UN AGENCY CHIEF SAYS COUNTRIES HOSTING REFUGEES NEED SUPPORT
Filippo Grandi calls upon rich nations to assist ‘home regions’ where the most vulnerable people are displaced
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that politicians who call for refugees to stay in their own regions should know that “90 per cent of refugees go to only one country next to theirs ... they want to stay relatively close so they can go back.” In an exclusive interview with
The National in New York, Filippo Grandi responded to US president Donald Trump’s policy to keep refugees in their “home regions”, saying that is what is happening, in large part. But Mr Grandi said that those neighbouring countries receiving refugees needed support, and that “rich countries” should provide them with financial assistance and help to resettle more vulnerable refugees.
Mr Grandi spoke of the UNHCR’s efforts to challenge the stigma attached to the “refugee” label. On whether their efforts are succeeding, results are mixed. On one hand, greater awareness has raised the number of advocates for refugees, while the rise of ultranationalism created a negative dynamic. He said: “The debate has made many more people aware of what it means to be a refugee. We have more advocates now than we had five years ago. As soon as the Rohingya situation [in Myanmar] was on TV screens, we raised $5 million in days, from ordinary people.”
But the political climate concerns him. “Because it has been so politicised by unscrupulous politicians for electoral purposes, this has also created a constituency against migration and refugees. I always ask politicians why they are more worried about the naysayers, look to the yes-sayers. They are many but they need to constantly hear the story from us ... and you, the media.”
Mr Grandi said uncertainty still plagued the lives of refugees from Syria and Iraq and those internally displaced. In his assessment, Syrian refugees cannot go back to Syria yet, even though some neighbouring countries are encouraging them to return. “This must be a voluntary return,” he said. As for Iraq, Mr Grandi said that the independence referendum by the Kurdistan Regional Government could “unsettle a very precarious balance”.
What is happening is insufficient. Assistance given to big host countries like Uganda, Pakistan, Mexico, is insufficient FILIPPO GRANDI UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Filippo Grandi is having a busy week. Among the many topics on the agenda at the UN during the General Debate this week, that of refugees and migration is one of the most compelling.
With 65.5 million people displaced in the world, 22.5 million of them refugees, at a time when many ultra-nationalism is on the rise, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees has been speaking on behalf of those who have no voice, and advocating for those who have no other advocate because they have no state.
His mandate is a difficult one. In an exclusive interview with The National at the UN building in New York yesterday, Mr Grandi set out his ideas for an international plan for coping with refugee flows, which can be adopted by all nations. It is a plan fit for the 21st century and he wants it in place next year.
Out of last year’s UN New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, an agreement was reached to have two compacts endorsed by the General Assembly by next year. One on migrants and the other on refugees.
Mr Grandi and the UNHCR have the task of preparing the compact. An appendix in the New York declaration sets out what the response to a refugee crisis should be.
Some elements have always been there, Mr Grandi says.
“It says refugee emergencies are humanitarian emergencies, so people need food and medicine and blankets and shelter. But not just that, they need education. Soon they will need to become self-sustaining and have jobs.”
Humanitarian aid is “short lived, says Mr Grandi. “So that whole element of long term means bringing in other actors, more experts and those who have resources for that.”
The UNHCR has built partnerships with the World Bank, Ikea, Vodafone and Google, among others.
“This is very exciting,” Mr Grandi says. “That is why it is called a comprehensive framework because it is broader than what we do right now.”
The issue remains of how to implement it. He says there are two key elements: the policy and the practical elements. On the practical side, the UNHCR is seeking countries that are willing to be models. There are already 11 nations looking at applying the comprehensive approach to refugees.
“Uganda was the champion from day one. They have all these South Sudanese refugees. It is very tragic but they are very open because they let people have land, have access to schools, so they are already doing half of what is in that agenda. But they need support for the other half from the international community.”
Mr Grandi hopes to present practical examples of success to the General Assembly, to say, “you see, it possible.” He concedes that not everyone is on board with the plan, and some countries want to limit the number of refugees they take in. “Ultimately, this is a state process. UNHCR is doing it but states have to apply it.”
And there will be various versions of the plan, depending on the circumstances of each country. “The people fleeing central American states like Honduras, Salvador and Gutemala are fleeing gang violence, which is very different from people fleeing civil war in South Sudan. So elements of the compact must keep some adaptability.”
It will not be binding, “but it refers to other instruments that are binding, like the Refugee Convention and international humanitarian law,” Mr Grandi says. “It will take time, but I hope having created positive precedents, having shown that there is an advantage, there will be more and more embracing it.”
