and eventually increase security concerns.
On the other hand,
Refugee-hosting countries … [cited] the difficulty of offering … the right to work for refugees and asylum-seekers, given their own economic and developmental problems.
The June 2, 2008 Protracted Refugee Situations: Revisiting the Problem stated that:
Many refugees caught up in them live in remote and insecure areas, with limited opportunities to move around, or to have access to land, the labour market and educational opportunities. It is unsurprising that, as one result, protracted refugee situations are often characterized by high levels of personal trauma, social tension, sexual violence and negative survival strategies.
13. Protracted refugee situations also drain scarce humanitarian resources. In many instances, refugees have been supported by long-term "care and maintenance" programmes, entailing significant costs to the international community without offsets through a self-reliance focus.
It also observed that efforts toward durable solutions must
be matched by interventions to ameliorate the current situation of the refugees … by enabling them to engage in productive activities as the basis for sustainable livelihoods. …
The success of any such programming is of course contingent upon: … the ongoing commitment of countries of asylum also, including a readiness to accommodate local self-reliance and livelihood strategies.
Standing Committee devoted item 4(a) of its agenda to protracted refugee situations and, on June 25, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller delivered a statement referring to people wiling away "a lifetime in shabby camps" and including these excerpts:
Protracted refugee situations breed their own serious difficulties. … They include gender and domestic violence, anti-social youth behaviour, negative survival strategies…
[Concerns include] Community unrest, environmental damage and insufficient resources for open-ended care and maintenance … onward irregular movements, or camps which may serve as a breeding ground for further regional insecurity.
The oft talked about relief-to-development continuum, or rather the absence thereof, is a part of the picture. UNHCR is but one among many actors who must contribute to the process of finding solutions. The challenge is to bring all these relevant actors to the table. …
Stay in countries of asylum is increasingly difficult the longer people are left without self sufficiency possibilities and the more their stay taxes the tolerance and infrastructure of local communities. Care and maintenance is not the solution over a longer period. … Livelihoods will, of course, be accessible in direct proportion to the availability of basic rights. Where freedom of movement is limited, there is no access to land or the labour market, and individuals lack legal status, residence rights and documentation, livelihood options are hugely constrained. …
Bureau colleagues have selected five protracted situations which might benefit from being included within the initiative at this stage: Burundians in Tanzania; Eritreans in Eastern Sudan; Afghans in Iran and Pakistan; Rohingyas in Bangladesh; and Bosnian and Croatian displaced in Serbia. We are also reviewing how the initiative could be use to help specific urban refugee groups.
UNHCR also circulated "Protracted Refugee Situations: A Planning Model" (with no date or document classification) which listed
promote progressively better access to and enjoyment of rights, such as to education, work and freedom of movement
as a "medium-term" objective. The Agenda for Protection, on the other hand, calls upon UNHCR and States to integrate strategies for self-reliance and empowerment "from the outset." This is a serious discrepancy, considering how refugees get locked into "emergency" humanitarian relief budgets.
The NGO Statement on Protracted Situations stated
Refugee self-reliance is the key element in any strategy dealing with the effects of prolonged and stagnant exile. It is more dignified for the individual, is less costly, and is a factor which can positively influence successful repatriation. Essential elements of a strategy include: providing refugees with physical, legal, and economic security; removing barriers to self-reliance; and creating opportunities for participation.
Often self-reliance is unattainable because of imposed barriers, such as legal obstacles and restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement, employment, or access to land. UNHCR can play a role in identifying these barriers, but it is the responsibility of the host government to work towards lifting them. …
with development actors [partnership] requires persistence and advocacy to ensure that refugees and refugee-hosting areas figure on development agendas.
In its July 1, 2008 Workplan for Executive Committee Conclusions, UNHCR proposed further information on its proposal at the June 9, 2008 informal consultative meeting to include self-reliance and protracted refugee situations as themes for ExCom Conclusions:
The lack of self-reliance and livelihood opportunities manifests the inability to exercise basic rights, abject poverty and continuing dependence on international relief assistance. States hosting large numbers of refugees can become reluctant to grant opportunities for self-reliance to refugees, fearing that this could lead to local integration to the detriment of other durable solutions and the interests of the local populations.
