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UNHCR Submission for Consultation on DFID Conflict Policy Paper
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is mandated to provide international protection to refugees fleeing persecution and war and facilitate solutions to their plight. This responsibility includes that of supervising, in co-operation with States, the application of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which include the United Kingdom, have specific responsibility to protect people forced by a well-founded fear of persecution to flee their countries and seek asylum. A commitment to this Convention was reaffirmed by States, in their adopting the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees. These instruments remain the cornerstone of the international refugee protection regime.
It is within this context that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to DFID’s consultation process on its Conflict Policy Paper.
Bridging the Humanitarian-Development Gap
It is the view of the UN Refugee Agency that the failure to follow the unbroken line between population displacement, peace and recovery ranks as one of the international community's most consistent failures. Efforts to strengthen links between humanitarian aid and development efforts are simply not working in most cases.
Humanitarian aid is not a guarantee against the recurrence of violence or of displacement. The absence of an effective transition from short- to longer-term assistance reduces the life expectancy of intermediate solutions. Thus, UNHCR believes that large-scale population returns are difficult to sustain if development stalls and instability grows. Without adequate resources for development, institution-building and reconciliation, societies can unravel again, dormant conflicts can reignite, and civilians can be forcibly displaced once more.
Problems surrounding proper hand-off of issues around refugee return and reintegration, in the context of return and recovery, have been raised by UNHCR with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank) and it is envisaged that the World Bank can play a meaningful role bridging the humanitarian-development gap.
UNHCR believes that DFID can assist this process by further engaging with the Swiss government, which has been asked to informally coordinate international efforts amongst governments in lobbying the World Bank and other development agencies to promote reintegration and recovery efforts more effectively with regard to returning refugees and IDPs. UNHCR is also in active discussions with UNDP to improve coordination on addressing returning refugees’ needs.
Refugees within Development Programmes
Refugees and their immediate host communities are frequently excluded and marginalised because they are often located in remote areas and, as refugees are not naturally part of a host government’s political constituency, they are not included in national development plans.
Protection and humanitarian assistance are just the beginning of UNHCR’s work. No intervention can be considered a success until and unless there is a long-term solution in sight. The return of refugees and internally displaced people is not complete unless they are part of the longer-term peace and development process. Reintegration requires a serious, long-term commitment by all concerned actors in the humanitarian community and the inclusion of returning refugees and displaced persons in well-funded national development plans is vital.
UNHCR is not a development agency but we are working to raise awareness of the need to include refugees and displaced people in national development programmes. The UN Refugee Agency believes that it is vital to work to create links between relief and development agencies, in terms of communication, planning and programme implementation. Programmes for relief and development can work to sustain each other and effectively assist returning refugees.
UNHCR is particularly grateful to donor countries which are directing development aid to refugees as well as host countries which include refugees and returnees in their development plans. The broad recognition that more concerted attention needs to be given to incorporating refugees and their host communities in development planning and poverty reduction strategies is welcome. It is fundamental that countries include refugees, returnees and internally displaced in their own development plans.
Peacebuilding and Peace Education
UNHCR has long advocated for increased attention to peacebuilding. In 2000, High Commissioner Sadako Ogata called on the UN Security Council for "rapid and comprehensive efforts towards peace-building at various levels."
For the work of UNHCR, success in the peacebuilding phase of a post-conflict situation is vital. Too little of the international community's attention and resources go to rebuild societies that have been torn apart by war and violence. This has been witnessed in Liberia, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo to name just a few. Half of all countries emerging from conflict slide back into violence within five years. It is an enormous drain of resources, but most of all, it has dramatic implications on human lives.
One of the major challenges UNHCR faces is ensuring the livelihood and well-being of refugees who have returned to their homeland. It is vital to recognize refugees as agents of peacebuilding and development. Too often refugees are treated as passive instruments and their potential as resources for development remains unexplored.
An example of a scheme to address this is UNHCR’s Peace Education programme which was piloted in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya. The aim of the programme was to enhance quality of life and prevent violent conflict both in the short term within the camps and in the long term either in respect to local integration or repatriation.
The Peace Education programme focused on conflict prevention, and included elements of conflict resolution, opting for mediation techniques which produce long term positive outcomes for all concerned, in preference to intrusive methods with less durable outcomes. The Programme was very successful contributing both to the learning and practice of peacebuilding skills in refugee camps and to the reduction of conflict. In the camps, the formal programme was supplemented by spontaneous initiatives lead by refugees to follow up and spread the Peace Education programme within the host community which would undoubtedly assist local development. Investment in programmes such as PEP would allow refugees themselves to become agents for their own and their host communities’ development.
The creation of the recently established United Nations Peacebuilding Commission is an important initiative to bring together resources at the disposal of the international community in order to advise and propose integrated strategies for post-conflict recovery. One of the Commission’s specific aims is to help to ensure predictable financing for early recovery activities and sustained financial investment over the medium- to longer-term.
This Commission will fill a substantial gap in the UN system. It will, for the first time, bring together all the major actors in a given situation to discuss and decide on a long-term peacebuilding strategy. It means that money will be better spent and that there will be a real link between immediate post-conflict efforts on the one hand and long-term recovery and development efforts on the other.
UNHCR, London
2006
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