Defining the problem

Abstract

Protracted refugee populations not only constitute over 70% of the world's refugees but are also a principal source of many of the irregular movements of people around the world today. The long-term presence of refugee populations in much of the developing world has come to be seen by many host states in these regions as a source of insecurity.

In response, host governments have enacted policies of containing refugees in isolated and insecure camps, have prevented the arrival of additional refugees and, in extreme cases, have engaged in forcible repatriation.

Not surprisingly, these refugee populations are also increasingly perceived as possible sources of insecurity for Western states. Refugee camps are sometimes breeding grounds for international terrorism and rebel movements. These groups often exploit the presence of refugees to engage in activities that destabilise not only host states but also entire regions.

Acknowledgements

Gil Loescher would like to thank the US Institute for Peace and the Ford Foundation for their support. James Milner would like to thank the Trudeau Foundation for their support. We are also grateful to members of the postgraduate class ‘Forced Migration and International Relations’ at Oxford for their contributions to our undertanding of protracted refugee situations in Africa and Asia. Some material from this Adelphi Paper appeared in an article, ‘The Long Road Home: Protracted Refugee Situations in Africa’, published by the authors in Survival, Summer 2005, vol. 47, no. 2.

Notes

¹For a detailed consideration of some of these issues with particular attention to Africa, see: Jeff Crisp, ‘No solutions in sight: the problem of protracted refugee situations in Africa’, New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 75, Geneva: UNHCR, January 2003.

²UNHCR, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, ‘Protracted Refugee Situations’, Standing Committee, 30th Meeting, UN Doc. EC/54/SC/CRP14, 10 June 2004, p. 1

³UNHCR, ‘Protracted Refugee Situations’, p. 2

⁴The dynamics of urban protracted refugee situations are more difficult to study because these populations tend not be included in official statistics. Moreover, urban refugees try to minimise their visibility to circumvent government restrictions. It is, however, important not to exclude them from a wider understanding of the political and security implications of long-term refugee populations as host governments are typically more concerned about foreign populations living in large urban areas, especially in the capital city, than refugees contained in camps on the periphery of the state.

⁵UNHCR, ‘Protracted Refugee Situations’, p. 2.

⁶Table 1 includes refugee situations numbering 25,000 or more persons by the end of 2003 which have been in existence for five or more years. Industrialised countries are not included. As numbers are rounded, totals may not add up. The table only includes refugees under the mandate of UNHCR, and therefore does not include the over 4 million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Administration for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). UNHCR, ‘Protracted Refugee Situations’.

⁷UNHCR, ‘Protracted Refugee Situations’, p. 1

⁸Jan Egeland, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Statement to the UN Security Council, 10 May 2005, reported in IRIN, ‘Africa: Too little funding too late may cost millions of lives’, 11 May 2005, www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KKEE-6CAR.N?OpenDocument.

⁹John Vidal, ‘Blacks Need, but Only Whites Receive: Race appears to be skewing the West's approach to aid’, Guardian, 12 August 1999.

¹⁰UNHCR, UNHCR Global Report 2001 (Geneva: UNHCR, 2001), p. 137.

¹¹UNHCR, UNHCR Global Report 2003 (Geneva: UNHCR, 2003), p. 165.

¹²UNHCR, ‘Press Release: WFP and UNHCR call for urgent aid for refugees in Africa’, 14 February 2003.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gil Loescher

Gil Loescher is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies, University of Oxford and was formerly Senior Fellow for Migration and Forced Displacement at the IISS. He is the author of The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001) and Refugee Movements and International Security, Adelphi Paper 268 (London: Brassey's for the IISS, 1992.) as well as over a dozen authored and edited books.

James Milner

James Milner is a doctoral student at St Antony's College, Oxford and is a specialist on refugee policy, Africa and development. Loescher and Milner have co-authored recent articles in International Affairs and Conflict, Development and Security.