Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move

N° 104, August 2007

ON THE OCCASION OF THE ANNUAL IMBISA

REGIONAL REFUGEE CONFERENCE* 

Rev. Fr.  Frans THOOLEN, SMA

Official of the Pontifical Council for

the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

Theme: The role of the Church, Government, and the International Community in relation to the plight of the Refugees, Migrants, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced People (IDPs) as they relate to the MDG’s.                                               

1. Introduction

Hundreds of victims have lost their lives the last months and thousands more last year in their desperate search for a more secure and decent existence. This is one of the signs that in our globalized world the international community is failing to uphold its goals of solidarity and protection. Around the world, from Somalia to Yemen, from North Africa to Malta, Italy or Spain, across the desert of towards North America, from Zimbabwe to Southern African countries, people struggle to escape from war, from violation of their human rights, from famine or simply to have a decent human life. Motives and flows are mixed. The valid distinction between migrants, asylum seekers and refugees has become more difficult.

However, this are also signs of a world where people cannot cope with their reality and decide to move by any means to construct a life for themselves and /or support their family. We are talking about individual persons, men, women and children and how they leave in order to survive. In fact, it is a description of reality at grassroots, it is a challenge for us and the origin of the Millennium Goals.

As Pope John Paul II wrote in his 2000 Peace Message: “the one issue which most challenges our human and Christian consciences is the poverty of countless millions of men and women. This situation becomes all the more tragic when we realize that the major economic problems of our time do not depend on a lack of resources but on the fact that present economic, social and cultural structures are ill-equipped to meet the demands of genuine development”¹. 

2. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 stressed in its Resolution² values like human dignity, equality and equity at the global level. Heads of States and Governments wanted to establish a just and lasting peace all over the world and ensure that globalization became a positive force for all the worlds’ people. They were dedicated to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire race from want. This was translated in the so-called Millennium Development Goals, but other proposals were also developed and followed up, like strengthening the United Nations. The Resolution reads like a blueprint for a new society. It was a commitment of rich and poor countries alike. They accepted their responsibility to reach these goals, which are oriented on people. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) did not remain abstract ideas but are concrete and should be reached by 2015. They cover eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender quality, reducing child mortality, improving material health, combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development. In short they have become the indicators of development.

The previous speaker has explained in detail what this all means. I just want to make two observations:

1. In the adopted Declaration special attention was given to the specific needs of Africa. We are almost halfway point and the question has to be raised whether the targets will be achieved. The United Nations website for the MDG Indicators presents in its 2006 Progress Chart³ a bleak future. According to this publication, none of the goals will be reached in sub-Saharan Africa. Behind all goals for that region is written: “No progress, or a deterioration or reversal”; and “target is not expected to be met by 2015, if prevailing trends persist”. A similar sobering conclusion has been drawn in one of the latest reports of the Economic Commission on Africa⁴.

As the Holy See stated: “The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the repeated promises of world leaders to support them have offered the prospect of alleviating such intolerable conditions, but implementation has been lacking. Not all goals will be achieved, just as other important agreements have not always been implemented. .....But the failures, though painful and distressing, cannot weaken our common will to pursue the high road to peace. We are all aware of this: the present lack of progress in the fields of development aid and trade reform threatens everyone’s security and well-being”⁵.

2. The relation to migration. One reference concerns the human rights of migrants and the elimination of discrimination. Another one asks for international cooperation and burden sharing for the challenges posed by refugees and internally displaced persons⁶. However, they were never concretized and are no longer visible in the Millennium Goals. Quite a number of later published studies and evaluations also do no longer refer to migrants and refugees. Though not explicitly mentioned, there are more than sufficient indicators valid for refugees and internal displaced persons, which I want to develop in the third part. In any case I limit the development of my intervention to refugees. 

