Беженцы в мире: 2002. Достижения и проблемы

Abstract

This is a summary of the changes in the refugee situation in the world in 2002 and of the activities of the UNHCR. The greatest progress for refugees has been achieved in Afghanistan: about 2 million refugees who had been forced out of the country, came back. Changes for the better took place in Sri Lanka where the conflicting sides stopped the ten-year-old long civil war and concluded a Norway-mediated agreement. And some of the first of a million refugees started returning home from exile. A hope for the end of an over 25-year-long civil war in Angola has emerged. A cease-fire has been reached and refugees are coming back. After the ten-year-long bloodshed the situation in Sierra-Leone started to come back to normal, with over 200 000 refugees having returned to the country. The main tasks in protecting refugees in the Balkans have been implemented, that is why the UNHCR is reducing its activities in the region, though some issues remain. East Timor has achieved full independence and 250 000 people returned home, with the conditions in the country coming back to normal so much that the UNHCR applied the 1951 Refugee Convention article on terminating its force. Similarly, this article has been applied in regard to the refugees from Eritrea who had found temporary asylum in Sudan. The refugee situation in Belarus is summed up. The main task of the UNHCRhere is assisting Belarusian authorities in humane management of disordered refugee flows with a focus to protecting the rights of asylum seekers and refugees according to international standards and norms. A brief review is given to the unsolved issues such as the long-standing refugee crises and acute crisis refugee situations in various regions of the world: Liberia, Cote d'lvdire, Burundi, Sierra Leone, West Sahara, Colombia, Azerbaijan, Butan. The article concludes in a brief analysis of the prospects of further activity on reducing the acuteness of refugee crises: holding a global meeting of the representatives of 127 states on the problems of refugees in Geneva in 2001; adoption of the Protection Agenda, certain guidelines for governments and humanitarian organizations for their efforts in raising the refugee assistance efficiency; introducing new ideas by the High Commissioner of the UNHCR: the new approach to raise the effectiveness of the 1951 Convention, called Convention Plus; the appeal to join the efforts of some UN bodies to solve the problems of both refugees and local population, the new approach 4R, that is the idea of developing a holistic concept of refugee protection embracing four main stages: repatriation, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction. "The results achieved in Afghanistan in 2002 were striking. We are facing further difficult tasks " (Ruud Lubbers).