Présentation de Furio de Angelis

8/3/2019 Prsentation de Furio de Angelis

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one Senior Admin. Clerk (Ottawa)

United Nations Association in Canada-Greater Montreal

Association Canadienne pour les Nations Unies GrandMontral

Public Conference

UNHCR a vital Agency for 36, 4 millions of uprooted humanbeings

Pavillon Athanase-DavidUniversit du Qubec Montral (UQM)

Keynote Address, Tuesday 18 October 2011

Madame Chair Lamarre-Proulx, Members of the Board of

Administrators of the United Nation Association in Canada GreaterMontreal, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good evening.

I would like first to acknowledge the efforts of the United NationsAssociation in Canada - Greater Montreal Section, to engage theCanadian public in the work of the United Nations and the critical

international issues which face us all.

It is a pleasure for me to be with all of you tonight in Montreal tospeak to you about the United Nations High Commissioner forrefugees and its mandate. Moreover, 2011 is a very special year asthe Agency is celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the 1951Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 50th Anniversaryof the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the

150th Anniversary of the birth of Fridtjof Nansen, a Polar Explorer


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from Norway and the First League of Nations High Commissionerfor Refugees.

I take this opportunity to bring your attention to the existence of the

Nansen Refugee Award, given to an individual or an organisation inrecognition of extraordinary and dedicated service to refugees. It isthe most prestigious honour conferred by UNHCR. More than 60individuals, groups or organisations have won the Nansen Refugee

Award since Eleonor Roosevelt became the first winner in 1954.This year the laureate is Nasser Salim Ali Al-Hamairy, from Yemen,who founded the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity, which provided life-saving support to refugees coming in boats in the

Yemens southern Regions.

Exceptionally, the People of Canada received the Award in 1986 inrecognition of their essential and constant contribution to the causeof refugees within their country and around the world. Canada wasdescribed then as a leading contributor to international humanitarianand refugee aid programmes. Canada has from the beginning,supported international efforts on behalf of refugees. It has one of

the best records for resettlement of refugees and a leading UNHCRdonor. The Governor Generals Office has accepted to lend the

Nansen Refugee Awardto the Montreal City Mission and we areprivileged to have the medal exhibited in this auditorium tonight.

***

The foundation of UNHCRs mandate lies in its Statute, adopted by

the United Nations General Assembly in 1950. In addition, theGeneral Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and UNHCRsExecutive Committee or EXCOM, comprised of 85 UN MemberStates, govern and have helped to shape UNHCR throughResolutions and activities for some 60 years. Other elements shapingUNHCRs work are contained in the 1951 Convention relating to theStatus of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, in individual CountryAgreements with Governments concluded by UNHCR regarding

operations in countries where the organization maintains a presence,and national legislation of a number of State Parties to the Refugee


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Convention which make mention of UNHCR and/or elements of theUNHCR mandate and functions, such as in Canada.

UNHCR advocates for the protection of some 43,7 millions persons

of concern (the highest number in 15 years) which includes (10, 55millions of) refugees, (14, 7 millions of) persons internally displacedin refugee-like conditions, (2, 5 millions of) voluntarily repatriated,(12 millions of) stateless persons and (850,800) asylum seekers. In2011, already 750,000 persons became refugees.

UNHCR is one of the world's principal humanitarian agencies,staffed by more than 6,123 personnel in 125 countries. More than

80% of its work takes place in the field, with 60% of staff working indifficult and often dangerous non-family duty stations. Numerous partners within the UN system and Non-GovernmentalOrganizations assist in UNHCRs work. UNHCR staff is governed by a strict code of ethics with regard to their professional conductand behavior. A regular cycle of training relating to the UNHCRCode of Conduct and functional expertise is required for all staff.

States are primarily responsible for providing protection andassistance to asylum seekers and refugees. As of the 1 April 2001,147 States were party to either the Refugee Convention or the 1967Protocol, with additional States offering asylum within theirterritories despite the lack of formal commitments acceded to underinternational law, thus demonstrating a broad-based acceptance ofhumanitarian and refugee protection principles. In countries wherenational authorities are either unable or unwilling to extend

protection to refugees, UNHCR may implement operations that seekto address needs such as promoting admission to safe territory,undertaking refugee status determination, ensuring access to shelter,food, health, education and other personal needs, and promotingdurable solutions. In 2010, UNHCR received directly 89,500applications for international protection. In countries where nationalauthorities seek to meet the needs of refugees and persons of concernto the Office, UNHCR undertakes a support and monitoring

function, to assist States in meeting their international obligationsand to oversee implementation of those obligations. These activities


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are specifically required of UNHCR by State Parties to theConvention, as reflected in the UNHCR Statute and the RefugeeConvention,Article 35.