3. Refugees and Millennium Goals

3.1. Protection of refugees

Do we realize that the names have changed? However, the ideas remained more or less the same or have been adapted to the present conditions and times. Looking in the past I note that the first High Commissioner Van Heuven Goedhart already in 1952 could quote a resolution of the General Assembly promoting a long term-planning for the economic reconstruction and rehabilitation of refugees. “Recommends all States directly affected by the refugee problem, as well as the appropriate specialized agencies and other intergovernmental agencies concerned, to pay special attention to this problem when drawing up and executing programmes of economic reconstruction and development; and requests the High Commissioner to contribute to the promotion of activities in this field….⁷”

In 1966 this has been concretized in “integration and zonal development projects of benefit both to refugees and to the local population”, set up in co-operation with ILO and UNDP. The motivation was, as the High Commissioner Aga Khan explained: “in all the efforts which are promoted both multilaterally and bilaterally for development, refugees should not be forgotten, should indeed be a part of what is being done in the field of development, because we have always felt that refugees are not only a burden to the countries that receive them, as many people think they are, but indeed can contribute to the development of the countries that receive them”⁸. A few years later UNHCR tried to get the issue of refugees integrated in UN initiatives. The High Commissioner expressed it in 1969 in this way: “...if the development decade if aimed as it is at overcoming poverty, distress and under-development then surely the refugees should not be forgotten”⁹.

That same concern has resulted in new programmes to share burdens and responsibilities with the hosting States. It is adapted and translated to present day policies and trends over the last years. They are known to us as Development through Local Integration (DLI), the 4 Rs (repatriation, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction), and DAR (Development Assistance to Refugees)¹⁰. In order to be more efficient UNHCR also joined in 2003 the OECD/DAC Network on Conflict, Peace and Development Co-operation and in 2004 the UN Development Group (UNDG). By such initiatives UNHCR has been trying to promote the sake of refugees and get their needs been introduced and translated in the latest initiative: the Millennium Goals.

From its very beginning UNHCR has been actively involved in promoting protection for refugees and finding solutions to their problems. That’s why the three durable solutions were developed: voluntary repatriation, reintegration and resettlement. Moreover, certain civil and socioeconomic rights for refugees were legally formulated, and included in the 1951 Convention. One of the differences with the Millennium Goals is that the latter are explicit in what should be achieved and by which time. However, they also touch the daily life of refugees and internally displaced persons.       

3.2. Rights of refugees and development

Pope John Paul II appealed in 2004 in this way: "Every person needs a safe environment in which to live. Refugees aspire to this but unfortunately, millions in various countries of the world are still living in refugee camps or prevented for long periods from fully exercising their rights"¹¹.                    

Indeed, the rights recognized to the refugees, like in the 1951 Convention and the 1969 OAU Convention - the right to earn a livelihood, freedom of movement, due process, and education¹² - too often remain mere words. In many countries, for example, refugees are not allowed to work, or their movements are limited to the immediate surroundings of the camps, often located in remote regions. Refugees have become dependent on food supplies, many times insufficient or for budgetary reasons reduced, while at the same time the food basket is not sufficiently varied. Moreover, while other necessities for existence with a minimum of dignity are scarcely distributed, like soap, toilet paper and sanitary napkins. The present situation has led to malnutrion in camps which for years are administrated by the United Nations. It influences the total range of life and has a severe impact on the values of the people and is a primary factor leading to sexual exploitation¹³, as already indicated in 2002.

The different Directors of the Regions announced during the 38^th UNHCR Standing Committee of March 2007 that basic services to refugees, which were already sometimes below minimum standards, were further reduced. This resulted that in several operations minimum standards in the water and education sectors are not met; investment in refugee camps to repair shelters or to maintain sanitation systems often had to be postponed;  rehabilitation programmes in returnee areas particularly were affected, malnutrition in camps was widely registered with rates of 22 percent in Kenya (administered by the UN since 1990), Ethiopia 14 percent, Chad 12 percent, Sudan 16 percent¹⁴. During that same meeting Morocco, on behalf of the African group, indicated its concern about the situation of decreasing resources, which are far from  meeting the needs identified so that the minimum standards of health can no longer be guaranteed.

This is the actual situation of millions of refugees, for which no durable solution is available.

The High Commissioner for Refugees Mr. Lubbers declared: “The abominably low levels of assistance being provided by the richest countries to the most marginalised and vulnerable people in the world cannot be allowed to continue. .... I believe that we, in the international community, must ask ourselves whether or not we are violating the human rights of refugees and other vulnerable people by not providing them with enough assistance for them to live with a minimum of dignity”¹⁵.    

A Representative of the Holy See called it “a fourth de facto, albeit unofficial, solution: warehousing of millions of people in camps in subhuman conditions, without a future and without the possibility of contributing their creativity. Camps must remain what they were intended to be: an emergency and therefore a temporary solution. Protracted refugee situations – 7 of 12 million refugees worldwide have been refugees for 10 years of more – seem a growing phenomenon with the consequence of masses of people without hope and generations of children becoming adults with a lost childhood¹⁶.”

