News Briefs: April 20, 2006
Refugees spending longer in exile
“More than 60 percent of today’s refugees are trapped in situations far from the international spotlight,” a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says.
People are now spending longer in exile, and UNHCR estimates the average length of major refugee crises has increased from nine years in 1993 to 17 years a decade later. “[Long-term refugees] find themselves in a long-lasting and intractable state of limbo. Their lives may not be at risk, but their basic rights and essential economic, social and psychological needs remain unfulfilled after years in exile.”
The region with the largest number of drawn-out refugee crises is Sub-Saharan Africa, where 17 conflicts have sent 1.9 million people across borders seeking sanctuary. The countries hosting the largest groups of refugees are Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Afghan refugees account for the biggest national group, with almost two million of them living mainly in Iran and Pakistan. East and southeast Asia have five protracted situations with some 676,000 refugees, and Europe has three involving 510,000 people, primarily in the Balkans and Armenia.
More and more host countries restrict long-term refugees to isolated and insecure camps, which UNHCR says are dominated by an atmosphere of idleness and despair.
Women and children—who make up the majority of the refugee community—are at frequent risk of sexual and physical violence, and tight controls often make it extremely difficult for anyone to leave for jobs or schooling. As a result, most are forced to depend on humanitarian assistance.
The report calls on aid agencies, international bodies and donors to take a holistic approach which combines security with development.
Even when refugees are able to go home, their problems are not over. “The reality for most refugees is a return to areas of persistent insecurity and poverty where longer-term development initiatives are patchy or…non-existent,” the report says. UNHCR says aid agencies need to invest more in reconstruction and reintegration programs that help people going home as well as the neighbours around them.
—with reports from Reuters AlertNet
Bolivia still in crisis after winter flooding
More than a quarter-million Bolivians are still struggling to recover from unprecedented rains and hailstorms that caused severe flooding in January and February. Unusually heavy rains have continued into the spring, making recovery from the winter’s floods even more difficult.
“It has been a devastating disaster,” said Jean Waagbo, Lutheran World Relief’s Associate Director for Latin America. “Many families lost everything—their crops, their livestock, even their homes were destroyed. Some communities were partially buried in mud eight feet deep. Recovery will take many months.
“This is one of the situations that we call a forgotten emergency. It didn’t get a lot of media coverage, so few people were even aware that it was happening. But our continued support of the people affected by this disaster is absolutely necessary if we are to keep them from sliding further into poverty. They were already poor, now this disaster has taken away everything they had.”
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is responding to the crisis on behalf of the global aid alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International. They are assisting some of the most severely affected communities in the department of Santa Cruz, providing farming families with seeds and tools so that they can begin to replace lost crops; a male and female sheep to help them begin to replace lost herds; tree seedlings to begin the reforestation process; and assistance with legal disputes over property rights. LWR’s local partner in Bolivia is also training the communities in sustainable agricultural practices.
LWR’s work focuses not only on providing immediate relief in a disaster’s aftermath, but on helping combat the root causes of poverty and injustice. Therefore, our involvement with the flood-affected communities will not end with the harvest of the first crop. LWR will remain involved with development in these communities even after the crisis phase has passed.
—with reports from Lutheran World Relief, USA
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