2. An ExCom Conclusion could elaborate a better understanding of the concept of self-reliance in which the individual rights and the social and economic empowerment of refugees are considered properly together with legitimate national concerns and interests. … [ExCom has yet to] fully explore it as a tool of protection, regardless of the applicable durable solution. ExCom has therefore not had the opportunity to review self-reliance as a concept in its own right, or aspects which are critical to protection. …
The NGO community has rallied strongly in support of this theme and has proposed a number of elements for a possible Conclusion. UNHCR greatly appreciates the quality of the contributions provided by NGOs during the ExCom Conclusions drafting process. …
[T]he issues meriting to be dealt with in a Conclusion [include] … the seriously prejudicial consequences protracted displacement can have on individual refugees, particularly when confined to remote and insecure areas with limited access to livelihood activities and educational opportunities; and the need to promote mutually beneficial interactions with host communities.
RCUSA: Move Beyond Vocational Ed to Right to Work
In a February 26, 2008 letter, Refugee Council USA instructed its Government to support a Conclusion on Self Reliance in 2008 or 2009. Excerpt:
The humanitarian community must move beyond encouraging vocational training and income generation projects toward a comprehensive framework that recognizes self-reliance as a vital protection tool and that helps advance refugees' basic rights to work, practice professions, own property and to move about freely in their countries of asylum. Effective livelihoods programs that build self-reliance can also help reduce dependence on humanitarian assistance and allow those limited resources to be focused on better protecting the most vulnerable.
NGOs Call for ExCom Resolution on Self-Reliance Rights
In their October 2007 consensus Statement to UNHCR's governing Executive Committee on international protection, NGOs urged it to consider a Conclusion (resolution) in 2008 "on implementation of the rights associated with self-reliance and related principles of equitable international burden and responsibility sharing," noting
The Agenda for Protection (Goal 5, Objective 7), emphasises the need to integrate strategies for self-reliance and empowerment from the outset of refugee operations, with UNHCR as a catalyst to mobilise financial and technical support for such measures. … [S}elf-reliance can be a key element of protection [and} refugees are entitled to respect for, and protection of, their human rights … to work, freedom of movement, and to an adequate standard of living, regardless of whether these are being provided in the context of a self-reliance strategy or a durable solution.
Of the nearly 17 million refugees in the world (which includes an estimated 7 million Palestinian refugees), some 8 million do not enjoy their rights under the Refugee Convention to work, to practice professions, to engage in enterprises, to own property, or to move freely. …
In addition, Iraqi families are reported to be leaving Egypt and returning to Iraq, despite great dangers, in a form of constructive refoulement because of destitution in Egypt, particularly by being denied the right to work.
Their Statement on the General Debate, said Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria
should be allowed to work, practice professions, run businesses, own property, move about freely, choose their place of residence, and have access to international travel documents, rights guaranteed by the 1951 Refugee Convention
NGOs to Call for ExCom Conclusion on Self-Reliance
If you can make it to Geneva for the Annual NGO Consultations September 26-28 before the meeting of UNHCR's Executive Committee (ExCom), be sure to come to the Roundtable Discussion, Wednesday, 4:30 pm, International Conference Center, Room 3, "Toward a Conclusion [resolution] on Refugees' Rights Associated with Self-Reliance in 2008." Judy Wakahiu of Refugee Consortium of Kenya, George Okoth-Obbo of UNHCR, and Merrill Smith of USCRI.
Self-reliance was a major component of the Agenda for Protection that ExCom has yet to address, despite UNHCR's recommendation. Such a Conclusion would be particularly relevant to major refugee-hosting countries who are not party to the 1951 Convention but who are, as ExCom members, participants in the consensus on its Conclusions. Please see USCRI/RCK draft Conclusion, submit any revisions you think important, think of ways we can move this forward next year, and come prepared to brainstorm!