Then there are the political complications. In his address to the General Assembly, US president Donald Trump says the US would send financial aid to keep refugees “in their home region”. Mr Grandi was unsurprised.
“‘It is not just the US president, we hear this more and more, in Europe, in Australia, in all the rich world,” he says.
He counters such statements with three of his own. “First, refugees are already near their countries of origin. Ninety per cent of refugees only go as far as the country next to theirs.
“They don’t want to go further away, they want to stay relatively closer so they can go back. And these neighbours are not rich countries. They are poor or middle income, like Uganda or Jordan.”
Second, he wishes leaders like Mr Trump would acknowledge that. “Absolutely, yes, it is good to help them stay there if they can, but that means the support we give to those countries must be much more.
“I want these leaders to do what they say. What is happening now is insufficient. The assistance given to big host countries like Uganda, Pakistan, Mexico, is insufficient.”
As to the third point: “There will always be people that go further than that – not a big number but they are there. That is more tricky, they leave for various reasons. and the door has to be open.”
Nor should helping people in their region mean closing all doors to third-country resettlement.
The main issue of third-country resettlement for refugees is how they are resettled, to avoid people resorting to smuggling routes or traffickers.
“We need to offer a way for those who feel compelled to leave to do it through legal paths, safe ways to move on. This is resettlement.”
But those paths are few. Of the 22.5 million refugees in the world, only 162,000 – less than 1 per cent – were resettled last year. The UNHCR estimates that 10 per cent of refugees are vulnerable enough for resettlement and so some become desperate enough to take the risky routes.
“The Canadian model is very, very good because Canada has a state programme, and it is important that the state programme continues, as states have to take their responsibilities.
“But they strengthen it by having communities get involved, NGOs, companies and others. This adds places and creates awareness in the community.”
The Canadian model provides community support for a year and then refugees have to support themselves, an approach Mr Grandi praises as “it does not create dependency”.
Turning to Syria, where the war has produced one of the greatest refugee and humanitarian crises ever seen, Mr Grandi warns against a rush to push Syrian refugees to return.
Syria remains “a mobile war,” he says, in which the internally displaced move from one area to another, according to safety. He was in Syria this year.
“We see some internally displaced people going back because the area they came from stabilises, but they need help as often they go back to utter destruction.
“Other times, people go back because the area they moved to for safety becomes more destabilised. And there are some areas where there is new displacement, like from Raqqa. It is a very fluid situation.”
What is not much in evidence, he says, is the return of refugees.
“For Syrian refugees, it is still safer to stay where they are than to go back.”
The problem is that funding for the Syria crisis is now on the wane, compelling the UNHCR to use its own core funding, instead of special funding for Syria, to keep its projects going.
The UNHCR’s surveys on “intentions to return” show most Syrian refugees say they do want to go back, but not now. So Mr Grandi appeals to host countries to “please be patient. Don’t push. It must be voluntary. It’s a waiting time for everybody, the political situation is very uncertain, the military situation is very uncertain.”
This extends to Iraq, where the internally displaced are unsure about what will happen to them if the Kurdistan region referendum goes ahead.
“Of course there are concerns. Anything in Iraq can unsettle that very precarious balance and can cause conflict and displacement,” Mr Grandi says. “So we do hope they will come to a political agreement and move on in a spirit of unity as they should.
“Iraq has to explain it is a diverse country made of different people who have to live together. Anything that goes against that will be unsettling and we have to be careful.
“Iraq is a much faster moving situation. The military offensive against ISIL progressed and at the moment of fighting, quite a large number of people moved, but many people went back as soon as fighting was over.
“However, the more destruction, the less return. We were ready for the displacement, we have been able to host all those who were displaced and we have been able to help those who want to go back.
“But there are some complicated protection issues there. When the government takes back control of areas controlled by ISIL, how they rule is complicated. The government is much more careful.”
Mr Grandi is also highly preoccupied by the plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee Myanmar and become refugees in Bangladesh. He says that at its heart, the conflict is a “citizenship issue that has never been appropriately resolved”.
This crisis was “almost inevitable” as there is no recognition of the Rohingya. They are stateless people.
But the UNHCR is mandated to resolve statelessness. Mr Grandi has spoken to the government of Myanmar. “There is high communal tension and one of the most appalling levels of poverty I have ever seen.”
In Rakhine, the situation is complicated by “the very radical position on the Buddhist side and eventually this provoked radicalisation on the Muslim side.”
He adds: “We should have intervened earlier.”