REFUGEES

A peaceful and prosperous world is one in which people
can feel safe and secure in their homes, with their
families and in their communities. It is a world in which
they can feel confident in their country, their culture and
in the family of nations and peoples on our common
planet.
Sometimes, for economic or other personal reasons,
people choose to leave their homes, to begin and new
life in a new location. For better or worse, these
decisions are made as a matter of conscious choice.
But when nature intervenes in the form of natural
disasters people's homes are washed away, blown
away, or shaken to the ground, uprooting entire
communities. When war or civil unrest ravages a
community, masses or people are forcibly displaced or
simply flee to protect life and limb. At the extreme, they
are left with only two options: death by privation,
assault or genocide, or life in exile. One need only think
of those forced to flee the violence in Darfur to glimpse
the severity of their need.
This is the plight of the refugees and the internally
displaced today. In 2010, the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR)
counted 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide
—the highest number since the mid-1990s. This
included 27.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs),
15.2 million refugees and 983,000 asylum-seekers. Of
the 15.2 million refugees, 10.4 million were under
UNHCR’s responsibility, and 4.7 million
were Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East ( UNRWA ).
More than 26 million people—10.4 million refugees and
15.6 million IDPs— were receiving protection or
assistance from UNHCR at the end of 2009, one million
more than in 2008.
By 2010, UNHCR had identified some 6.6 million
stateless persons in 60 countries. Yet it estimated that
the overall number of stateless persons worldwide could
be far higher, at around 12 million.
Unfortunately, conflict and natural disasters continue to
take their toll on such persons. But their lot is much,
much better than it might have been, thanks to the
commitment of the UN family to help them return to
their homes, and to protect and sustain them until their
return becomes possible.
When their homelessness results from conflict, UN
peacekeepers are often there to protect the camps in
which they must live. When they are left without access
to such basic necessities as food, water and sanitation,
the UN family provides it. When their health is
endangered, the UN system sees to its protection.
Much of this support is provided through the United
Nations humanitarian action machinery. The Inter-
Agency Standing Committee ( IASC), through its “cluster
approach”, brings together all major humanitarian
agencies, both within and outside the UN system, for
coordinated action. UNHCR is the lead agency with
respect to the protection of refugees and the internally
displaced. With the International Organization for
Migration ( IOM ), it is the lead agency for camp
coordination and management. And it shares the lead
with respect to emergency shelter with the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
UN bodies actively involved in this cluster approach
include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations ( FAO ); the United Nations Development
Programme ( UNDP); the United Nations Children’s Fund
( UNICEF ); the Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ); the World Food
Programme ( WFP); the World Health Organization
( WHO ); and the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights ( OHCHR).