The State of the World's Refugees 2006 - Chapter 6 Rethinking durable solutions: Targeting development assistance

Humanitarian assistance and development have usually been seen as distinct areas of national and global governance. However, the gap between refugee-and returnee-assistance programmes and long-term development efforts is a central hurdle in the way of both sustainable repatriation and the promotion of local integration. In this context, drawing on the ideas in the Agenda for Protection, the Framework for Durable Solutions has emerged as a means to better integrate refugees into development planning.[11] It has two explicit aims. The first is to improve international burden-sharing to build refugee-protection and reception capacities in developing states; the second, to improve access to durable solutions. To meet these goals, it sets out a series of concepts related to the targeting of development assistance. These focus on two areas: states of origin, and host states of asylum within regions of origin. In both cases, the principle of government ownership of the projects is paramount.

States of origin

With respect to states of origin, the 4Rs concept of repatriation, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction focuses on improving the sustainability of repatriation. It does this by fostering the capacities and institutional partnerships necessary to ensure the smooth transition from emergency relief to long-term development. Its premise is that repatriation must involve more than transferring refugees across the border; rather, it must strive to create an environment conducive to sustainable return. To succeed in this task it must nurture partnerships with a range of government and development actors. As stipulated by UNHCR's Executive Committee in 2004, it is crucial to ensure that appropriate levels of security, social services and economic opportunity are available to returnees.[12] The idea of addressing the gap between relief and development builds upon the partnerships between UNHCR, the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, ILO and WFP. It also ties in to the EU's approach linking relief, reconstruction and development.[13]

The 4Rs concept is now fairly uncontroversial. It simply combines the notion of voluntary repatriation with the idea of post-conflict reconstruction. The latter has been part of mainstream development discourse since the late 1990s. States of origin rarely pose objections to return, while asylum states are keen to emphasize it as the ideal durable solution. For their part, donor states often have specific economic and political interests in reconstruction. As a consequence, major development agencies already have mechanisms focusing on post-conflict reconstruction. Almost everyone is receptive to the idea; the challenge is to build a framework for institutional collaboration to ensure smooth implementation.

There has been significant progress in establishing such a collaborative framework covering various UN agencies. Furthermore, discussions between UNHCR and the World Bank have looked into overlaps between the 4Rs and the Bank's programmes for post-conflict situations and low-income countries. As a result of inter-agency collaboration and commitment by donors, it has been possible to apply the 4Rs in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka. In each case, the UN country team has tried to lead a process of integrated planning in relation to return.[14]

The case of Liberia shows how the 4Rs can improve the prospects for sustainable repatriation. Following the end of the 14-year civil war in the country and the exile of former dictator Charles Taylor in 2003, UNHCR began to organize the return of some 320,000 refugees from neighbouring states. The implementation of tripartite agreements between UNHCR, the Liberian Transitional Government and the neighbouring host states began in October 2004. An operations plan for return and reintegration is expected to run until 2007. In order to facilitate reintegration, more than 30 community projects are being implemented in the counties of Bong, Grand Gedeh, Montserrado and Nimba. Given the scale of destruction during the conflict, the projects aim to rebuild local infrastructure, water supplies, schools and sanitation. To ensure local and national ownership of the projects, receiving communities and returnees participate in the planning process. Furthermore, proposals are submitted to district development committees and incorporated within national transition strategies.

The Liberian example demonstrates the extent to which UNHCR's search for durable solutions is drawing on a range of implementing partners, including NGOs. An example of the latter is the Environmental Foundation for Africa, which has been conducting workshops on environmental rehabilitation.[15] Reintegration in Liberia has also drawn upon another innovation related to the 4Rs, the concept of Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration. Developed by the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations as a programme for ex-combatants, it seeks to ease the transition from conflict to peace in a manner conducive to sustainable return. It is particularly important in West Africa, given the number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the region who were combatants or child soldiers.

Host states

While the long-term confinement of refugees to camps and closed settlements is a severe restriction of their rights, it is important to acknowledge the concerns of host states as well. Receiving countries need help to overcome the political and economic obstacles that prevent them from finding alternatives to confining refugees within camps. These states need to be assisted and encouraged to allow refugees greater freedom of movement, access to social services and the right to earn a living. In this context, the two key concepts set out in the Framework for Durable Solutions are Development Assistance for Refugees and Development through Local Integration. Both recognize that refugees need not inevitably be perceived as a burden but could, in the right circumstances, be agents of development.

