The State of the World's Refugees 2006 - Chapter 3 Adressing refugee security: Security and refugee protection

Refugees have always been a by-product of war, which is still the most clearly identifiable and direct threat to national security. Within the global refugee protection regime, security concerns motivate state responses to refugee flows and are of primary importance in UNHCR's operations. The linkage of national and international security concerns and humanitarian assistance and asylum is not new. It can be seen in accounts of the emergence of organized refugee assistance in Europe following the Second World War.[3] In the 1960s and 1970s, African governments in particular attached considerable importance to security concerns arising from refugee movements.[4]

Aware of the potential of conflicts to spill over borders via refugee flows,[5] the international community has always emphasized that asylum must be recognized as a neutral, non-political act embedded in a system of multilateralism. In addition to this most fundamental norm, the 1951 UN Refugee Convention contains an explicit system of checks and balances which address states' security concerns.[6] The system serves to provide protection to individuals and to defuse potential interstate tension.

But the challenge of integrating the differing security interests and strategies of the various parts of the international refugee regime has grown more complex. The problems arising from operating in war zones and continuing protection concerns related to refugees in protracted situations are partly responsible. So too is the rise of xenophobia and fear of asylum seekers in many countries, which has led to a tendency to see refugees not as victims but as perpetrators of insecurity. That kind of thinking has inspired more aggressive interception measures, higher barriers to entry and indiscriminate detention, all of which pose new security risks to refugees. Meanwhile, many states see their responsibility for refugees as shared with the international community. While some see this practice as an offloading of state responsibility, it also reflects recognition that the security concerns of states as well as refugees are best met by ensuring that the multilateral and humanitarian character of refugee protection is maintained.

Human security: establishing linkages

All involved in refugee protection, be they states, host populations or humanitarian organizations, share some broad security concerns. Yet how they interpret these concerns can differ widely. To account for such differences, traditional perceptions of security purely in terms of a state's territorial integrity have increasingly been linked to new concepts of human security. This new thinking has been adopted by many members of the United Nations family and incorporated into the foreign-policy agendas of countries such as Canada and Japan.[7]

The new view of human security highlights the interdependent nature of the security threats in refugee situations. It recognizes that long-term state security is ultimately dependent on the security provided to non-state actors such as refugees and that, inversely, refugee protection may be impossible in situations of acute and continuous state insecurity.[8] The new perspective on human security also links the security concerns of individuals and communities to a wider range of threats including, but not restricted to, physical violence. Indeed, the concept of effective protection has evolved along with changes in the perception of the various dimensions of human security. For instance, protection now means safeguarding not just the physical integrity but also the human dignity of every refugee.

Refugee security

Threats to the physical security of refugees emanate from a variety of sources, including organized crime, errant military and police forces, anti-government militants, local populations and the refugee community itself. The vulnerability of refugees is magnified where they have limited material and financial resources and their family and community structures have been strained or destroyed. The physical threats to refugees range from theft, assault and domestic violence to child abuse, rape and human trafficking. Furthermore, in their vulnerable state refugees may be easily manipulated for political ends.

The presence of armed elements in refugee flows and settlements poses a fundamental threat to the civilian and humanitarian character of asylum, creating serious security concerns for refugees, host communities, local authorities and humanitarian workers alike.[9] The task of identifying combatants within a mass influx is made harder by the vast numbers involved. Besides, members of militia groups rarely identify themselves, and often hide their weapons in order to blend in with the civilian population.

Armed groups in refugee situations have been known to divert humanitarian aid from those who need it most, either through outright theft or through voluntary and involuntary 'taxation'. Both methods have been linked to malnutrition among refugees when increased rebel activity demands higher contributions. Rebels may also engage in forced recruitment of young men and children or use refugee camps as rest and recuperation sites. Many of these problems are exacerbated when refugees reside for long periods in countries of asylum where they lack educational and economic opportunities.

The presence of armed elements can also increase the risk of armed attacks on refugee settlements by opposing forces. In some cases, armed elements may challenge the implementation of durable solutions such as voluntary repatriation and local integration. For example, in the aftermath of the 1999 East Timor crisis, pro-Indonesian militiamen used violence and false information about conditions in East Timor to try and prevent refugees in West Timor from returning home.[10]

The new concept of human security also raises awareness of threats to the physical security of refugees other than direct attacks or military activity. These include an understanding of the existential insecurity introduced by insufficient or irregular supplies of food because of ration cuts or other restrictions. Such shortfalls not only threaten lives but are linked to an increase in domestic or sexual violence and other crimes in protracted refugee situations. In other circumstances urban refugees, who often lack any assistance or secure legal status, may be targeted for crimes and abuse by the host population (see Box 2.4).

State security strategies within and across borders

In the late 1990s a number of UN Security Council resolutions marked the increasing attention of states to security issues arising from refugee movements. In these resolutions, states recognized that massive population displacement could constitute a threat to regional and international peace and stability, and even represent a deliberate strategy of war. More concretely, the Security Council linked population displacement to threats to international peace and security and considered such threats grounds for international action in Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Rwanda and Somalia.[11]

Displacement has certainly contributed to the endemic instability in Africa's Great Lakes region. The volatility here is to some extent the result of a tradition among refugee warriors of allying themselves with political factions – whether in government or opposition – in their host state and becoming entangled in that state's internal politics (see Box 3.2).[12] Here and elsewhere, refugees have become linked to the foreign-policy strategies of states, undermining the very notion of the non-political nature of asylum.[13] Indeed, while many states do not possess the resources to identify and disarm combatants within refugee groups, others actively encourage such armed elements on their soil, using them as a bargaining chip in relations with the country of origin.[14]

Another facet of the interplay between refugee flows and states relates to internal security and stability. This is linked to the greater availability of small arms in conflict zones, as well as potential conflicts over resources created by the presence of large groups of refugees. Rapid and massive refugee flows can aggravate instability in states facing economic problems, political uncertainty and ethnic or social tensions. Tensions between refugees and their host population may be the result of actual or perceived competition for resources or of resentment when refugees are seen as privileged in relation to their poorer hosts. This has been the case in Kenya, for instance.

