Too Many Refugees Denied Their Rights, Despite Recent Gains – UN Official
New York, Oct 9 2008 11:10AM
Far too many refugees and asylum-seekers still face intolerance and are denied their rights, even though the past year
has witnessed some improvements in their treatment, according to the top protection official serving with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller described the past year as “not the worst, but certainly not the
best of times” in terms of the international community’s performance on refugee protection issues, in an address
yesterday to the annual meeting of UNHCR’s 76-member Executive Committee in Geneva.
Among the positive findings of the agency’s annual Note on International Protection was that many States have honoured
their responsibilities to provide asylum and protection.
“Last year, more than 700,000 refugees were able to return home, while some 70,000 are benefiting from resettlement
opportunities made available by an ever growing and diversifying group of resettlement providers,” Ms. Feller stated.
“New laws in a number of countries have extended the rule of law in displacement situations, including through more
enlightened provisions in key areas such as sexual and gender-based violence. The right to a nationality has been
underpinned through serious efforts on the part of States to ensure the necessary documentation is available to formally
record births, deaths or marriages," she added.
At the same time, there are still a “disturbing” number of refugees today who do not enjoy the rights which refugee law
formally guarantees them, she said.
“UNHCR’s ability to extend protection is challenged in many regions by the absence of political will to support it and
the disinclination to recognize that asylum is a non-political and humanitarian act.
“Asylum is viewed through the security prism in many parts of the world. This has meant denial to specified groups of
access to the existing asylum procedures, with forced return or refoulement a repeated occurrence.”
In addition, the Assistant High Commissioner noted increasing racism and exclusion in many parts of the world, as well
as a resurgence in anti-foreigner sentiment, including in some countries that have provided support for refugees for
many years.
“Intolerance has many faces,” she said. “Intolerance is obviously not solely linked to refugee arrivals, but it is part
of the asylum equation, in subtle and not so subtle forms. It impacts border control measures, refugee status decisions,
resettlement and integration programmes, and the sustainability of refugee and asylum policies in many countries."
Almost 150 countries have signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and/or its 1967 Protocol, Ms.
Feller pointed out. However, the failure by some States to perform up to Convention standards is detrimental to those
other States which do comply and take implementation seriously.
“It can disturb burden-sharing, distort the operation of the system internationally, provoke secondary movements and
complicate responsibility-sharing arrangements,” she said. “Non-implementation also impedes UNHCR’s own capacity to
assist and be a protection partner of host States.”
Ms. Feller highlighted the importance of burden-sharing among States, noting that currently the majority of refugees are
in countries that do not have the resources to meet their needs.
ENDS