Refugees from Sudan&${esc.hash}39;s Darfur region wait to be registered at Gaga Camp in eastern Chad in this January 26, 2006 file photo. REUTERS/Claire Soares
LONDON (AlertNet)- More of the world&${esc.hash}39;s refugees are being forced to stay away from home for longer, and if the international community doesn&${esc.hash}39;t start dealing with them better, it could lead to yet more violence, a U.N. report says.
"More than 60 percent of today&${esc.hash}39;s refugees are trapped in situations far from the international spotlight," a report by the Office of the U.N. 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.
UNHCR says long-term refugees account for more than 5.7 million of the world&${esc.hash}39;s 9.2 million refugee population.
The agency counts 33 long-term crises and highlights "protracted refugee situations" - crises involving at least 25,000 people in exile for five or more years in developing countries - in "The State of the World&${esc.hash}39;s Refugees 2006: Human Displacement in the New Millennium".
In 1993, 48 percent of the world&${esc.hash}39;s 16.3 million refugees were in this position. Today, fewer people are affected but the number of protracted situations has increased, along with the proportion of long-term refugees within the total refugee population.
After the Cold War, a number of long-standing refugee groups displaced by related conflicts returned home. But a rise in civil wars since the 1990s created new refugee flows from places such as Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and many situations remain unresolved even after the fighting has stopped.
"(Long-term refugees) find themselves in a long-lasting and intractable state of limbo," the report says. "Their lives may not be at risk, but their basic rights and essential economic, social and psychological needs remain unfulfilled after years in exile."
REFUGEE HOTSPOTSThe report&${esc.hash}39;s statistics do not include the majority of Palestinians in exile from what UNHCR calls the world&${esc.hash}39;s oldest and largest protracted refugee situation, most of whom fall under the mandate of a separate U.N. agency.
The region with the largest number of drawn-out refugee crises is Sub-Saharan Africa, where 17 conflicts have sent 1.9 million people across borders seeking sanctuary. The countries hosting the largest groups of refugees are Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Afghan refugees account for the biggest national group, with almost 2 million of them living mainly in Iran and Pakistan.
East and southeast Asia have five protracted situations with some 676,000 refugees, and Europe has three involving 510,000 people, primarily in the Balkans and Armenia.
The report - the first new edition in "The State of the World&${esc.hash}39;s Refugees" series since 2000 - argues that protracted refugee situations arise when conflict and human rights violations are not addressed in the country of origin and when international donors fail to help the host country.
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.
RISK OF INSTABILITYBut the report argues: "Assistance to refugees in protracted situations is no substitute for sustained political and strategic action."
It calls on aid agencies, international bodies and donors to take a holistic approach which combines security with development.
If the international community fails to act, UNHCR argues, there is the danger that long-term refugee crises - which usually originate in volatile, conflict-prone regions - could turn into new sources of instability.
For example, the report says a contributing factor to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was the international community&${esc.hash}39;s failure to address the needs of Rwandan Tutsi refugees who fled to Uganda in the early 1960s, and whose descendants invaded Rwanda in 1990.
More than a decade later, UNHCR warns: "It appears as though the lesson has not been learned".
Even when refugees are able to go home, their problems are not over. More than 5 million refugees returned home between 2002 and 2004, including 1.5 million in 2004.
"The reality for most refugees is a return to areas of persistent insecurity and poverty where longer-term development initiatives are patchy or, in some cases, non-existent," the report says.
UNHCR says aid agencies need to invest more in reconstruction and reintegration programmes that help people going home as well as the neighbours around them.
"If returnees are not provided with adequate support and are not able to reintegrate, they may choose to flee again," the report says.
Top 10 protracted refugee situations in developing countries (Jan. 1, 2005) Country of Asylum Origin End-2004Pakistan
Afghanistan
960,000
Iran
Afghanistan
953,000
Tanzania
Burundi
444,000
China
Vietnam
299,000
Saudi Arabia
Palestinian Territories*
240,000
Armenia
Azerbaijan
235,000
Uganda
Sudan
215,000
Serbia & Montenegro
Croatia
180,000
Algeria
Western Sahara
165,000
Kenya
Somalia
154,000
Source: UNHCR
*Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are excluded from these statistics.Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