The concept of Development Assistance for Refugees covers additional development assistance to countries hosting large numbers of refugees; promotion of a better quality of life and self-reliance for refugees pending durable solutions; and a better quality of life for host communities. In other words, it is about empowering the productive capacities and self-reliance of refugees as well as supporting host-country and local-community development. The concept is similar to Development through Local Integration. The latter, however, relates to situations in which the host state provides the opportunity for gradual integration of refugees. Here, additional development assistance would facilitate refugees' economic self-reliance, socio-cultural integration and access to legal rights, culminating in citizenship.[16]

In contrast to the principles behind the 4Rs, on which consensus has come relatively easily, discussions on the last two concepts have advanced more slowly. Whereas repatriation is widely accepted as the most desirable durable solution, local integration is more likely to be resisted by host states. Receiving countries usually have strong concerns about the economic, political, environmental and security implications of moving beyond encampment.[17] Fostering the conditions in which those concerns can be addressed, and at the same time reducing the confinement of refugees to camps, depends on international cooperation and inter-agency coordination.

Development Assistance for Refugees promotes self-sufficiency through local interaction and the provision of services for refugees. While not necessarily according refugees full citizenship, it allows freedom of movement and access to land or employment, provides for education, health facilities and housing, and creates opportunities to form social networks beyond the immediate community. It may ultimately promote repatriation by better equipping refugees with the skills and autonomy they need to return home. That was the case with Angolan refugees in Zambia, whose contribution to the local economy was widely acknowledged. Though they had the right to free movement and to earn a livelihood on land provided by the state, many returned home once conditions there improved.[18]

Both Development Assistance for Refugees and Development through Local Integration build on the legacy of UNHCR's attempts in the 1980s to promote local integration by using development assistance as a burden-sharing tool. Partnerships between UNHCR and development agencies such as UNDP were promoted to help African states host the large refugee populations in their rural areas.[19] The linking of development with local integration also builds upon the experience of UNHCR in Mexico during the 1990s, when a multi-year rural-development programme supported the integration of Guatemalan refugees in the states of Campeche and Quintana Roo. These were one-off applications, but UNHCR is now trying to apply a broad collaborative framework across the UN system.

Development through Local Integration is part of the Zambia Initiative, which supports the host government's policy of local integration for Angolan refugees (see Box 6.1).[20] In Serbia and Montenegro, UNHCR has collaborated with the government and other partners to provide housing, micro-credit facilities and vocational training to locally settled refugees displaced by conflict in the Balkans.[21] Development Assistance for Refugees has most notably been applied to Uganda's Self-Reliance Strategy (see Box 6.1).[22] These cases have been used to demonstrate the potential of targeting development assistance with a focus on host states.

All these initiatives attempt to build on the existing activities of states and organizations. Denmark, for instance, has its own strategy to promote Development Assistance for Refugees. It has agreed to assist Sudanese refugees in northern Uganda to support the host country's self-reliance strategy. Japan, as part of its Trust Fund for Human Security initiative, has agreed to provide development assistance to encourage self-reliance among Somali refugees in Ethiopia.[23] Meanwhile, in 2004 Ecuador emerged as a possible recipient of Development Assistance for Refugees; the UN Assessment Mission to Ecuador's Northern Border Region recommended including Colombian refugees within development plans for the north of the country.

Donor trends

The main obstacle to promoting the widespread application of Development Assistance for Refugees has been the reluctance of donor states to provide more resources. For their part, many southern host states fear that aid destined for them would be diverted to assist refugees. The debate has been somewhat polarized, with host states fearing that initiatives to provide Development Assistance for Refugees are an attempt to shift the burden to regions of origin. In 2004, UNHCR's Executive Committee concluded that assistance to refugee populations and host communities to promote self-reliance is one element of a burden-sharing framework. According to the committee, this could be developed in the context of an international response, particularly to protracted refugee situations.[24]

The inability of donor states to provide new resources is partly attributable to the separation at government level of development and refugee issues. A crucial task for UNHCR, therefore, has been to mobilize donor commitments to support the Framework for Durable Solutions and encourage greater coordination across the branches of national government. In this regard, a number of bilateral and multilateral donor initiatives that look at refugees within a development context have emerged. For example, the World Bank's focus on post-conflict reconstruction is particularly relevant to the 4Rs. Meanwhile, European Union funds for cooperation on migration issues have supported UNHCR's Strengthening Protection Capacity Project.[25]

The commitments of states to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals are also relevant to the search for durable solutions, given that the levels of human development of refugees often fall below those of non-refugees. Millennium goals such as the eradication of extreme poverty, universal access to primary education, gender equality and reductions in infant mortality are very germane to the need to focus resources on refugees.[26]

The 2002 Monterey Financing for Development Summit saw a number of pledges by states and international organizations to increase financial and technical cooperation for development. In particular, it reiterated the central role of official development assistance (ODA) for states with the lowest capacity to attract private direct investment. It also pointed to the need to target assistance more effectively, and aspired to commit at least 0.7 per cent of the GDP of industrialized states to ODA.[27] In 2005, the Summit on the Millennium Declaration and the G-8 discussions on British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Africa Plan for trade, aid and debt relief highlighted opportunities to mobilize resources. Following the Gleneagles Summit, G-8 countries pledged to increase the overall aid to developing countries by US$50 billion, doubling the aid for Africa by US$25 billion by 2010. In this regard, promoting the productive capacities of refugees and placing security issues within a displacement context could prove to be an extremely effective means of garnering wider development assistance.