NGOs Address Warehousing at UNHCR's March Standing Committee Meeting
UNHCR's Standing Committee (a sub-set of its governing Executive Committee) met in Geneva, March 6-9, 2007. NGOs were allowed to make consensus statements on a number of issues and raised warehousing and refugee rights in a number of them. Highlights include those on:
It is in the best interest of the international community to ensure that UNHCR is funded – and is held accountable – to fully ensure that refugees and displaced persons are protected, their dignity respected, and that a solution to their dilemma is sought. Refugees should not be tucked away in human "warehouses" for years on end.
The Middle East and North Africa:
We urge all neighbouring countries, whether or not they have signed the 1951 Convention, to allow the Iraqis to exercise all of their rights under the 1951 Convention, especially the rights to work and to move freely and live where they choose. Not only will this reduce the need for international aid, as more of the refugees will be able to support themselves, but it will also leave them better prepared to return to their country and rebuild it than if they had spent their exile living on assistance or in a refugee camp. …
More than a year after the clash between refugees and Egyptian security forces that left dozens of Sudanese dead, there has been no real improvement in their situation. A report from the American University in Cairo found that the restrictions on refugees' livelihoods were a major factor in provoking the tragic confrontation, but the government has made no moves to simplify the nearly impossible process for refugees to obtain work permits. Egypt hosts more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees, and with a rapidly growing number of Iraqi refugees, reform is urgent. …
We also condemn the continued warehousing of Sahrawi refugees in the camps at Tindouf, Algeria. The Polisario rebel group from Western Sahara, with the complicity of the Algerian government, has kept nearly 100,000 refugees confined to camps in the desert for more than 30 years. A recent visit by UNHCR, the World Food Programme, and European agencies found conditions in the camps to be dire, with children suffering from acute malnutrition and high rates of anaemia among pregnant and lactating women. In early 2006, flooding in the camps left 50,000 of the refugees homeless. We hope that UNHCR can work to provide better protection and assistance for these refugees including freedom for the refugees to leave the camps and work to support themselves if they so choose. Algeria's generous treatment of some 4,000 Palestinian refugees who enjoy nearly the same rights as Algerians with regard to residence and economic activity, is the model it should follow with respect to the Sahrawi.
We commend the Royal Thai government for its flexibility shown towards the promotion of refugee rights. In particular, the development and implementation of income generating activities projects outside of the camps for Burmese refugees and their efforts to make the education opportunities reachable by refugees are all welcome developments. We are encouraged by UNHCR's Strengthening Protection Capacity Project in Thailand, especially its unique civil society outreach component to business, labour, and faith constituencies for refugee rights and encourage the Standing Committee to support its robust extension. This is important in order to undergird further policy development toward refugees' rights to work, freedom of movement, and choice of residence. …
We call on Malaysia to recognise the protection needs of all refugees and asylum-seekers on its territory. The IMM13 work permits it issued to Acehenese refugees in 2005 could serve as a model of refugee protection, but Malaysia needs to expand this approach to all refugee groups. …
[W]e also urge Nepal to announce its willingness to naturalise and integrate any Bhutanese refugees who are unable or unwilling to resettle to third countries or to return to Bhutan.
Bangladesh has adopted an inhospitable attitude toward Rohingya refugees, confining the small number they recognise (about 20,000) to abysmal camps and the remainder (about 100,000) to an underground existence with no legal opportunities to earn livelihoods. While we applaud the efforts on the part of UNHCR to work with donors through recent meetings in Dhaka and Geneva, we urge Standing Committee members to engage in more diplomatic initiatives to persuade Bangladesh to ease up on its restrictions and donors to make a standing offer to help Bangladesh undertake approaches to refugee hosting that preserve dignity even while awaiting durable solutions.
UNHCR Calls for Conclusion on Self-Reliance
On January 16, 2007 UNHCR presented a discussion document calling for the October session of its Executive Committee (ExCom) to issue a Conclusion (resolution) on self-reliance. ExCom Conclusions are non-binding but many regard them as "soft-law" because they are authoritative statements of UNHCR's governing body on refugee protection and represent a consensus of its members (including several significant refugee hosting countries that are not party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees). Please see the International Standards page of the End Warehousing website for several recent examples relating to the rights to work and freedom of movement.
