Age and gender

Humanitarian actors and donors are becoming increasingly sensitive to the particular assistance and protection needs of different groups within displaced and returning populations. Programmes now target the specific needs of women, children and adolescents, older refugees and particular ethnic or social groups. According to 2003 demographic data relating to about 7.5 million persons of concern to UNHCR, children and adolescents under the age of 18 account for nearly half this number, with 13 per cent of these children under the age of five. This reflects high fertility rates and low life expectancy in many poor countries with high levels of forced displacement, particularly in Africa.[32]

The large number of young people among displaced populations has important implications for protection. Displaced children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to threats to their safety and wellbeing. These include separation from families, sexual exploitation, HIV/AIDS infection, forced labour or slavery, abuse and violence, forcible recruitment into armed groups, trafficking, lack of access to education and basic assistance, detention and denial of access to asylum or family-reunification procedures. Unaccompanied children are at greatest risk, since they lack the protection, physical care and emotional support provided by the family.[33] Those accompanied by only one parent or carer may also be at higher risk than other children.

The vast majority of the world's refugee children seek sanctuary in poor countries. The proportion of children (under 18 years of age) among populations of concern was 54 per cent in Africa, 46 per cent in Asia, but only 25 per cent in Europe.[34] The low number of refugee children reaching industrialized countries may be partly the result of age-selective asylum migration,[35] including the 'secondary' movements of asylum seekers from poor refugee-hosting regions to richer countries.

The 2003 demographic data indicate a relatively equal gender balance in most regions hosting large displaced populations. It hovers around 50 per cent across most of the world, and only falls significantly below this level (to 41 per cent) in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean,[36] where young male asylum seekers constitute a higher proportion of those of concern to UNHCR. Where, as is the case in Africa, half of the refugee population consists of females and half are children and adolescents, roughly a quarter of the refugee population is composed of girls under 18. Meanwhile, roughly a quarter of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide are women of reproductive age, and around one in five is likely to be pregnant.[37]

These statistics have important implications for protection policies, since women and girls are the principal targets of sexual and gender-based violence and exploitation, and are therefore disproportionately vulnerable to associated risks such as trafficking, HIV/AIDS transmission and abduction. In the DRC, a surge in HIV/AIDS infection among the general population, including those displaced internally, has been linked to extensive sexual violence by paramilitary groups and foreign troops.[38] With less access to information and education than non-displaced people, many of the displaced have very little knowledge of how HIV/AIDS is contracted or avoided.[39]

Camps and settlements

The highly varied conditions of exile for different displaced populations have equally diverse implications for their access to protection and assistance, and for their prospects for local integration, return or resettlement. In protracted refugee situations, many of the displaced have remained confined to refugee camps, sometimes for decades. They are marginalized in the country of asylum, unable to return home in safety, and cannot look forward to resettlement elsewhere. In some situations, those located in camps lack many fundamental rights – such as freedom of movement and the right to work – due to their forced exclusion from mainstream society. They are often exposed to high levels of violence and human rights abuse because of poor security within or around the camps.

According to UNHCR's 2003 demographic data, of the 13.1 million displaced persons of concern to the organization, some 36 per cent were located in camps or centres, 15 per cent were living in urban areas, and 49 per cent were either dispersed in rural areas or living in an unknown type of settlement.[40] In Africa, almost half the people of concern to UNHCR are in camps, as compared to less than a quarter in Asia.

However, these figures do not capture the overall situation of displaced populations, since they exclude internally displaced people who are not assisted by UNHCR and incalculable numbers of 'self-settled' refugees worldwide. Many internally displaced persons and self-settled refugees are in countries where the government is either indifferent or actively hostile to their assistance and protection needs. In at least 13 countries in recent years, including Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe, state forces or government-backed militia have attacked displaced and other civilian populations.[41]

Main trends

'Mixed migration', trafficking and smuggling

Notes

32. UNHCR, Statistical Yearbook 2003, p. 54.

33. UNHCR, 'Refugee Children', Report of the Global Consultations on International Protection, 4th Meeting, EC/GC/02/9, 25 April 2002, p. 1.

34. UNHCR, Statistical Yearbook 2003, p. 54.

35. UNHCR, Statistical Yearbook 2002, p. 58.

36. UNHCR, Statistical Yearbook 2003, p. 54.

37. Save the Children, State of the World's Mothers 2003: Protecting Women and Children in War and Conflict, May 2003, p. 5.

38. P. Spiegel, 'HIV/AIDS among Conflict-Affected and Displaced Populations: Dispelling Myths and Taking Action', Disasters, vol. 28, no. 3, 2004, p. 325.

39. R. Wexler, 'HIV and the Internally Displaced: Burundi in Focus', Forced Migration Review, Issue 16, January 2003, pp. 11-13.

40. UNHCR, Statistical Yearbook 2003, p. 55.

41. Global IDP Project, Internal Displacement, pp. 13 and 15-16.