The State of the World's Refugees 2006 - Chapter 5 Protracted refugee situations: Introduction

State of the World's Refugees, 19 April 2006

The majority of today's refugees have lived in exile for far too long, restricted to camps or eking out a meagre existence in urban centres throughout the developing world. Most subsist in a state of limbo, and are often dependent on others to find solutions to their plight. Their predicament is similar to that of the tens of thousands of refugees who stagnated in camps in Western Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. The High Commissioner for Refugees at the time, Gerrit van Heuven Goedhart, called those camps 'black spots on the map of Europe' that should 'burn holes in the consciences of all those privileged to live in better conditions'.1 If the situation persisted, he said, the problems of refugees would fester and his office would be reduced to 'simply administering human misery'.2 The issue of displaced persons in Europe was finally settled some 20 years after the end of the Second World War; today's protracted refugee crises, however, show no signs of being resolved in the near future.

Since the early 1990s, the international community has focused largely on refugee emergencies. It has delivered humanitarian assistance to war-affected populations and supported large-scale repatriation programmes in high-profile areas such as the Balkans, the Great Lakes region of Africa and, more recently, Darfur (Sudan) and Chad. Yet more than 60 per cent of today's refugees are trapped in situations far from the international spotlight. Often characterized by long periods of exile – stretching to decades for some groups – these situations occur on most continents in a range of environments including camps, rural settlements and urban centres. The vast majority are to be found in the world's poorest and most unstable regions, and are frequently the result of neglect by regional and international actors.

"more than 60 per cent of today's refugees are trapped in situations far from the international spotlight"

Refugees trapped in these forgotten situations often face significant restrictions on their rights. At the same time, their presence raises political and security concerns among host governments and other states in the region. As such, protracted refugee situations represent a significant challenge both to human rights and security. 'The consequences of having so many human beings in a static state,' argues UNHCR, 'include wasted lives, squandered resources and increased threats to security'.3 Taken independently, each of these challenges is of mounting concern. Taken collectively, and given the interaction between security, human rights and development, the full significance of protracted refugee situations becomes more apparent.

Despite the gravity of the problem, protracted refugee situations have yet to feature prominently on the international political agenda. In the vacuum, humanitarian agencies such as UNHCR try to care for forgotten populations and mitigate the negative effects of prolonged exile. These efforts are not enough, however. In the past, similar crises in Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America were resolved through comprehensive plans of action involving humanitarian agencies as well as political, security and development actors. Such an integrated approach is also needed today.

Notes

1 G. van Heuven Goedhart, 'Refugee Problems and Their Solutions', Geneva, UNHCR, 1955, cited in G. Loescher, The UNHCR in World Politics: A Perilous Path, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 75.

2 Ibid., p. 62.

3 UNHCR, 'Protracted Refugee Situations', Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Standing Committee, 30th Meeting, UN Doc. EC/54/SC/CRP.14, 10 June 2004, p. 2.

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