Here are some highlights from the UNHCR paper:
3. Self-reliance remains a critical protection issue, particularly in protracted refugee situations. … The continuing lack of durable solutions has led to dependency on humanitarian relief in most of these situations, with a few exceptions where the hosting States have allowed and facilitated refugees' ability to become self-reliant. … It is timely that the ExCom review this critical protection issue and provides strategic guidance.
4. Information … clearly illustrate[s] the link between lack of livelihood opportunities and protection risks, including vulnerability to various forms of exploitation and other threats to personal security. Refugee women in particular, face serious protection problems, including sexual and gender-based violence as well as domestic violence, susceptibility to trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse, and liability to resort to "survival sex". Furthermore, child labour is all too frequently a normal part of the daily lives of displaced boys and girls as the economic means of parents and adult carers for survival are scant. Protection problems arising from a lack of self-reliance opportunities also have the potential to generate irregular secondary movements. …
5. Countries of asylum with poor socio-economic conditions, where the host community is struggling to meet its own needs, face serious obstacles in providing self reliance opportunities to refugees. The assistance of the international community including UNHCR, NGOs, financial and development agencies is important in terms of providing resources, expertise and financial support. At the same time, the host State could provide an enabling environment in which basic economic and social rights could be exercised, including access to local labour markets, and other facilities, such as education and training. ExCom could review the obstacles faced by host States and seek to address these so as to provide a way forward in these issues. …
C. Outline for a possible Conclusion on self-reliance
7. … A Conclusion could address the following issues:
Vatican Highlights Restrictions on Refugee Work and Movement
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's permanent observer to the UN, delivered "Protection Requires More Than a Good Legal Framework" before the General Assembly's commission on UNHCR, November 8, 2006. Excerpt:
some countries do not acknowledge or uphold internationally established rights in their domestic legislation, such as freedom of movement, the right to work, and the recognition of qualifications.
UNHCR's Executive Committee: Interventions and Conclusion on Women at Risk
The United States' chief refugee official, Ellen Sauerbrey, in the opening session of UNHCR's Executive Committee, October 2, 2006, said:
We are pleased by our ability to work with the Thai government, to encourage the Thai government to allow refugees to have more opportunity to access outside of the camp, to access work employment and to have more freedom.
The Vatican's statement included:
The way of dialogue and of respect of human rights should replace that of conflict. Refugee camps, official and unofficial, would no longer stain the map of the world.
In the meantime the task on hand is the dissolution of these camps…
Society at large should also renew its sense of responsibility to protect. … Labor unions, employers, schools and faith communities can prepare their constituencies to an increasingly frequent encounter with people in need and to welcome them to build a common future.
In presenting the Note on International Protection, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller found it disturbing that "many refugees were unable to exercise their right to freedom of movement or their right to work."
The Executive Committee passed the Conclusion on Women and Girls at Risk (No. 105). Anti-warehousing highlights include:
[W]omen and girls may be exposed to certain risks, such as trafficking, in any location, … in camps, for example, their freedom of movement and capacity to earn a livelihood may be more restricted and they may be more exposed there to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) …
(e) Risk factors … may include … lack of access to livelihoods [and] those informal justice practices which violate the human rights of women and girls; …
(k) The empowerment of displaced women and girls is to be enhanced including by partnerships and actions to: …
ii. strengthen women's and girls' capacities, including … by enhancing food security, livelihood opportunities, freedom of movement and economic independence, including where appropriate through access to labour markets; …
(p) Recommended longer-term responses and solutions include partnerships and actions to: …
iv. establish mechanisms … to enable them, where appropriate, to integrate locally and safely in the country of asylum, including by examining possibilities for voluntary relocation elsewhere in the country;
Refugees Could be Agents of Development but Rights Constrained
In its June 29, 2006 discussion paper, "UNHCR, refugee protection and international migration," UNHCR outlined its mandate in broader migration flows. Excerpts:
27. While there is growing recognition of the fact that economic migrants contribute to the prosperity of their destination countries, this recognition is not always extended to refugees. Indeed, people of concern to UNHCR are increasingly perceived as a threat to national security, a drain on public resources and a constraint to local development. As a result, serious constraints have often been placed on their right to engage in economic activities.