These tensions may lead to other security concerns. In Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, the areas around refugee camps are prone to banditry, the blame for which often falls on refugees. Such problems are aggravated in poor states and those in which a weak governing authority is unable to exercise sovereignty effectively.[15] In such places, the security threats faced by refugees and the local population are often the same.

Host communities and humanitarian workers

Protracted refugee situations pose additional difficulties, especially when uprooted people lack educational and economic opportunities and where their prospects for durable solutions are limited. This is often the case in host countries where local inhabitants also struggle to survive. Some 90 per cent of the world's refugees live in developing nations, where economic stagnation and unemployment are high and general opportunities low. The resulting competition, be it real or perceived, for scarce resources leads to friction between refugees and the local population. The latter often blame the former for a variety of problems, including increases in crime.

The existence of a link between high crime rates and the presence of refugees is widely accepted, even though the nature of this link is often unclear. In some situations refugees resort to illegal activities as a result of general economic scarcity – or to fill breaks in their food supply. Yet crime rates are influenced not only by refugees but also by changing patterns of conflict across borders. Furthermore, refugees' attempts to breach restrictions on their freedom of movement, economic activity or self-reliance are sometimes labelled crimes.

The security threats that host populations and refugees often share, such as rebel activity, ongoing conflict and scarcity may also bring them into direct conflict with each other. Where existing problems are exploited by politicians with intolerant agendas, the result in both rich and poor countries is xenophobia and attacks on refugees (see Box 3.4).

Conflict-prone environments also endanger the humanitarian workers who help refugees. The surge in attacks on such workers risks undermining the fundamental viability of humanitarian assistance in many of today's conflict zones. Staff of various UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and NGOs have been intimidated, physically threatened, kidnapped or killed while trying to carry out their duties (see Box 3.3). The UN Security Council has stressed that guaranteeing the security of aid workers is a major challenge when providing assistance to populations of concern.[16]

Yet, although humanitarian workers in war zones are at risk, their presence can also discourage attacks on the displaced. This was frequently the case in the Balkans and in the African Great Lakes region in the 1990s.[17] The dangers faced by humanitarian personnel have raised difficult questions about the role of the military and other security forces in refugee protection. More recently, in Afghanistan and Iraq, ongoing political conflict and military intervention have risked undermining the perceived neutrality of aid workers, with direct consequences for their security.

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Introduction

Developing responses

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Notes

3. H. Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Meridian, New York, 1957, p. 288.

4. G. Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, p. 125; J. Crisp, 'Africa's Refugees: Patterns, Problems and Policy Challenges', New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 28, UNHCR, Geneva, 2000, p. 9.

5. B. Posen, 'Military Responses to Refugee Disasters', International Security, vol. 21, no. 1, 1996, pp. 72-111; M. Weiner, 'Bad Neighbors, Bad Neighborhoods: An Inquiry into the Causes of Refugee Flows', International Security, vol. 21, no. 1, 1996, pp. 5-42.

6. V. Türk, 'Forced Migration and Security', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 15, no. 1, 2003, p. 117.

7. See Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, 'Efforts to Tackle Various Global Issues to Promote Human Security', Japan's Foreign Policy in Major Diplomatic Fields, 2004, p. 184, www.mofa.go.jp/policy/human_secu/index.html; see also Canada's Human Security Website, Foreign Affairs Canada, www.humansecurity.gc.ca/menu-en.asp.

8. Commission on Human Security, Human Security Now, New York, 2003, pp. 49-50.

9. Ibid.

10. T. G. Weiss, Military-Civilian Interactions: Humanitarian Crises and the Responsibility to Protect, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2005, pp. 137-8.

11. G. Goodwin-Gill, 'Editorial: Refugees and Security', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 11, no. 1, 1999, p. 3; G. Loescher, 'Refugees as Grounds for International Action', pp. 39-40.

12. A. Hammerstad, 'Making or Breaking the Conflict Cycle: The Relationship between Underdevelopment, Conflict and Forced Migration', in S. Castles and N. Van Hear, Developing DFID's Policy Approach to Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Final Report, University of Oxford, Oxford, 2005, pp. 14-18.

13. H. Adelman, 'The Use and Abuse of Refugees in Zaire', in S. J. Stedman and F. Tanner (eds), Refugee Manipulations: War, Politics, and the Abuse of Human Suffering, Brookings Institution Press, Washington DC, 2003, pp. 95-134.

14. G. Loescher, 'Refugees as Grounds for International Action', p. 35.

15. Ibid., p. 34.

16. United Nations, 'Recent Killings of Humanitarian Workers Demonstrate Changing Landscape for UN Operations, Security Council Told by Humanitarian Affairs Head: Briefs on Challenges Faced in Protecting Civilians in Conflict Areas', Security Council 4877th meeting, UN Doc. Press Release SC/7947, 9 December 2003.

17. S. Ogata, The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crises of the 1990s, W. W. Norton, New York, 2005, p. 327.