UNHCR meeting seeks solutions to end long-term exile of millions of refugees

[struggle4progress]

Source: UNHCR

10 Dec 2008 11:40:47 GMT
Wednesday, 10 December 2008

GENEVA – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres today opened a two-day international dialogue aimed at seeking solutions for millions of people caught up in the limbo of so-called "protracted refugee situations" in which they spend years in exile with no end in sight.

Guterres told some 300 representatives of more than 50 governments and governmental and non-governmental organizations in Geneva's Palais des Nations that the world must do more to resolve the seemingly endless plight of nearly 6 million refugees who have spent years and sometimes decades in exile. Worldwide, UNHCR counts at least 30 such long-term refugee situations that have lasted five years or more, excluding Palestinians.

"The burden of hosting these refugees falls almost exclusively to developing states," said Guterres as he opened the High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Issues, focusing on protracted refugee situations. "It is important to recognize that the international community as a whole has not done enough to share that burden."

Noting that much of the pressure fell on some of the poorest countries in Africa and Asia, Guterres hailed the commitment of Tanzania, whose Prime Minister, Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda, joined him on the podium to deliver a keynote speech. Tanzania has offered local integration, including naturalization and citizenship, to the majority of the Burundian refugees who fled their homeland in 1972 and who have now attained self-reliance and wish to remain in the country. More than 175,000 refugees stand to benefit from this programme, while many other Burundian refugees have opted to repatriate home ...



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