28. UNHCR has an important role to play in countering these negative perceptions and policies, underlining the fact that refugees have the potential to as 'agents of development' in their country of asylum by boosting production, filling gaps in the labour market and creating new trading and business opportunities. UNHCR also considers that refugees who are able to undertake such activities will be better placed to go back to their country of origin and contribute to its reconstruction, once conditions allow them to return.
UNHCR: Refugees Have Rights and Can Be Agents of Development
At the June 26-28 "protection" Standing Committee, UNHCR offered a statement of observations and recommendations on the UN's High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development to take place in New York in September. Making the point that "Refugees have specific rights," the statement added:
[R]efugees can become agents of development if they are provided with an opportunity to make use of their skills and productive capacities while living in a country of asylum. UNHCR calls on states participating in the HLD to ensure that refugees are enabled to participate in national labour markets, that they are able to engage in agricultural and income-generating activities, and that the qualifications they possess are recognized in their country of asylum. At the same time, UNHCR encourages the international community to target development assistance at refugee-populated areas and to ensure that such areas are incorporated in national development plans.
NGOs Denounce Detention of Refugee Women for Adultery
The June 26, 2006 NGO Submission on International Protection to UNHCR's Standing Committee raised an aspect of warehousing that is deservedly getting more attention: the vulnerability of refugees in camps, particularly women, to arbitrary traditional justice systems. Excerpts:
Refugee Women and refugee children …
We particularly appreciate UNHCR's recognition in the draft conclusion that traditional systems of justice may often violate refugee women's rights by prosecuting them for offences that are not crimes under national or international law. One example is the detention of refugee women in Kakuma camp in Kenya for adultery. We call upon UNHCR to monitor and report on these phenomena and to ensure that traditional justice systems do not have the power to detain refugees nor exercise jurisdiction, de facto or otherwise, over serious criminal matters.
NGOs Call for Alternatives to Encampment to Protect Children
The NGO Submission on Refugee Children to UNHCR's Standing Committee June 27, 2006 pointed to a number of aspects of warehousing as endangering children such as lack of livelihood opportunities and freedom of movement for their parents and segregated aid streams that create tension with locals and called for "Alternatives to the camps." Excerpts (emphasis added by underline):
Discrimination and legal status …
Gender related risk factors
Economic factors …
NGOs Advance Rights-based Approach to Targeted Development Assistance
According to the NGO consensus Submission to UNHCR's Standing Committee, June 27, the anti-warehousing rights of refugees are essential to effective targeting of development assistance. Excerpts:
Despite more than a decade of dialogue, however, a large gap between humanitarian relief and development cooperation remains. Evidence of this are the nearly 8,000,000 people who remain in protracted refugee situations worldwide, where they are confined to camps or segregated settlements, or denied the right to work. These restrictions are particularly inconsistent with a coherent framework for refugee migration and development. Preventing these refugees from engaging in economic activity effectively wastes the energies and development potential of a labour force the size of a small country.
Targeting Development Assistance for refugees will not fully leverage the synergies between migration and development, nor contribute to the resolution of protracted refugee situations, unless it is accompanied with a rights-based approach towards refugee protection in countries of asylum. Development actors and developing countries hosting refugees have increasingly recognised that policies conducive to economic growth and that ensure the effectiveness of aid must include basic civil liberties, the rule of law, and quality, non-prohibitive economic regulation. These policies should also grant refugees their full rights under the 1951 Convention, including the freedom of movement, the right to engage in livelihoods, and the rights to work, to practice professions, to run businesses, to own property, and to choose one's own residence.
Theoretically, where states face real obstacles in granting refugees their full rights under the Convention, incremental improvements in standards over time may seem appropriate. In protracted situations, however, this rarely happens. …
The durable solution of 'return' is generally preceded by prolonged periods of camp confinement, characterized by dependency on humanitarian aid for survival, and by hopelessness. Under such circumstances, the voluntary nature of return is questionable. …
[On the other hand, r]ecent research in Uganda showed that self-settled refugees were far better equipped to plan their return home than those settled in camps.
