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UN Warns of Global Refugee Crisis
Refugees from never-ending conflict in Afghanistan and Somalia face systematic stigmatisation, says UNHCR chief.
Conflicts are leading to new era of near permanent refugee populations, the head of the United Nation's refugee agency said. Yet rich countries are only willing to take a fraction of those driven forced to flee by drawn-out warfare - especially when it comes to refugees from Afghanistan or Somalia.
An Afghan women waits to leave for Afghanistan at a UNHCR repatriation terminal in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2009. "As a result of never-ending conflicts, we are witnessing the creation of a number of quasi-permanent, global refugee populations," Antonio Guterres said in a speech to the UNHCR's governing executive committee on Monday.(AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) "As a result of never-ending conflicts, we are witnessing the
creation of a number of quasi-permanent, global refugee populations,"
Antonio Guterres said in a speech to the UNHCR's governing executive
committee on Monday.
Afghan refugees are spread across some 69 countries, he noted. Peace remains a distant hope in Somalia. Only 61 Somalis were able to return home last year.
"I do not believe there is any group of refugees as systematically undesired, stigmatised and discriminated against," he said.
Resettlement demand
Guterres called on developed countries to do more to address the huge demand for resettlement. Of the 800,000 refugees who need somewhere to go annually, only one in ten has a chance of finding a place.
"We need to increase international solidarity and burden sharing. A better understanding and recognition by the international community of the efforts of host countries is absolutely necessary," Guterres declared.
The UNHCR was responsible for 15 million refugees in 2009, Guterres said. Fewer returned voluntarily to their home country than in previous years.
More than half are fleeing conflict, and most of them are living in developing countries. Many Afghan refugees live in camps in Pakistan and Iran, while Iraqis have fled mainly to Syria and Jordan.
Guterres underlined the "extraordinary generosity" of Iran and Pakistan.
A far smaller numbers of refugees are accepted for resettlement in the European Union member states, North America and Australia.
Even when they manage to arrive in countries further afield, people fleeing conflict zones often face considerable barriers to gaining refugee status. Stuck in a bureaucratic limbo, many brave homelessness, surviving on the streets of countries such as Greece and France as governments turn a blind eye.
Nearly 100 Afghan asylum seekers broke out of a detention centre near Darwin, in Australia, in September to highlight their treatment in by Australian immigration services.
They held up bed sheets reading "We are homeless" and "Show us mercy", the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The UNHCR is celebrating its sixtieth birthday this December. Refugees and other displaced and stateless people, however, are caught in an ever-more complex environment.
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9 Comments so far
Show AllThe Imperialist countries i.e. U.S.A and UK are responsible for these refugees because they are the primary motive force behind the wars that are driving these people from their homes. They are using the wars as a means to clear the lands of the population so they can steal their resources.
What most people don't seem to understand is that this all fits into the program of global depopulation and resource theft of the Ruling Oligarchy. The Rothchilds, Rockefellers, House of Morgan etc, have plans to reduce the population of the world to 500 million by 2050. They also are making billions of dollars in the process pushing toxic "Swine Flu" shots, Fluoridated water, Chemtrail spraying, war, economic collapse, "War on Drugs, etc. on a hapless and confused population of "sheeple". If you have any doubts just check this out:
www.AE911truth.org, www.911sharethetruth.com, www.theamericansheeple.com, www.mediamonarchy.com
Peace, Drewsky
"The Imperialist countries i.e. U.S.A and UK are responsible for these refugees because they are the primary motive force behind the wars that are driving these people from their homes."
Actually sick, f*ckedup countries like Somalia are responsible for their own refugees. The sooner these places get their sh*t together, the sooner they will enter the 21st century with rest of the world.
Way to show compassion f**kface. I bet you are from that fly over country where you all learn about the rest of the world through the cartoons. You should try traveling outside the big ol white US of AssHls sometime. You might see wonders that cannot be explained by your narrow world view.
"Way to show compassion f**kface"
First, you should refrain from that kind of language in your first post.
"You should try traveling outside the big ol white US of AssHls sometime"
Second, i am am what you call an immigrant. So trust me i've been places and seen suff. Most of the places that are f-d up like that, it's their own doing. They have to get thru it and sort it out themselves.
Like Cheney & Kissinger Bush, Blair, Gate,
where ever you go U HAVE NO EYES TO SEE. ALL U C IS THE FUCKED UP MIRROR YOU TAKE WITH U WHERE EVER U R.
U slay their throats & wipe the knife on the faces,
For once I won't be saying In Soulidarity
I have no doubt "Imperial" countries are the primary motive force" behind all this regional conflict. And have been since the 1820's Scramble for Africa. (Before then, of course - well, who do you blame for that?)
But it would be naive, at least in the case of Africa (that's that place none of you Yanks seem to know what to do with, or indeed which bit is which) to exclude ancient regional feuds, regional self-determination, massive corruption by regional leaders, massive and no doubt deliberate under-education so as to perpetuate the political status quo. Surely there comes a time when countries have to take responsibility for their own leaders? Their own disastrous foreign policy?
War and economic profiteering do not explain away horrific land-use mismanagement, which is also a factor in creating refugees. Just because you tempt a man, does not excuse him the responsibility to refuse the temptation. But I think Americans don't understand this - they actually feel guilty for providing the temptation in the first place, and think acting as world policeman will somehow make up for this. But then when has America understood anything about anywhere outside their own borders? One example of successful US foreign policy that has benefited the world? World War II? Maybe. The Nazis just moved to Washington, so that doesn't really count.
Last point - I am sure that 90% of the people commenting on this site have never even been to Africa, and couldn't locate Nairobi, Khartoum, Darfur, Cape Town or Maputo on a map if their life depended on it. Yet they shriek their white liberal guilt from the rooftops as if somehow that makes everything better.
Actually, I am increasingly dismayed by Common Dreams. I used to think it was a driving force for social change, both intellectual and practical, but it isn't. Far from it. It's a place where liberal elites like to congregate, pat each other on the back and go home assured in the belief that their pretty sophistry has made a difference. If you lot are the revolution, God help this planet.
But that's the point isn't it - ain't no God helping no one - it's up to me to make a difference, first to myself, then to the people around me.
"Actually, I am increasingly dismayed by Common Dreams. I used to think it was a driving force for social change, both intellectual and practical, but it isn't. Far from it. It's a place where liberal elites like to congregate, pat each other on the back and go home assured in the belief that their pretty sophistry has made a difference. If you lot are the revolution, God help this planet."
Don't you think that you're asking too much from a news service? The point is to get information out--by which I mean not just out on this admittedly cloistered site, but out to people who are largely ignorant of the issues discussed herein.
One of the main reasons that there is no revolution is that most USians are so damned ignorant. They really believe we are in the Mideast to "help."
So I come here for information and spread it around. Much of the information I get is from the comments. The back-patting and spatting can be irritating, but what do you expect in the human squabble?
very badly neglected story. because the life of refugees is like a triple whammy. displaced people lose a piece of themselves, and suffer a constant
kind of disorientation. But that's just the beginning. then there is the hunger, never knowing where your next meal- or your children's- is coming from. and too often no shelter. Also they suffer some level of ptsd. the future is empty and bleak- they can't go home. hundreds of thousands of people, byfar the largest numbers of casualties in these stupid, brutal, endless wars
It's sad, the way the world is or, more correctly, the way we allow it to be.
Those who run the world for their benefit are few in number but they are very rich and very powerful. But there are more of us and, if we joined together, we could clear the world of the low-life, set it up to benefit everyone.
It's time to make our move while there is some world left!
http://www.dangerouscreation.com