History of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR)

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2 History of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees emerged in the wake of World War II to help Europeans displaced by that conflict. Optimistically, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly with a three-year mandate to complete its work and then disband. By 1956 UNHCR was facing its first major emergency, the outpouring of refugees when Soviet forces crushed the Hungarian Revolution. Any expectation that UNHCR would become unnecessary ceased to exist. In the 1960s, the decolonization of Africa produced the first of that continent's numerous refugee crises needing UNHCR intervention. Over the following two decades, UNHCR had to help with displacement crises in Asia and Latin America. In 1954, the new organization won the Nobel Peace Prize for its ground-breaking work in helping the refugees of Europe. Its mandate had just been extended until the end of the decade. More than a quarter century later, UNHCR received the 1981 award for what had become worldwide assistance to refugees, with the awareness of the political challenges the organization had to face. Counting just 34 staff members when UNHCR was founded, it now has more than 7,685 national and international members of staff, including 972 in UNHCR's Geneva headquarters. The agency works in 126 countries, with staff based in 135 main locations such as regional and branch offices and 279 often remote sub-offices and field offices.

3 Over the 63-year history of the UNHCR, the staff, budget, legal framework, NGO network, geographic scope and expertise of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has expanded. Functions and Powers The root of UNHCR s mandate is its Statute, adopted by the General Assembly under Resolution 428 (V). According to the Statute of the Office of the UNCHR: - the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, acting under the authority of the General Assembly, shall assume the function of providing international protection, under the auspices of the United Nations, to refugees who fall within the scope of the present Statute and of seeking permanent solutions for the problem of refugees by assisting Governments and, subject to the approval of the Governments concerned, private organizations to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of such refugees, or their assimilation within new national communities ; - the work of the High Commissioner shall be of an entirely non-political character; it shall be humanitarian and social and shall relate, as a rule, to groups and categories of refugees ; - the High Commissioner shall follow policy directives given him by the Gen- eral Assembly or the Economic and Social Council. The refugee and migrant crisis in the Mediterranean Before analysing migrant and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, it s necessary to explain the difference between the expressions migrant and refugee. In fact, although often these two words are used as synonymous there is a big and important difference between them. Refugees are people fleeing armed conflict or persecution. Their situation is often so perilous and intolerable that they cross national borders to seek safety in nearby countries, and thus become

4 internationally recognized as "refugees" with access to assistance from States, UNHCR, and other organizations. They are so recognized precisely because it is too dangerous for them to return home, and they need sanctuary elsewhere. These are people for whom denial of asylum has potentially deadly consequences. Migrants choose to move not because of a direct threat of persecution or death, but mainly to improve their lives by finding work, or in some cases for education, family reunion, or other reasons. Unlike refugees who can not safely return home, migrants face no such impediment to return. If they choose to return home, they will continue to receive the protection of their government. Refugees are defined and protected in international law. The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol as well as other legal texts, such as the 1969 OAU Refugee Convention, remain the cornerstone of modern refugee protection. For individual governments, this distinction is important. Countries deal with migrants under their own immigration laws and processes. On the other hand, countries deal with refugees through

5 norms of refugee protection and asylum that are defined in both national legislation and international law. So, the expression refugees and migrants is used when referring to movements of people by sea or in other circumstances where is thought both groups may be present. Increasing numbers of refugees and migrants take their chances travelling on unseaworthy boats and dinghies in a desperate bid to reach Europe. The vast majority of those attempting this dangerous crossing are in need of international protection, fleeing war, violence and persecution in their country of origin. Every year these movements continue to exact a devastating tool in human life. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 3770 migrants were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean only in 2015.

6 The top ten nationalities of Mediterranean sea arrivals is: -Syrian Arab Republic (23%) -Afghanistan (12%) -Nigeria (10%) -Iraq (8%) -Eritrea (6%) -Guinea (4%) -Côte d'ivoire (4%) -Gambia (3%) -Pakistan (3%) -Senegal (3%) These nationalities represent 76% of the sea arrivals.

7 This crisis is dividing Europe. In particular, tensions have been rising because of the disproportionate burden faced by some countries, especially those where the majority of migrants have been arriving as Italy and Greece. However, it s important to say that not only Italy and Greece are facing this big issue. Germany, for instance, received the highest number of new asylum application in Hungary moved into second place for asylum applications. It s clear that equitable sharing of responsibility is key to bringing about a managed and orderly solution and that Europe Union Member States would need to agree a system of percentages of asylum-seekers for each Member State to take.

8 In 2015 and 2016 EU allocated more than 10 billion from UE s balance sheet, to manage the refugee and migrant crisis. The majority of the people arriving in the UE need water, food and accommodation. The European Union also provides humanitarian aids to migrants and refugees staying in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. In addition, in 2016, the Member States of EU decided to establish a European Border and Coast Guard to strengthen the security of the common EU s borders. Furthermore, The European Migrant Smuggling Centre was introduced by the European Police Office in order to support EU Member States in dismantling criminal networks involved in organised migrant smuggling. Another important goal reached by EU in its attempt to solve such big crisis is the agreement with Turkey. According to this agreement, that came into effect on March 20, 2016, all new irregular migrants moving from Turkey into the Greek islands will be returned to Turkey; and for every Syrian returned to Turkey from the Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU. This temporary link between resettlement and return is feasible up to a limit of 72,000 using the EU's existing resettlement and relocation commitments, under which respectively 18,000

9 and 54,000 places remain available. As part of the agreement, the EU has committed to accelerate the implementation of Turkey's roadmap for visa liberalization with the intention of lifting the visa requirements for Turkish citizens. What else could Europe do to solve this crisis respecting humanitarian rights? What could be a good strategy to make available safer and legal ways for refugees to travel Europe? Bibliography