The perspectives for the future are not optimistic. UNHCR remains a chronically underfunded organisation. The 2007 budget is an austerity budget, resource driven and not based on the needs of the population of concern to UNHCR. These needs are three times that much as the funds received¹⁷. Naturally, this has consequences and certainly not in a positive way to reach the Millennium Goals, despite the dedicated efforts of the UNHCR staff working sometimes in difficult circumstances.

It would make all the difference if the existing rights of refugees would be guaranteed, with additional greater economic and financial investments, and especially political will. Then refugees will become ‘agents of development’ even in their host country and not just recipients of aid or merely tolerated guests.

3.3. Conditions of Voluntary Repatriation as a solution

Sustainable repatriation is a sign that the situation has improved so that refugees can return home. The reasons for fleeing have been removed. It also means that certain conditions are in place as the Ministerial Meeting on Voluntary Repatriation and Sustainable Reintegration in Africa of 2004 stated: “There should be good prospects for the refugees to have access to productive activities, to good and appropriate education and to basic social and health services within a wider framework that also considers the genuine need and aspirations of the refugee-affected communities”¹⁸. Humanitarian agencies must receive adequate resources to assist in the return home of refugees and IDP in safety and dignity which also requires that the social and economic aspects of post-conflict reconstruction will be taken up¹⁹.

The questions raised during this meeting who would finance these ideas could then not be answered. Participants were however during this Conference reminded they were facing similar challenges as expressed in April 1981²⁰.

This concept of sustainable repatriation is beautiful and worthwhile to be supported. Reality and experience compel to tell that they are hardly practised in a number of return operations. People are heading back to their homes, or what remained of them and are arriving in situations where hardly infrastructures exist. There is a severe lack of shelter and basic services in key areas of return. Food supplies, as well as health and education facilities are many times lacking. The provided standard repatriation package is limited and includes not sufficient food assistance to carry returnees through at least one full agricultural cycle - as advised by earlier reports from the Evaluation and Policy Unit of UNHCR itself on similar operations²¹.  Instead, standardized food packets of three or four months are provided. Many times, it has to be noted that  the repatriation is not sustainable nor voluntary²². It turns out that financial considerations define the quality of return. This was confirmed in 2004²³ when UNHCR officials stated that it is not possible to provide food for one agricultural period for people returning in Liberia nor to provide them with provisions against malaria, since the resources were lacking.

Who will then be responsible for the returnees, if the funds are lacking or not sufficiently to support the process, or when refugees become internally displaced persons in their own country? These are not imaginary scenes, but happen too often. In July 2004 already the World Food Programme had to cut food rations by 50 percent  for people who returned to Angola. Similar signs were visible elsewhere (Burundi, Congo and Liberia).

The present High Commissioner for Refugees described it vividly: “A cooking pot and a few seeds do not go far when a family returns home to rebuild its life in the midst of widespread devastation”²⁴.

Also the Representative of the Holy See stated that “Voluntary repatriation does not mean just going back. Otherwise there is the risk that people are moved from one difficult situation to a life of misery in their own country. Of course, these plans demand guaranteed possibilities of assistance with sufficient funding by international partners over a longer period to make implementation real. But that is the way of laying the foundation for a dignified return aimed at reintegration with reconstruction and reconciliation²⁵”

It turns out that the return seemingly has become more important than the standards set by UNHCR itself or the caution²⁶ expressed in papers of UNHCR.

3.4. Post Conflict reconstruction

Societies are severely affected by conflicts. Basic infra-structures have been damaged and/or are hardly in existence. The UNHCR developed the 4 Rs concept (repatriation, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction) for post-conflict situations, bringing together humanitarian and development actors and funds to reduce poverty and to realize durable solutions. Sufficient financial assistance is needed to guarantee a sustainable development and a process of reconstruction. The follow-up is done by other UN organisations. This can take years and a real possibility exists that in the mean time the country relapses in conflict. A study of 2004 on the Democratic Republic of Congo indicates the gravity²⁷ of the situation.

Most probably similar gravity is present in other war-torn African countries. The reconstruction process in post-conflict situations in fact requires sufficient and solid political will to continue to support over years the reconstruction process of a country. 

