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Chile passes landmark domestic legislation on refugees

News Stories, 11 March 2010

Former President Michelle Bachelet, who presented the refugee law last year, welcomes Palestinian refugees to Chile.

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 11 (UNHCR) – Chile's Senate has adopted a refugee law that will enhance South America's growing reputation as a safe haven for people forced to flee their home countries because of violence or persecution.

The Law for the Protection of Refugees, passed on Tuesday by the upper house of Congress, establishes a legal framework for the protection of refugees in Chile and incorporates this country's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The Chamber of Deputies approved the law earlier.

Among other things, the legislation includes universal and regional definitions of refugees; sets out guarantees and obligations for refugees; and regularizes procedures and guidelines for determining refugee status. It must now be signed by the president before entering into force.

"This shows that refugee issues are of interest to all political sectors," said Fabio Varoli, UNHCR's liaison officer in Chile. "We appreciate that the debate and approval was so fast."

The refugee bill was presented in April 2009 by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who noted that democratic governments in her country had provided protection to thousands of refugees, while adding that "when the rule of law was ignored, several thousand Chileans received protection [overseas]." Chile hosts almost 2,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from more than 30 countries.

Passage of the law comes as the popular Bachelet leaves office to be replaced by Sebastian Pinera and at a time when the nation's attention remains focused on the response to a massive earthquake on February 27 that left several hundred people dead.

Passage of a refugee law in Chile adds to South America's renewed reputation as a haven for people forced to flee their homelands. Although Colombia continues to face problems of internal displacement, many countries are welcoming refugees from around the world.

In 1999, Chile became the first South American country to launch a resettlement programme in cooperation with UNHCR. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay have since initiated similar programmes and Paraguay will soon follow suit.

This spirit of concern for the forcibly displaced is enshrined in the Mexico Plan of Action, which was adopted by 20 countries in 2004 to safeguard refugees in Latin America and to find durable solutions for them. The plan called among other things for the strengthening of legislative protection for refugees.

Almost every country in the region has national structures, legislation and procedures for the determination of refugee status. Most have signed the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.

Carolina Podestá in Buenos Aires, Argentina contributed to this story

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South Africa: Searching for Coexistence

South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa where registered refugees and asylum-seekers can legally move about freely, access social services and compete with locals for jobs.

But while these right are enshrined in law, in practice they are sometimes ignored and refugees and asylum-seekers often find themselves turned away by employers or competing with the poorest locals for the worst jobs - especially in the last few years, as millions have fled political and economic woes in countries like Zimbabwe. The global economic downturn has not helped.

Over the last decade, when times turned tough, refugees in towns and cities sometimes became the target of the frustrations of locals. In May 2008, xenophobic violence erupted in Johannesburg and quickly spread to other parts of the country, killing more than 60 people and displacing about 100,000 others.

In Atteridgeville, on the edge of the capital city of Pretoria - and site of some of the worst violence - South African and Somali traders, assisted by UNHCR, negotiated a detailed agreement to settle the original trade dispute that led to the torching of Somali-run shops. The UN refugee agency also supports work by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to counter xenophobia.

South Africa: Searching for Coexistence

The makeshift camp at Patras

Thousands of irregular migrants, some of whom are asylum-seekers and refugees, have sought shelter in a squalid, makeshift camp close to the Greek port of Patras since it opened 13 years ago. The camp consisted of shelters constructed from cardboard and wood and housed hundreds of people when it was closed by the Greek government in July 2009. UNHCR had long maintained that it did not provide appropriate accommodation for asylum-seekers and refugees. The agency had been urging the government to find an alternative and put a stronger asylum system in place to provide appropriate asylum reception facilities for the stream of irregular migrants arriving in Greece each year.The government used bulldozers to clear the camp, which was destroyed by a fire shortly afterwards. All the camp residents had earlier been moved and there were no casualties. Photographer Zalmaï, a former refugee from Afghanistan, visited the camp earlier in the year.

The makeshift camp at Patras

From the corners of the globe, the displaced converge in northern France

Hundreds of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have created a number of makeshift camps in northern France. Drawn from a diverse range of countries, the men are hoping that from France they will be able to enter the United Kingdom.

Locals call it, "The Jungle" - a squalid warren of shanties made out of cardboard, plywood and bits of plastic that has mushroomed among the sand dunes and brambles outside Calais. Hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers from such faraway places as Afghanistan, Somalia and Vietnam have traveled for months and over rough terrain to camp out and eventually cross the 34-kilometre stretch of sea that separates Calais from England's White Cliffs of Dover.

Some have family in the UK or have heard that it is easy to get a good job there. Others have been forced to flee their countries because of political, religious or ethnic persecution, and may be entitled to refugee status.

Since early June, the UN refugee agency and its local partner, France Terre d'Asile, have been present in Calais, informing and counselling hundreds of people about asylum systems and procedures in France and the UK.