UNHCR also produces tools to support and harmonize State Partiesapplication of the refugee Convention. The Handbook on Proceduresand Criteria for Determining Refugee Status (which will besubmitted to review again next year) remains an authoritative toolfor decision makers assessing asylum applications within refugeestatus determination procedures. EXCOM Conclusions alsoconstitutes another source of guidance and pronouncements relatingto refugee protection. In addition, UNHCR regularly gathers,

produces and circulates legal and protection policy research, as wellas country specific background information.

The 60th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which defineswho is a refugee, the rights of refugees, and the legal obligations ofStates to protect them, offers the opportunity to ask States torecommit to the basics of refugee protection and to think beyondthe basics.

Allow me to dwell a few minutes on the issue of the statelessness asit is one of the main focuses of the UNHCR commemorations thisyear. If nationality might seem like a universal birthright, 12 millionpeople around the world probably an underestimated number aretrying hard to get along without it. This means, in practice, a dailystruggle for legitimacy, to establish a legal residence, to find work,to access medical assistance and education for their children. It is

thought-provoking that nationality legislation is still being draftedthat writes into law the deprivation of nationality on the grounds ofgender, of national origin, or even because of disapproved marriages.UNHCR estimates that At the current rate of three ratificationsevery 12 months to one or other of the Statelessness Conventions,we may be looking at another 50 years before we can talk about atruly global assumption of responsibility to reduce the statelessnessproblem. States are thus invited not only to sign and ratify the two

Conventions on Statelessness but also to draft citizenship legislationsand end discriminatory rules, such as those prohibiting a mother


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from passing her citizenship on to her children. Where States hadbroken up, or new ones had been formed, it is crucial to plan ahead,so that people would not be left without nationality.

The said commemorations will culminate in December with aministerial meeting in which States would be asked to pledge theircommitment to operating in a manner that would change the courseof refugee protection and statelessness in a positive way, and todevelop an action plan for the period to come.

***

Refugee protection is global concern and a common trust. Thismeans that responsibility for it is shared, not individual. It alsomeans that, unless this is shouldered widely, it may be borne bynone. This is one of the salient lessons of the last 60 years fromUNHCRs perspective and burden-sharing is a common threadwithin international protection. How is the situation today?There has been some progress.

UNHCR and States adopted a joint Agenda for Protection in2002. The Agenda is an ambitious, yet practical, programme ofaction to improve the protection of refugees and asylum-seekersaround the world. It is intended to serve as a guide for concreteaction, not only by UNHCR, but also by governments, NGOsand other partners. Although not a legally binding document, theAgenda has initiated the 10-Point Plan which is increasinglyemployed as a planning tool by UNHCR and by States, to

improve management of asylum and migration linkedmovements.

When it comes to resettlement, there have been importantsuccess stories, with 24 countries now offering resettlementplaces. Resettlement departures have however decreased in 2010amounting to 73,000 compared to over 84,000 persons in 2009,also due to the fact that UNHCR submissions have been for the

last years superior to the number of places put at disposal byresettlement countries and backlog in the processing of


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resettlement cases were created. Resettlement places are stilloffered at an insufficient number when measured against need.The reality is that for every 100 refugees in need of resettlement,only 10 are resettled each year. Hence a 10 of 100 project was

launched at this years Annual Tripartite Consultations onResettlement (ATCR), aiming to realize a 10 percent increase inresettlement places, including emergency and medical places, inline with UNHCRs 2010-2011 Global Strategic Priorities andthe Agenda for Protection.

In view of the prolonged nature of several of todayss major

international conflicts, refugee experience is becomingincreasingly drawn-out for millions of people worldwide.UNHCR defines a protracted refugee situation as one in which alarge number (around 25,000) of people are stuck in exile forfive years or longer. The High Commissioner started aninitiative in 2008 to call the world interest in the plight ofpersons locked in protracted displacement with some situationsnow resolved and others but not all moving positivelyforward. Quoting the High Commissioner: "One refugeewithout hope is too many." The world is failing these people,leaving them to wait out the instability back home and puttheir lives on hold indefinitely. Developing countries cannotcontinue to bear this burden alone and the industrializedworld must address this imbalance. We need to see increasedresettlement quotas. We need accelerated peace initiatives inlong-standing conflicts so that refugees can go home."

