Yesterday, UN High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) Antonio Guterres briefed the UN Security Council on refugees and displaced persons worldwide. He said the number is growing (is it ever not growing?) due to conflicts, climate change(?) and economic recession.
The number of refugees worldwide had increased to more than 11 million over the last two years, and the number of people displaced internally as a result of conflict to some 22 million, António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a briefing to the Security Council today.
He said the increase in the number of refugees under the mandate of his Office -– not including the 4.6 million Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) -– had increased primarily due to the situations in Iraq and Somalia. Other sources of the growing number of refugees included Afghanistan, Sudan, Chad, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Other causes of displacement besides conflict included climate change induced natural disaster, drought, rising sea levels and the current global economic recession, he said. “Conflict, climate change and extreme deprivation will interrelate, strengthening each other as causes of displacement.” As there was no legal framework addressing the situation of people displaced internally by persecution or armed conflict, there was a need to discuss seriously the new forms of forced displacement, emerging protection gaps and possible forms of collective response.
The report on the briefing is a long one, but quite informative. Here are a few excerpts I found interesting.
The representative of the UK, Karen Pierce, told the gathering that the UK supported UNRWA (see Judy’s post on UNRWA and Hamas, then read on).
Karen Pierce (UK), echoing the High Commissioner’s admiration for UNRWA’s workers in the Gaza Strip, called for immediate humanitarian access in light of the immense suffering caused by the escalation of violence in Gaza and southern Israel. The United Kingdom called for an immediate ceasefire and condemned acts of terror and violence against civilians.
The Russian representative basically said that internally displaced people are the sovereign nations problem (so stay out of Russia):
Underlining the necessity of drawing a distinction between UNHCR providing assistance to refugees and to internally displaced persons, he noted that, for the latter group, interventions were only allowed if the relevant country had made a request in advance. Providing assistance to internally displaced persons was primarily the responsibility of the country concerned.
The Chinese representative mentioned “environmental degradation” as a contributing factor in creating refugees and internally displaced people. China has such a fabulous environomental record (not!) that you wonder why someone representing China should even mention environmental degradation, but the UN is a place for talkers.
Indeed, conflict, political turmoil, economic stagnation, poverty and backwardness were the main causes that made the refugee problem intractable, in addition to environmental degradation and security challenges, which also exacerbated displacement.
The Libyan representative weighed in on Gaza (of course!) likening the Israelis to Nazis:
He went on to recount the disturbing events in Gaza, where the civilian Palestinian population was being displaced due to collective punishment with Nazi-like overtones. The people of Gaza could not flee and had no option but death. The Security Council remained silent while those preventing it from shouldering its responsibilities were evincing tacit approval of Israel’s operations.
Mr. Guterres wrapped up with his praise for UNWRA:
Expressing appreciation for the statements by the representative of the United Kingdom and others who had expressed concern about the situation in Gaza, he said he hoped the situation of displacement could be addressed in a concrete and comprehensive manner as soon as possible. UNRWA was doing laudable work under extremely difficult circumstances in and around Gaza. UNHCR’s main concern, from the perspective of its mandate, was that the enclave’s population could not flee, which made the humanitarian imperative that much more pressing.
But, Mr. Guterres they could be resettled to Muslim countries, could they not!