Is the impact of refugees always negative? Are governments that accept refugees justified in depicting them as a burden? Or are refugees potential agents of development? Could support of livelihood activities enable refugees to lessen their dependence on aid and reduce tension with their hosts? Could locals benefit from refugee camp infrastructure when refugees go home?

A working paper entitled ‘The role and impact of humanitarian assets in refugee-hosting countries’ from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees series ‘New issues in Refugee Research’ focuses on the humanitarian assets and infrastructure provided to refugee hosting countries in order to better understand the consequences of refugee and humanitarian assistance. Major repatriation programmes from Malawi, Pakistan and Thailand are analysed to explore the potential to re-use schools, hospitals, water points and moveable assets for the benefit of local populations.

The UNHCR recognises that in many emergency situations the initial assistance provided to refugees comes not from the international community but from local populations and authorities. It is Africa, not developed countries, that struggles the most to manage the influx of refugees. Traditional African hospitality towards refugees has been sorely strained by their long-drawn-out presence and the insufficiency of international assistance.

Any influx of refugee populations, expatriate staff and an international relief effort means a range of inputs that are inevitably going to affect the host community. Until recently attitudes towards resource management and asset disposal have shown a lack of proper concern. A 1993 study found that only 20 per cent of the UNHCR’s $250m of assets was registered at Geneva headquarters. When programmes have wound down, assets have been handed over to local authorities or NGOs, with little thought being given to how they could be used or whether their new owners would be able to afford to maintain them.

The report also notes that:

• Much of the literature on the impact of refugees relies on unqualified assumptions made on the basis of incomplete data.
• Lacking data, the UNHCR often struggles to develop the wealth of refugees while ignoring poorer locals in their midst.
• It is not the case that the environmental impact of an influx of refugees can be alleviated only with international assistance.
• Refugees may contribute to both their host countries and their countries of origin through remittances which are invested in housing, health, education and productive enterprises.
• The relationship between refugees and the host community is more complex than that of burden and provider: thus although Pakistan has often demanded compensation for the ‘burden’ of housing Afghan refugees, most are well integrated into the local employment market and do work spurned by locals.

The author argues that the UNHCR can do more to address the needs and priorities of each specific context. The agency must:

• gather more detailed socio­economic information about refugee populations and host communities
• realise that measuring the impact of inputs demands more detailed development of indicators and comparative analysis
• conduct phase-out arrangements and negotiations with greater sensitivity and diplomacy
• not hand over assets to international NGOs unlikely to be on the scene for long after refugees leave
• explore the feasibility of arranging for assets to return with the repatriating population
• realise that capacity building is more than just trucks and warehouses in that it involves less tangible inputs such as skills and the transfer of knowledge.

Source(s):
‘The role and impact of humanitarian assets in refugee-hosting countries’, Working Paper No. 84, Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, UNHCR, by Melissa Phillips, March 2003 Full document.

Funded by: UNHCR

id21 Research Highlight: 12 June 2003

Further Information:
Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland

Tel: + 41 22 739 8249
Fax: +41 22 739 7344
Contact the contributor: hqep00@unhcr.ch

Contact the contributor: melly_p@email.com

Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, UNHCR

Other related links:
'Responding to displacement: Balancing needs and rights' Insights #44

See id21's links page on displacement issues

'Preparing for the worst: responding to refugee flows in southern Africa'

'Living on charity: all that a refugee desires?'

'Refugees and local hosts: A livelihoods approach to local integration and repatriation'

'Resettling refugees: improving the record of failure'

'Listen to the displaced: action research in Sri Lanka'