4. The role of the Church as far as the MDGs is concerned

...“Achieving the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by the year 2015 is one of the most important tasks in today’s world..   ...such an objective is indissolubly linked to world peace and security”²⁸.  This is a quotation from a letter of Pope Benedict XVI to the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel. One example how the Church promotes her teachings.

The Church appreciates greatly the fight against poverty, to realize the millennium goals with an approach that focuses on the poor. The Church wants to stimulate the conscience of the humankind. She does this by her social teachings and she is guided in her efforts by a fundamental ethical principle of the social teaching, namely the universal purpose of created goods. A clear expression of this principle has been proposed by Pope Paul VI, in his Encyclical Letter on the ‘Development of Peoples’: «"God intended the earth and everything in it for the use of all human beings and peoples. Thus, under the leadership of justice and in the company of charity, created goods should flow fairly to all”.(Church in the World of Today, no. 69). All other rights, whatever they may be, including the rights of property and free trade, are to be subordinated to this principle. They should in no way hinder it; in fact, they should actively facilitate its implementation. Redirecting these rights back to their original purpose must be regarded as an important and urgent social duty”²⁹». It means that human persons are put in the centre of our attention and guide our decisions. Every person has the same right of access to the indispensable minimum to live on and should be able to reach his or her full potential. It requires the creation of an environment centered upon respect for humanity, and embodying the rights of each person and group. This leads to dramatic changes in the relations between the nations, the rule of trade as well as adaptation on the individual level to reach and build a world where everybody can live a fully human life³⁰.

Against this background, it should not be a surprise to note that the teaching of the Church, also during interventions at the United Nations, cover the whole range of live and actively address the inequalities within and between societies. Everybody person should receive sufficient for the necessities of life. This requires that poverty eradication policies are introduced. The Holy See stresses in relation to the Millennium Goals among others:

-           The concentration of policies on the poor as persons of equal worth which promote their empowerment³¹.

-           The increase of official development assistance focussing on the poor and honouring of the commitments of 0,7% made³².

-           The cancellation of debt of the Heavily Indebted Countries and the Least Developed Countries with provisions that they do not end up in debt again³³.

-           A financial and trade reform to make markets work in favour of developing countries³⁴.

-           Good governance and combating corruption³⁵.

-           The decrease of military spending, which is at the expense of the Millennium Goals³⁶.

-           The development of further research and availability of medicines against AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other tropical diseases³⁷.

These points have been high lightened by Pope Benedict XVI  in a letter to Chancellor Merkel recently published³⁸.

As earlier already noted, the voice of the Holy See is also heard during the meetings of the High Commissioner for Refugees. As a member of the Executive Committee she advocated for higher rather than lower standards and advancing the development of refugee law in positive directions.

Moreover, each year the Holy Father issues a World Message on Migrants and Refugees. This year Pope Benedict wrote for the occasion that “the Church encouraged the ratification of the International Convention for the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families and, through its various Institutions and Associations, offers its advocacy that is becoming more and more necessary”³⁹.

5. Concluding.

What is most fundamental is the courage not to turn away from the eyes of the poor but to allow them to break our heart and shatter our world. To let them share with us how their children fear and suffer under acts of violence, how it feels to live together for years in a crowded refugee camp under a plastic sheet without hope for a decent life, how it hurts to be dehumanized and not to be seen as a human being, but as a number or a ‘vulnerable’. What does it require to offer them perspective for the future?  In concrete ways the Church in many countries tries to answer this. Your efforts and activities are illustrations of this. Pope Benedict XVI inspires, motivates and questions us when he said: “Anyone nourished with the faith of Christ at the Eucharistic Table assimilates his same style of life, which is the style of service especially attentive to the weakest and most underprivileged persons. In fact, practical charity is a criterion that proves the authenticity of our liturgical celebrations”⁴⁰.
 

 Résumé 

CONFERENCE REGIONALE ANNUELLE DE L’IMBISA SUR LES REFUGIES 

L’intervention présente les Objectifs de Développement pour le Millénaire et leurs conséquences pour les réfugiés. Ils devraient être atteints d’ici 2015.

Les Objectifs de Développement pour le Millénaire, introduits en 2000, mettent l’accent sur  la dignité humaine, l’égalité et l’équité au niveau mondial, et indiquent ce qui devrait être atteint. Malheureusement, bien que nobles dans leur formulation, ces objectifs ne seront pas atteints en Afrique. De plus, la coopération internationale et le partage des tâches  afin de répondre aux défis représentés par les réfugiés et les personnes déplacées à l’intérieur de leur pays, tel que cela a été demandé dans la Résolution adoptée, n’ont jamais été réalisés de façon concrète. 

