Posted on 04/19/2006 7:44:50 PM PDT by voletti
* Says intolerance, terrorism fears and tighter asylum controls undermining international safeguards for refugees
LONDON: Intolerance, terrorism fears and tighter asylum controls are undermining the international system for dealing with refugees, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday.
There was widespread confusion over migrants and refugees and the world was falling short of meeting the needs of millions of internally displaced people, said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The refugee system has reached a critical juncture, the UNHCR said as it launched its new assessment, “The State of the World’s Refugees: Human Displacement in the New Millennium”.
It tackles how the changing dynamics of displacement over the past five years have affected the international asylum regime.
“The provision of international protection and the application of international human rights and humanitarian principles on which it is based are being increasingly challenged by political, social and economic realities,” the agency said in the new book.
“Core elements of refugee status ... are being questioned. More and more, asylum seekers are portrayed not as refugees fleeing persecution and entitled to sanctuary, but rather as illegal migrants, potential terrorists and criminals - or at a minimum, as ‘bogus’.
“Increasingly, asylum policies are being driven by security concerns and the need for enhanced migration management.” The UNHCR also said “asylum fatigue” was evident in some countries.
There were about 175 million international migrants in 2005, of which asylum seekers and refugees were only a small proportion.
But the distinction between illegal immigration and refugee and asylum issues had been blurred, leading to intolerance, the agency said.
Some 70 percent of the world’s 9.2 million refugees were in developing countries.
The global refugee population, however, had dropped from nearly 18 million in 1992. The decline was thought mainly due to a fall in the number of wars and several large-scale repatriations.
Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, urged states to reconcile their legitimate concerns, such as migration controls, with their legal and humanitarian obligations towards uprooted people.
The sharp decline in the number of asylum seekers in developed countries over the last five years shows that the balance has not been reached, he said.
“Though many factors may contribute to this drop, one apparent cause is the increasingly restrictive measures states have taken to limit access to asylum as they attempt to manage migration and safeguard their security,” Guterres wrote in his foreword to the book.
“Asylum seekers are often using the same illicit channels as illegal migrants, and as a result are denied access to asylum procedures that states are obliged to provide under international law.” AFP
And pukistan and saudi and Iran are welcome to welcome refugees into their pristine lands as they don't fear terrorism now, do they?
The UN is an asylum. Put them up with Kofi..
Translation: The Americans are getting aware and pissed off about our 3rd world rejects trying to invade so we can take over,
the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday.
I didn't know agencies could talk.
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