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APRIL
9, 1999 12:56 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Doctors
Without Borders
Ruud
Huurman in Macedonia at 011-316-2220-4130
Barbara Kancelbaum in New York at 212-655-3763
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UNHCR Must Take Full Responsibility For All Of The Kosovo Refugees - Doctors Without
Borders Calls On Mrs. Sadako Ogata To Take Action |
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NEW
YORK - April 9 - The international medical relief organization Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors
Without Borders (MSF) today called on Mrs. Sadako Ogata to ensure that the UNHCR
takes full responsibility for the Kosovo refugees, including those outside the
NATO refugee camps.
The UNHCR must ensure that it fulfils its mandate to fully protect and assist
the refugees in accordance with international refugee standards. Doctors Without
Borders is extremely concerned that the minimum standards for the assistance and
protection of refugees have been ignored for the Kosovo refugees.
"Many innocent civilians are suffering from the conflict in Yugoslavia. The least
we can do is to take proper care of the people who escape," said Dr. Lex Winkler,
Director General of Doctors Without Borders. "This means that the UNHCR must take
on its full responsibilities to assist and protect these people."
During the past couple of weeks, refugees were left for days with no assistance
in difficult conditions at the border. Recently at the border in Blace, when refugees
were put into buses and transported away, there was no permanent UNHCR presence
to monitor the number and destination of buses or refugees. The systematic monitoring
of new arriving refugees is still not taking place, and many refugees have not
been registered.
Without registration, refugees have no rights and families cannot be reunified.
Without registered names, the numbers of refugees are easy to manipulate and assistance
is difficult to monitor. Families were and still are being separated and transported
to camps and to other countries (sometimes without their consent) and without
information about each others' whereabouts.
Although heavy logistical assistance has been useful, NATO is first and foremost
a military organization which is currently involved in the conflict. It is not
a humanitarian actor and is neither responsible nor able to coordinate humanitarian
relief activities for refugees. Protection and assistance for refugees is the
responsibility of the UNHCR. The UNHCR must take responsibility for the refugees
in the NATO refugee camps (Stencovic, Brazda and Neprosteno), or other camps (Radusa)
as well as for the thousands of refugees who are temporarily housed with families,
for those who are still crossing the borders, and for those who are trying to
do so but are being returned. Doctors Without Borders calls on Mrs. Ogata to ensure
that the UNHCR fulfils its mandate and specifically that it:
- ensure that the individual needs of refugees are met, particularly
for vulnerable groups
- ensure registration of refugees and reunification of families
- ensure that the refugees and not forcefully repatriated or
relocated
- ensure that refugees are treated humanely
Doctors Without Borders is the world's largest independent international medical
relief agency aiding victims of armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and man-made
disasters, and others who lack health care due to geographic remoteness or ethnic
marginalization. Each year the organization sends more than 2,000 doctors, nurses,
other medical professionals, and logisticians to provide medical aid in more than
83 countries.
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