Protracted displacement disproportionately affects women andyouth. This was spotlighted through the series of RegionalDialogues with Women and Girls, which were organized as partof the 60th anniversary events, from November 2010 to May2011, in India, Colombia, Jordan, Uganda, Zambia, Thailandand Finland. These Dialogues underlined the critical importanceof effective and sustained engagement with refugeecommunities in developing protection strategies. The women

shared the harsh reality of their lives in refugee camps and urbansites with clear-sightedness and candor. They described the


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impacts, including sexual and gender-based violence, of lack ofdocumentation, overcrowded and unhealthy shelterarrangements, inadequate health services, the lack of educationalopportunities and unsafe and poor quality schools. One cross-

cutting concern was the absence of livelihood possibilities incamps and in urban settings, with failure to invest in this beinglinked to negative coping strategies like survival sex anddamaged prospects for successful integration or reintegrationinto communities when displacement ends. Refugeecommunities, properly enabled, are in fact providers of firstresort when it comes to their own protection. In spite of theobvious importance of investing in livelihoods, this has yet to

become a serious priority for the international community.

This leads me in the challenges of 2011. The world for manymillions remains a very insecure place. Hazard is not an abstractconcept but in many situations an ever present, proximate andlethal threat.

There were unfortunate incidents of Refoulement of high

visibility which have occurred in a number of regions of theworld, including in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Non-refoulement is a principle in refugee law that concerns theprotection of refugees from being returned to places where theirlives or freedoms could be threatened.

Urban refugees and asylum-seekers are a growing protectionchallenge as numbers increase, programmes to secure

protection, health, housing and education are costly and notalways supported, and resettlement and repatriation remainrealistic solutions for very few. Many urban refugees aredependent on UNHCR for financial, psycho-social andprotection support, but the needs far outstrip the possibilities andthe gaps are many.

Education is one of the highest priorities of refugees, and has a

vital role to play in their protection and ability to findsustainable solutions. Access to education is, though, limited.


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Refugee enrolment in primary school is only 76 per centglobally and drops to 36 per cent at secondary level. Girls are ata particular disadvantage. In East Africa and the Horn, forexample, only five girls are enrolled for every 10 boys. Refugee

education is also generally of a low quality due to high teacher- pupil ratios and a lack of teacher training. As a result, manyrefugee children are unable to learn the skills, especially literacyand numeracy, which would enable them to claim their rights, towithstand the challenges of displacement and to rebuild theirlives. Many of these difficulties derive from resourceconstraints. While UNHCRs education budget has risen inrecent years, it has not kept pace with needs and demands. The

projected budget for 2012, for example, is $71 million, while theComprehensive Needs Assessment stands at $180 million.

UNHCR is formulating a five-year education strategy, drawingupon the recommendations of a recently completed independentreview of the state of refugee education worldwide. The newstrategy will inter alia seek to improve learning achievementamongst refugee children, to increase access to post-primary

education and training, and to expand opportunities for refugeesto participate in tertiary education, for example through certifieddistance education programs.

Detention of asylum-seekers continues to create great individualhardship in many countries on the American continent, inOceania, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The duration can be over-long, the conditions unjustifiably harsh and the

possibilities for legal oversight or review very limited. It hasreached the point in some countries where there are actuallymore due process safeguards regulating detention of criminalsthan of asylum-seekers. There is a critical need for statespracticing detention at least to review the processes in place forits regulation.

A UNHCR-commissioned study released earlier this year found

that there is no empirical evidence that detention deters irregularmigration, and that compliance or cooperation rates with the


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outcome of asylum decisions, even negative ones, are regularlyhigher than 90 percent when persons have been released intonon-detention supervision arrangements. As a practice,detention has proved seriously detrimental to the physical and

psychological health of asylum-seekers and refugees. It is beingmaintained in spite of mounting evidence that costs for detentionare generally substantially higher than for less coercive, but justas effective, alternatives to detention. UNHCR continues to promote alternatives to detention and has been encouraged byinitiatives taken in some states to pilot such alternatives.

With the rising trend of detaining asylum-seekers, there was a

decline in protection space and humanitarian space, due tofears of terrorism, trans-national crime and irregular migration.Alternatives to detention and solutions to the dangers ofmaritime flight and other issues needed to be addressed in anegalitarian, rights-based manner.

Migrants and refugees are too often linked in the press to socialproblems, like the rising rates of unemployment, or to violence

and criminality. Asylum-seekers and refugees from outside aregion will often be classified, without qualification, as abusersof national systems, particularly where their travel has beenfacilitated by smugglers. Relatively little attention is given bythe media, or by those who feed it, to the human side of peoplemovements and to the root causes of migration, or theconsequences, including separation of families, unaccompaniedchildren or trafficking; nor are the positive contributions of

migrants sufficiently recognized.

Boat arrivals can provoke fears and high emotions which may be difficult for Governments to manage. In our experience, anapproach built predominantly around closing borders and tryingto prevent movement is not the answer, as it does not work. Infact it can make situations even more difficult to deal with.

