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World marks Refugees Day
Accra, June 20, Ghanadot/GNA - Mr.
Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
on Friday paid tribute to all those who have been forcibly
ejected from their homes due to war and the many
humanitarians who have been helping them.
"Refugees show incredible courage and perseverance in
overcoming enormous odds to rebuild their lives," he said.
"Ensuring that they get the protection they deserve is a
noble cause because refugee rights are human rights – and
rights that belong to us all."
In a statement received in Accra to mark the World Refugee
Day, Mr. Guterres also said refugee protection was more
challenging saying that, old barriers to human mobility had
fallen leading to the emergence of new patterns that were
not envisaged by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
He said politics, extreme price increases, poverty and bad
governance had generated instability and conflicts in many
places, with the very real potential of triggering more
displacement.
He noted that, as a UN refugee agency, its focus was to
protect the rights and well-being of refugees but this was
becoming difficult since some countries were failing to make
a proper distinction between those who chose to move and
those who were forced to flee.
Mr. Guterres said issues of asylum and immigration were not
always addressed in a rational, equitable or effective
manner and added that the wealthy countries should know that
most refugees were found in the developing world with the
largest migratory movement taking place in the south.
He commended developing nations who had shown generosity in
accepting refugees adding, “they deserve much more support
and solidarity”.
The UNHCR, a refugee agency, was set up in 1951 to find
solutions for European Refugees uprooted in the aftermath of
World War II.
Global refugee and forced displacement statistics for 2007,
released by the UN refugee agency on Tuesday, showed Somalis
is the fifth largest group of refugees and sixth largest
group of internally displaced people under UNHCR's care
worldwide, and the second largest group claiming asylum
after Iraqis.
The new statistics showed globally there were 11.4 million
refugees outside their countries and 26 million others
displaced internally by conflict or persecution at the end
of 2007, contributing to an unprecedented number of people
uprooted under the care of the UN refugee agency.
After a five-year decline in the number of refugees between
2001 and 2005, this is the second year of increases in
refugees and displaced people.
GNA
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