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The resettlement challenge: integration of refugees from protracted refugee situations.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This paper explores Canada's response, through our Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program, to developments in international refugee policy and will ask how Canada's resettlement program could be used more strategically in the future so as to meaningfully contribute to resolving protracted refugee situations globally while ensuring the successful integration of refugees from these situations.

Resume

Ce document examine la r(ponse du Canada a l'evolution de la politique internationale sur les refugies, par le biais de son Programme de reinstallation des refugies et des personnes protegees a titre humanitaire, et il se demande comment le programme de reinstallation du Canada pourrait etre utilise de facon plus strategique dans l'avenir pour contribuer de maniere significative resoudre les situations de refugies de longue duree dans le monde, tout en assurant la bonne integration de ces refugies.

Introduction

Fifteen years have passed since the forcible exile of the majority of the ethnic Nepali southern Bhutanese population without a durable solution for the approximately 106,000 people now living in the refugee camps in southeastern Nepal. (1)

According to the 2006 edition of The State of the World's Refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), of over eight million refugees in the world at that time, some six million were considered to be in a protracted refugee situation. Further, the average duration of displacement has increased from nine years in 1993 to seventeen years in 2003. (2) In total, UNHCR has identified at least thirty-three major protracted refugee situations around the globe, not counting those outside UNHCR's definition due to their size and scope, which are also longterm situations of displacement. (3) These important statistics point to the seriousness and scope of protracted refugee situations globally.

It is clear, fifty-six years after the signing of the Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), that the phenomenon of refugee movements persists and that what was once thought to be a short-term challenge is a reality that is often ongoing for decades. More and more refugees find themselves "warehoused"(14) in refugee camps for years, without access to a durable solution. Not only are refugees unable to return to their country of origin voluntarily, but, in many of these cases, refugees languish in refugee camps, dependent on humanitarian assistance and food aid, with limited or no opportunities for self-reliance or local integration. Densely populated refugee camps with limited opportunities become the home and community of those who have been forcibly displaced for decades. As a result, a significant portion of today's refugees have severe psychosocial and physical health concerns, limited or no labour market skills, little or no formal education, and, for children, greater developmental challenges. (5) This in itself can be a disincentive for States hosting large refugee populations to provide for local integration and for other States to engage in resettlement of refugees with high needs.

This paper will outline the emphasis that Canada, the UNHCR, and other countries have placed on protracted populations and will examine how this emphasis is the logical extension of policy development undertaken both internationally and domestically since the Global Consultations were launched in 2000. It will also explore how Canada's Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program plays a role in securing durable solutions for refugees and will look to the future, asking questions about how Canada can best address the protracted nature of refugee displacement, while also exploring what this means for how Canada provides integration support to resettled refugees in order to meet their unique needs when coming from a protracted refugee situation.

Refugee Resettlement and the Agenda for Protection

The international community, led by the UNHCR, views a refugee as having secured a solution to his or her plight if the refugee has been able to find a safe and permanent (durable) solution through one of three means: voluntary repatriation to the country of origin in safety and dignity; local integration6 in the country of asylum; or resettlement to a third country.

Over the past fifty years, millions of people have found a durable solution through resettlement....

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