Movement and Livelihood Rights (sort of) in Women at Risk Conclusion Discussion
On May 4, 2006, the Informal Consultative Meeting on the proposed UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion on Women at Risk summarized preliminary discussions on the subject in March. The good news is that they mentioned livelihoods seven times; property, twice; and movement, once, generally in a positive light. The bad news is that they only spoke of livelihoods in terms of "access," "opportunities" (twice), and "strategies" (four times). Not once did they address the denial of women refugees' rights to work, practice professions, or run businesses and generally presented the issue as one of assistance rather than protection, as if strategies is what refugee women lacked.
The one place they come close to hinting at a right to work (13, Listing C, subparagraph c: "Empowerment, including through … targeted action to empower women and girls by … their access to and control over services, resources, livelihood opportunities."), they left out the verb! Also, unlike the 1951 Convention, they only discuss property in the country of origin in order to promote refugees' return, i.e., when refugees cease to be refugees. The only language resembling discussion of freedom of movement is in 13, Listing D, "Responses to individual risks," subparagraph d (i) "relocation to another location within the country," which may well be protective but it's not clear that the women are to have any choice in the matter.
This is pretty far from the recommendations of the NGOs on the subject. Fortunately, we still have time before the Conclusion is drafted and approved but not a lot of time. We're asking folks to send letters to members of the Executive Committee (here's a sample letter and some contact information).
UNHCR Highlights Warehousing in 2006 State of the World's Refugees
The 2006 edition of UNHCR's The State of the World's Refugees: Human Displacement in the New Millennium highlights the phenomenon of refugee warehousing in its sections on "Protracted refugee situations: the search for practical solutions":
Many host governments now require the vast majority of refugees to live in designated camps, and place restrictions on those seeking to leave the camps for employment or education. This trend, recently termed the 'warehousing' of refugees, has significant human rights and economic implications.
As highlighted by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, levels of sexual and physical violence in refugee camps remain of great concern. UNHCR has argued that 'most refugees in such situations live in camps where idleness, despair and, in a few cases, even violence prevails. Women and children, who form the majority of the refugee community, are often the most vulnerable, falling victim to exploitation and abuse'.
The prolonged encampment of refugee populations has led to the violation of a number of rights contained in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, including freedom of movement and the right to seek wage-earning employment. Restrictions on employment and the right to move beyond the confines of the camps deprive long-staying refugees of the freedom to pursue normal lives and to become productive members of their new societies. [pp. 114-15]
"Rethinking durable Solutions":
Initiatives such as the North–South Civil Society Conference on Refugee Warehousing, organized by the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and other NGOs in 2005, offer the potential to raise the profile of refugees. [p. 148]
And "Looking to the future":
problems relating to protracted situations and the 'warehousing' of refugees must be resolved.
NGOs call for ExCom Conclusion
The NGO community issued a consensus Statement to the March 9 meeting of UNHCR's Standing Committee on "International Protection (iii) Issues related to women at risk." Warehousing related excerpts:
We continue to witness a myriad of human rights violations against displaced women and girls during all stages of displacement … [including] the denial of rights of women, their spouses or partners including the right to earn livelihoods… and in matters such as education and livelihoods, lack of access to land and inequitable property rights…
Recent research has documented statements made by UNHCR staff which supports the widespread nature of rape and sexual abuse of displaced women, such as: "If you can find a woman in this camp who has not been raped I will give you a prize!" …
The pervasive denial of the livelihood and movement rights of the 1951 Convention and other international norms is also a factor in dependence and vulnerability to sexual exploitation and sexual and gender based violence in all phases of displacement. This is so not only when states deny women their rights to work, practice professions, run businesses, own property, move about freely, and choose their place of residence; women and girls are also increasingly vulnerable to violence and abuse when states deny men these rights. Addressing these problems is an international responsibility. Donor countries should direct development aid toward the empowerment of all displaced people, especially women, and the communities that host them to realize their rights…
A Conclusion on Displaced Women and Girls at Risk might articulate and/or lead to the following: ...
Safe spaces and Safe shelters in and outside camps, boarding schools or schools outside camps.
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