By NICK CUMMING-BRUCE
June 18, 2008
GENEVA June 18, 08: The number of refugees crossing borders to escape conflict and persecution increased last year, and threatens to continue to grow because of factors like climate change and scarce resources, the United Nations refugee agency warned Tuesday.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees oversaw the care of 11.4 million refugees in 2007, including about 400,000 people who were enduring conflict in their own countries, the agency said. The total was 9.9 million people in 2006.
The numbers were modest compared with the 17.8 million refugees during the Balkan wars in 1992, but after a steady drop from 2001 to 2005 they represent a worrisome trend, the agency said.
“We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future,” António Guterres, the high commissioner, said in a statement.
The challenges include armed conflicts, bad governance, environmental degradation and extreme price increases for basic goods that have hit the poor the hardest and created instability in many places, Mr. Guterres said.
The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan accounted for more than half of the world’s refugees in 2007. More than two million Iraqis have sought refuge in Syria and Jordan , and three million Afghans have fled to Pakistan and Iran , the refugee agency said.
More than 45,000 Iraqis went home in 2007, some of them driven by the hardship of life in refugee camps, but 885,000 left the country for reasons that included violence, sectarian conflict and economic difficulty.
More than four million Afghans have returned home voluntarily in the past five years, and 374,000 went back in 2007. But the rate of return has diminished, partly because of insecurity but also because many of those inclined to return have already done so, the agency said.
The latest statistics contradict a number of misconceptions about refugee patterns, officials said, starting with the notion that Western countries shelter most fugitives from conflict.
Instead, 80 percent of refugees remain in developing countries in the immediate vicinity of their own countries, the agency said.
Pakistan accepted more than 2 million refugees in 2007, and Syria 1.5 million. The United States sheltered 281,000, according to the agency’s data. Developing countries are increasingly reluctant to shoulder the burden of refugees and are imposing stricter criteria for acceptance.
“It’s becoming a more and more inhospitable world for refugees,” said William Spindler, an agency spokesman.
Related News:
Four-way race to head top migration agency IOM
Tue Jun 17, 2008 4:47pm BST
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, June 17 (Reuters) - For the first time, a heated race to head the main international migration agency pits four candidates vying for a post traditionally handed to an American, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
Director general Brunson McKinley, who is seeking an unprecedented third term at the helm of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), faces a tough challenge from a fellow American who has official U.S. government backing.
Also standing in what diplomats describe as an open race are a former Canadian trade ambassador not officially endorsed by Ottawa and an Italian academic whom diplomatic sources say has failed to win consensus within the European Union.
Several rounds of voting are expected on Wednesday at IOM's closed-door Council, where a two-thirds majority is required. "Ten years ago, the IOM was seen very much as a U.S.-run organisation. In the past, the Americans proposed a candidate and everybody said okay," a diplomatic source told Reuters.
"It's very interesting to have two Americans running against each other. There has not been a competitive election before -- this is a whole new world for IOM," the source added.
The IOM, set up in 1951 after the chaotic mass displacement of post-war Europe , has always been headed by an American except in the 1960s when a Dutchman served as leader.
Under McKinley, IOM director general since Oct. 1998, the 122 member-state agency has greatly expanded. It is a respected authority in heated global debates on migration which touch sensitive issues including security, jobs and trafficking.
IOM has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion and 5,400 staff help migrants in 100 countries from Sudan to Colombia .
Washington backed away from McKinley, now 65, when he decided to seek a third five-year term. The United States is among 50 member states to have ratified an amendment to IOM's constitution barring a director-general from seeking a third term, although the rule has not yet come into force.
William Lacy Swing, a former U.S. ambassador who led U.N. peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the official U.S. government candidate. Washington says he is "the right person to lead IOM", despite his age of 73.
Luca Riccardi, who calls his native Italy "one of the crucial points of migration flows in Europe ", is seen as lacking proven experience in managing a large organisation. Sergio Marchi, a former Canadian ambassador to the World Trade Organisation with experience in migration issues, is less likely to attract some countries because he does not have official backing from his government, diplomatic sources say.
"All four have things counting for and against them, so I don't think people will be able to call this one," a diplomatic source said. (Editing by Laura MacInnis and Dominic Evans).
Source: REUTERS