Inter-agency collaboration

The UNHCR 2004 review process highlighted the growing links between peace, security, development and humanitarianism.[28] Given this complex inter-connectedness, UNHCR cannot do everything alone. But it has an important role in advocacy and coordination. In implementing the goals of the Framework for Durable Solutions, UNHCR is not aspiring to become a development agency. Rather, it seeks to act as a catalyst, creating the collaborative framework under which other actors can better assist the displaced.

In this context, UNHCR has fostered a number of inter-agency partnerships. Most significantly, it has joined the United Nations Development Group (UNDG). Created by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997, the group seeks to improve the effectiveness of development work at the country level. In 2004, the group adopted a Guidance Note on Durable Solutions for Displaced Persons that stresses the need for UN country teams to consider the search for durable solutions for displaced persons.[29] UNHCR collaborates with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, especially with regard to post-conflict development cooperation, and with the World Bank. In the latter case, it advocates more systematic inclusion of population displacement in the Bank's poverty-reduction strategies.[30] These initiatives highlight the importance of mainstreaming the needs of the displaced across the UN system, particularly within a development context.

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The search for durable solutions

Secondary movement

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Notes

11. UNHCR, Framework for Durable Solutions for Refugees and Persons of Concern, UNHCR, Geneva, 2003.

12. UNHCR, 'Conclusion on Legal Safety Issues in the Context of Voluntary Repatriation of Refugees', Executive Committee Conclusion No. 101 (LV)-2004, 8 October 2004.

13. S. Castles and N. Van Hear, Developing DFID's Policy Approach To Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Final Report, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford, 2005.

14. B. Lippman, 'The 4Rs: The Way Ahead?' Forced Migration Review, Issue 21, 2004, pp. 9-11.

15. UNHCR, 'Repatriation and Reintegration Operations in Liberia', UNHCR, Geneva, 2004.

16. UNHCR, Framework for Durable Solutions for Refugees and Persons of Concern.

17. F. Stepputat, 'Refugees, Security and Development', Working Paper no. 2004/11, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, 2004.

18. O. Bakewell, 'Repatriation and Self-Settled Refugees in Zambia: Bringing Solutions to the Wrong Problems', Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 13, no. 4, 2000, pp. 356-73.

19. A. Betts, 'International Cooperation and Targeting Development Assistance for Refugee Solutions: Lessons from the 1980s', New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No.107, UNHCR, Geneva, 2004.

20. UNHCR, 'In Pursuit of Sustainable Solutions for Refugees in Zambia', UNHCR, Geneva, 2004.

21. UNHCR, 'Serbia and Montenegro: Development through Local Integration', RLSS/DOS Mission Report 2004/10, Geneva, 2004.

22. UNHCR, 'Report of the Mid-Term Review: Self-Reliance Strategy for Refugee Hosting Areas in Moyo, Arua and Adjumani Districts, Uganda', RLSS Mission Report 2004/03, Geneva, 2004.

23. UNHCR, 'Progress Report: Convention Plus', 3rd Convention Plus Forum, FORUM/2004/5, 16/09/04, www.unhcr.org.

24. UNHCR, 'Conclusion on International Cooperation and Burden and Responsibility Sharing in Mass Influx Situations', Executive Committee Conclusion No. 100 (LV)-2004, 8 October 2004.

25. UNHCR, 'Convention Plus: Issues Paper on Targeting of Development Assistance', Annex II, 2004, pp 13-15.

26. UNHCR, 'Putting Refugees on the Development Agenda: How Refugees and Returnees Can Contribute to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals', FORUM/2005/4, 2005.

27. United Nations, 'Report of the International Conference on Financing for Development', A/Conf.198/11, www.un.org, 2002.

28. United Nations General Assembly, 'Strengthening the Capacity of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to Carry out its Mandate', 58th Session, Agenda item 112, A/58/410, 2003.

29. United Nations Development Group, 'UNDG Guidance Note on Durable Solutions for Displaced Persons', UNDG: New York, www.undg.org, 2004. www.unhcr.org, 2004.

30. UNHCR, 'Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: A Displacement Perspective', UNHCR, Geneva, www.unhcr.org, 2004