La protection des réfugiés et la solution à leurs problèmes a été activement défendue par le HCNUR dès le début, et a conduit à un programme à long terme en vue de la reconstruction économique et de la réhabilitation des réfugiés, tandis que leurs droits civils et socio-économiques ont été formulés de façon juridique. Le HCNUR a constamment réadapté ses formulations au cours des cinquante dernières années. Toutefois, trop souvent, les mesures de protection ne sont restées que de simples mots, conduisant à des millions de réfugiés, pour lesquels aucune solution durable n’existe. Le Saint-Siège a défini cette situation « entasser des millions de personnes dans des camps dans des conditions inhumaines, sans avenir et sans possibilité de contribuer par leur créativité ». Un immense progrès serait accompli si les  gouvernements honoraient les droits déjà existants des réfugiés, que ce soit le droit à travailler pour vivre et la liberté de mouvement, ou le rapatriement volontaire de façon durable. Ce n’est qu’à ces conditions que les réfugiés deviendront les « agents de leur propre développement ».

L’Eglise affirme que l’élimination de la pauvreté extrême d’ici 2015 représente l’une des tâches les plus importantes dans le monde d’aujourd’hui et apprécie beaucoup les efforts en vue d’y répondre, qui placent la personne humaine au centre de l‘attention et des décisions directes. L’Eglise elle-même est guidée dans ses efforts par la doctrine sociale, qui embrasse toute les formes de vie et  se préoccupe activement des inégalités dans  et entre les sociétés. Chacun devrait  accéder aux conditions nécessaires pour vivre.

Riassunto 

La conferenza annuale regionale di IMBISA sul rifugiato 

Il simposio spiega gli scopi dello sviluppo millenario e le sue conseguenze sui rifugiati. Essi dovrebbero essere raggiunti entro l’anno 2015.

Gli obiettivi del millennio per lo sviluppo, presentati nel 2000 pongono l’accento sulla dignità umana, l’uguaglianza e l’èquità a livello globale ed indicano quello che dovrebbe essere realizzato. Sfortunatamente, sebbene ben formulati, questi traguardi non verranno raggiunti in Africa. Inoltre la collaborazione internazionale ed il fardello di responsabilità per indirizzare le sfide presentate dai rifugiati e all’interno dai profughi, così come richiesti nella Risoluzione adottata, non sono mai stati resi concreti.

La protezione dei rifugiati e la soluzione dei loro problemi è stata attivamente promossa dall’Alto Commissariato delle Nazioni Unite fin dai suoi esordi ed ha condotto ad un programma a lungo termine per la ricostruzione economica e la riabilitazione dei rifugiati mentre i diritti civili e socio-economici sono stati formulati come previsto dalla legge. L’Alto Commissariato delle Nazioni Unite ha modificato le sue formulazioni più volte negli ultimi cinquanta anni. Comunque troppo spesso le misure protettive rimangono lettera morta, conducendo a situazioni di milioni di rifugiati, per cui non esiste una soluzione duratura. La Santa Sede ha denunciato con fermezza le condizioni inumane in cui vivono ammucchiati milioni di rifugiati nei campi profughi, senza un futuro, senza la possibilità di esprimere le loro capacità creative. Un grande passo in avanti si potrebbe avere se i governi onorassero le leggi esistenti sui diritti dei rifugiati, quale è il diritto di guadagnarsi il sostentamento e la libertà di movimento, o quello al rimpatrio volontario in un modo sostenibile. Legati a tale tipo di condizioni i rifugiati soli diverrebbero ‘agenti dello sviluppo’.

La Chiesa ritiene che lo sradicamento della povertà estrema prevista entro l’anno 2015 sia uno dei più importanti compiti del mondo d’oggi ed apprezza molto gli sforzi avviati, per cui ritiene che le decisioni dovrebbero mirare a porre la persona al centro di ogni attività. La stessa Chiesa è guidata nei suoi sforzi dall’insegnamento sociale che copre l’intera gamma della vita ed attivamente denuncia le ineguaglianze nella società. Tutti dovrebbero ricevere in sufficienza o il necessario per vivere.