UNHCR wishes to bring the following observations and recommendations to the attention of the High-Level Dialogue (HLD) on International Migration and Development, to be held in New York, 14-15 September 2006: Refugees have specific rights and needs. Refugees are a…
Growing numbers of people, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa, are making their way across the Mediterranean and Atlantic oceans in the hope of entering European Union countries such as Spain and Italy. We do not know exact numbers but we do…
For example, the US maintains that it has no legal obligation to intercepted refugees, even if they manage to reach its territorial sea. Indeed, the US recently argued that a Cuban asylum seeker – traditionally a highly favoured group under…
Abyei, Blue Nile State and Southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains – an area with a population of around four million – are collectively known as the Transitional or Three Areas. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January 2005 by the Government…
Sudan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)[1] in 1990, thus committing itself to protecting and assuring the right to education for all children within its borders – including the right of access to education for…
From the early 1990s, hundreds of thousands of Burundians fled their homes to escape fighting between the government and Hutu rebel groups seeking to put an end to the political dominance of the Tutsi minority. Many others, predominantly Hutus, were…
When communities are displaced, women, young people, the elderly and minorities are often marginalised. They seldom get a chance to participate in decisions that directly affect their lives, which can put them at greater risk of harm. Three evaluations of…
Since the 1970s, successive High Commissioners have recognised IDPs as a group with similar needs to those of refugees. In Sri Lanka in the early 1990s, Thorvald Stoltenberg extended UNHCR’s assistance and protection to IDPs who were on the fringe…
The plan to submerge large areas of the states of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra by the Sardar Sarovar Dam has been controversial ever since it was proposed by the Narmada Valley Development Authority.[1] In 1979 the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal…
West Africa has been heavily affected by displacement. Internal conflicts based on ethnic tensions and rivalries, political instability, disputes over the control of natural resources, natural disasters, poverty, food insecurity and the imperatives of development have all resulted in significant…