Refugees are not pests, but vulnerable people who need assistance from everyone.

The untamable refugee crisis around the globe continues to be a massive concern for the international community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has tirelessly been working to protect the fundamental rights of refugees. However, permanently resettling refugees in other countries remains a big challenge. 

Resettlement in refugee studies is the relocation of refugees from an asylum country to another State. The other state agrees to admit them and ultimately grants them permanent settlement. UNHCR’s 1951 mandate under the Refugee Convention considers resettlement as one of the durable refugee solutions.

Is resettlement really a sustainable remedy? Many refugees question its relevance. This is because it takes a lengthy process, and only a handful of countries are willing to accept them. Thousands of refugees live in desperate situations in non-Hague signatory countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, Same Skies reports.

It should be evident to the international community that contributes to resettling refugees can no longer be optional. Reasons why UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi continued his appeals. He said, “Given the record numbers of people needing safety from war, conflict, and persecution and the lack of political solutions to these situations, we urgently need countries to come forward and resettle more refugees.”

Resettlement needs of refugees

The UNHCR estimates there are 40 percent of Syrians and 14 percent of South Sudanese. Equally, 11 percent of Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo must be resettled by 2020. Resettlement needs will increase owing to instabilities and displacements in Africa and the Americas to 6 and 22 percent, respectively.

UNHCR reports there are 450,000 refugees in protracted situations in DRC, Central Africa, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan. The 2018 Peace Accords seem ineffective. This makes the Horn of Africa and Eastern regions have the highest resettlement needs. Turkey has 420,000 and hosts 3.7 million refugees. The broader Middle East and North Africa region have 250,000, and Central Africa and the Great Lakes region (have 165,000).

Addressing the Member States attending consultations in Geneva on resettlement for refugees, Mr. Grandi emphatically added, “With the overwhelming majority, 84 percent, of the world’s refugees hosted in developing regions facing their own development and economic challenges and whose own populations may live below the poverty line, there simply has to be a more equitable sharing of responsibility for global crises.”

Recommendation

To provide these vulnerable people with a new home in a third country, UNHCR and partners have unveiled an initiative to support resettlement. This includes other legal alternatives to entering countries, such as family, work, and study routes. These suggestions are sustainable. Some countries have given deaf ears to resettling these helpless people. However, the UNHCR 2018 reports remarked a great 27 countries globally accepted 55,700 refugees. The United States took 17,100, Canada accepted 7,700, and the United Kingdom welcomed 5,700. In addition, France received 5,100, and Sweden agreed to take 4,900.

Though some countries have regulated resettlement to an annual rate, it is possible to make them naturalized citizens. Does the big question remain why some countries with relatively stable economies are unwilling to collaborate in resolving this social phenomenon? Developed countries must partake in sharing this global burden.

For more on who is a refugee, a migrant, an asylum seeker, and a stateless person check my other post.

The original article is here.