December 2002 Insights Issue
#44
Responding to displacement
Balancing needs and rights
Over the past 50 years, forced displacement has been a major obstacle
to development and the fight against poverty. Despite the efforts of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and others to find
‘durable solutions’ for those who are forced to flee their
homes, attitudes have, if anything, hardened towards refugees and asylum-seekers.
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Other articles in this issue:
Are refugee camps good for refugees? Are refugee camps good for Africa?
Is this strategy for dealing with refugees a successful one for them and
their host nations, African countries in particular?
Many refugees in Africa avoid camps despite the offer of aid, preferring
instead to integrate themselves with local communities in their country
of asylum. What factors influence integration and what are the benefits?
Palestinians, numbering over eight million around the world, are known
among other diaspora communities for their ability to sustain their livelihoods.
Palestinians in Egypt are currently employed in a wide range of professions,
among them wealthy businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and skilled and unskilled
labourers. What are the conditions under which they have survived?
For many years, there have been calls for the greater participation of
refugees in programmes meant to support and assist them. Has this been
achieved in reality?
Forced displacement can lead to new social and economic benefits in some
cases. Largely, however, it is a traumatic event that leads to a decline
in the standard of living and a diminished sense of wellbeing for those
displaced. How does current resettlement research deal with the problems
of vulnerable groups in displacement processes?
During 1991 and 1992, more than 250 000 Rohingya Muslims sought refuge
in Bangladesh from persecution by the army in Burma. Since then the bulk
of them have been repatriated, but around 21 000 refugees remain in camps
under difficult conditions.
More than 250,000 refugees returned from Sudan to Eritrea between 1991
and 2002, the majority of them without receiving international assistance.
Though the causes of this displacement were removed more than ten years
ago, there are still some 100,000 Eritrean refugees remaining in Sudan.
What factors influence the return of refugees?
International understanding of repatriation is based on the assumption
that populations tend to seek integration in one primary place of residence.
Is there evidence of an alternative to the return or non-return of displaced
people?
Further web resources.
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