Resolution adopted by the General Assembly
55/76. Fiftieth anniversary of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and World Refugee Day
The General Assembly
1. Commends the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for its leadership and coordination of international action for refugees, and acknowledges the tireless efforts of the Office of the High Commissioner to provide international protection and assistance to refugees and other persons of concern and to promote durable solutions for their problems during the past fifty years;
2. Pays tribute to the dedication of United Nations humanitarian workers and associated personnel, the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner in the field, including local staff, who risk their lives in the performance of their duties;
3. Reaffirms its support for the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner, in accordance with the relevant General Assembly resolutions, on behalf of returnees, stateless persons and internally displaced persons;
4. Notes the crucial role of partnerships with Governments and international, regional and non-governmental organizations, as well as of the participation of refugees in decisions that affect their lives;
5. Recognizes that, by virtue of its activities on behalf of refugees and other persons of concern, the Office of the High Commissioner also contributes to promoting the purposes and principles of the United Nations, in particular those related to peace, human rights and development;
6. Notes that 2001 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,1 which sets out the fundamental concepts for international refugee protection;
7. Also notes that the Organization of African Unity has agreed that an international refugee day may coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June;
8. Decides that, as from 2001, 20 June will be celebrated as World Refugee Day.
81st plenary meeting
4 December 2000
For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks. One of the most widespread is Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated on 20 June in several countries.
As an expression of solidarity with Africa, which hosts the most refugees, and which traditionally has shown them great generosity, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 55/76 on 4 December 2000. In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June. The Assembly therefore decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day.
[Note: The OAU was replaced by the African Union on 9 July 2002.]
Human Rights of Internally Displaced People
People forced to flee or leave their homes - particularly in situations of armed conflict - are generally subject to heightened vulnerability in a number of areas. Displaced persons suffer significantly higher rates of mortality than the general population. They also remain at high risk of physical attack, sexual assault and abduction, and frequently are deprived of adequate shelter, food and health services.
The overwhelming majority of internally displaced persons are women and children who are especially at risk of abuse of their basic rights. More often than refugees, the internally displaced tend to remain close to or become trapped in zones of conflict, caught in the cross-fire and at risk of being used as pawns, targets or human shields by the belligerents.
Like all human beings, internally displaced persons enjoy human rights that are articulated by international human rights instruments and customary law. In situations of armed conflict, moreover, they enjoy the same rights as other civilians to the various protections provided by international humanitarian law.
The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, created in 1998, restate and compile existing international human rights and humanitarian law germane to the internally displaced and also attempt to clarify gray areas and gaps in the various instruments with regard to situations of particular interest to the internally displaced.
The representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons is mandated to engage in dialogue and advocacy with Governments and other actors concerning the rights of IDPs, strengthen the international response to internal displacement, and mainstream human rights throughout the UN system. His activities include promoting and disseminating the rights articulated in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, undertaking country visits, engaging Governments and other actors with regard to specific situations of internal displacement, sponsoring national and regional seminars, engaging UN agencies and departments, undertaking research on issues of IDPs’ human rights, and reporting annually to the Commission on Human Rights and General Assembly. The Representative also deals with a number of thematic issues.
In 2007, the Displacement and Protection Support Section (DPSS) was established to build on the work of OCHA's former inter-agency Internal Displacement Division in creating a more predictable, systematic and collaborative response to internal displacement. DPSS collaborates closely with the Policy Development and Studies Branch (PDSB) in supporting field offices to implement policy on the protection of civilians in armed conflict. DPSS focuses on three interrelated areas of work:
* supporting the mandate of the Emergency Relief Coordinator to strengthen the system-wide response to internal displacement;
* enhancing OCHA-wide capacity to support protection at field and headquarters levels in line with internal policy instruction; and
* augmenting inter-agency protection capacity through support to the Protection Cluster Working Group, the Camp Coordination and Management Cluster and the Early Recovery Cluster, as well as the management of the inter-agency ProCap project.
Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict
In the past fifty years, our world has been ravaged by violent conflicts that have claimed the lives of many millions of civilians and left tens of millions more permanently displaced. These civilians have been expelled from their homes, and are often denied access to life-saving food, medicine and shelter. Grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and blatant disrespect for the normative framework of humanity that has emerged over the past 50 years is common to many of these conflicts. Civilians have become the primary target of attack motivated by ethnic or religious hatred, political confrontation or simply ruthless pursuit of economic interests.
This stark picture has led the United Nations, the International Committee for the Red Cross, regional organizations and many other international agencies increasingly to dedicate greater attention to protecting civilians in ongoing armed conflicts. The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the establishment of a "culture of protection" in his report of 30 March 2001 on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict. "In such a culture, Governments would live up to their responsibilities, armed groups would respect the recognized rules of international humanitarian law, the private sector would be conscious of the impact of its engagement in crisis areas, and Member States and international organizations would display the necessary commitment to ensure decisive and rapid action in the face of crisis. The establishment of this culture will depend on the willingness of Member States not only to adopt some of the measures (outlined in the report) but also to deal with the reality of armed groups and other non-state actors in conflicts, and the role of civil society in moving from vulnerability to security and from war to peace."
On many occasions, the Secretary-General has emphasized that, "As human beings, we cannot be neutral, or at least have no right to be, when other human beings are suffering. Each of us...must do what he or she can to help those in need, even though it would be much safer and more comfortable to do nothing." In this spirit, humanitarian aid workers, United Nations peacekeepers and many others struggle daily, to provide protection to those distressed by war. Humanitarian personnel in particular, in many conflicts are at the forefront of this international effort, often without any military presence available and in imminent danger of their lives.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with its humanitarian partners in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on the ground, advocate for the accommodation of needs and the rights of civilians, particularly children, women, the elderly and other vulnerable groups. It strives to ensure that civilians everywhere will be afforded the basic human dignity each individual deserves.
At the same time international actors do not cease to remind States and their Governments of the fact that the primary responsibility for the protection of civilians rests with them and that international efforts can only be complementary to Governments own efforts in this respect. In the Millennium Declaration, the Member States of the organization therefore, pledged to "expand and strengthen the protection of civilians in complex emergencies." Together we must move from words to deeds and intention to implementation, in protecting civilians in armed conflict.
Refugees
"Wars since the 1990s have been mainly internal. They have been brutal, claiming more than 5 million lives. They have violated, not so much borders, as people. Humanitarian conventions have been routinely flouted, civilians and aid workers have become strategic targets, and children have been forced to become killers." – from the Millennium Report
Vital Statistics:
* In total, some 50 million people around the world might be described as victims of forced displacement.
* Around 14 million people are refugees in the conventional sense of the word: people who have left their own country to escape from persecution, armed conflict or violence. To this figure can be added a very large number of uprooted people who do not receive any form of international protection or assistance, the majority of whom remain within the borders in their own country.
*
Nearly two-thirds of the world's refugees are in the Middle East and Africa. Although refugee flows are widespread, a handful of countries are the primary source. Half of all refugees come from three sources: Palestinians, as well as from Afghanistan and Iraq. Completing the list of the ten leading sources of refugees are Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Angola, Croatia, and Eritrea.
* UNHCR, the United Nations refugee organization, is mandated by the UN to lead and coordinate international action for the world-wide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. When first created by the UN General Assembly in 1951, UNHCR was charged primarily with resettling 1.2 million European refugees left homeless in the aftermath of World War II.
Sources:
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N00/563/95/PDF/N0056395.pdf?OpenElement
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/refugee/index.html
http://ochaonline.un.org/?TabId=1202
http://ochaonline.un.org/?TabId=1114
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/refugees/