In many refugee situations, there is also the challenge ofaddressing impunity. This is a 60th anniversary issue, and we


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have planned a joint examination, together with human rights bodies and international criminal law institutions, of emergingcomplementarities between respective bodies of law andpractice.

Sexual Gender Based Violence and impunity is an also an issueof high significance. Such violence tends to impactdisproportionately the more vulnerable, with women, girls and boys exposed to extreme forms - rape, brutality and killings.UNHCR is making a determined effort to respond with SexualGender Based Violence standard operating procedures now inplace in over 90 percent of our camps and multiplying when itcomes to urban locations as well. Women and girls will have a

prominent place during the 60th anniversary commemorations.

Asylum-seekers and refugees from outside a region will often beclassified, without qualification, as abusers of national systems,particularly where their travel has been facilitated by smugglers.Relatively little attention is given by the media, or by those whofeed it, to the human side of people movements and to the rootcauses of migration, or the consequences, including separation

of families, unaccompanied children or trafficking; nor are thepositive contributions of migrants sufficiently recognized.

Apart from how to handle these practical protection challenges,the legal implications of displacement driven by forces otherthan persecution, human rights violations and war, have yet to be seriously thought through. There is a legal vacuum when itcomes to the plight of populations whose states physically are

engulfed and disappear, the so-called sinking islands phenomenon. The natural disaster victims who are displacedexternally will also confront an uncertain legal situation. Suchissues also need to find a place on the 60th anniversarycommemorations agenda.

***

Countries with strong economies are more likely to be capableof absorbing and supporting refugees. By comparing the refugee


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population with the average income level of a country(measured by the Gross Domestic Product per capita), a measurecan be obtained of the relative impact of hosting refugees. Thereality is that among the 20 countries with the highest number of

refugees according to that measure, all are developing countries,including 12 Least Developed Countries. At the end of 2010,Pakistan had the highest number of refugees compared to itsnational economy, followed by the Democratic Republic of theCongo, Kenya, Chad, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Ethiopia(149). The first developed country was Germany, in the 25 thplace. Following the uproar caused by the Arab Awakenings thisyear, and the conflict in Ivory Coast and Somalia, numbers may

be increasing, but developing countries will most likely bereceiving the heavier burden.

Countries like Canada are important in support of international protection. In 2010, around 12 000 Government-AssistedRefugees and Privately Sponsored Refugees were resettled toCanada as permanent resident and that number may increase inthe future. As for asylum seekers, 32, 457 claims for asylum

were finalised and 38% of that number received a positiveanswer. The number of claims has diminished due mostly to theimposition of visas against Mexico and Hungary, two mainsource countries for asylum seekers.

Canada maintains a liberal asylum policy, as reflected in the broad definition of the term refugee, included in theImmigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), which

incorporates elements of the definition contained in RefugeeConvention. UNHCR exercises its supervisory responsibilityunder Article 35 of the Convention, which has beenincorporated into national legislation through IRPA s.166, in avariety of ways, including through direct monitoring of refugeestatus determination procedures before the Immigration andRefugee Board (IRB). UNHCR consults with governmentinterlocutors on legislative, regulatory and procedural

developments, observes and comments on Canadian policy andpractice, promotes best practices in line with international


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standards including on best interests of the child, gender and agemainstreaming, vulnerable applicants and detention and workswith non-governmental groups to monitor developments andmakes demarches with the government as required. Canadian

authorities regularly share draft policy and operationaldocuments with UNHCR seeking input regarding conformitywith international obligations. UNHCR commentary highlightslinkages and gaps between national legislation andimplementation mechanisms, the Refugee Convention andguidance produced or approved by its Executive Committee.

UNHCR is joined by a range of effective refugee advocacy

groups in its work of strengthening public understanding and building a more sympathetic environment for refugees andasylum seekers in Canada. This is particularly important wherethe parliamentary standing committee on Citizenship andImmigration devotes a significant portion of its work program tostudying refugee issues.

Canada is an advocate of multilateral action. Canada is an

important supporter of the Strategic Use of Resettlement and a promoter of Multilateral Frameworks of Understanding as anapproach to addressing refugee populations comprehensively. Itcontinues to be an instrumental support for the Mexico Plan ofAction, which seeks to address displacement issues in theAmericas in a comprehensive manner. For all these reasons,Canada is an important partner for UNHCR and this is also whyit is important for UNHCR to maintain a presence in the

country. I will ask Denise Otis to briefly address our role andresponsibilities are in Canada.

Thank you for your attention.

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Présentation de Furio de Angelis