Amnesty International’s 8-Point Plan for Refugee Crises

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage Reprint | | Print | |En español

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 2015 (IPS) - Responses to the multiple global refugee crises have been insufficient and “shameful”, particularly from wealthier nations, said Amnesty International(AI), releasing an eight-point plan to tackle the issue.

“The catastrophic moral failure of world leaders who dither and squabble among themselves…[leaves] millions of people to suffer in disastrous humanitarian conditions,” AI said in a statement.

For instance, the organization noted how refugee operations continue to be grossly underfunded. As of Oct. 2, the UN’s Syrian refugee operations were only 46 percent funded, while only 17 percent of refugee programmes in South Sudan have been funded.

Action on refugee resettlement has also been inadequate. Only one tenth of the 1.1.5 million most vulnerable refugees are being resettled.

Though refugee flows into Europe have reached unprecedented levels, with approximately 8000 arrivals daily, poorer countries continue to bear the brunt of hosting refugees.

Currently, developing countries in Middle East, Africa, and Asia host 86 percent of the world’s refugees with minimal support.

“The international refugee protection regime…risks being left in tatters if world leaders continue in their deplorable failure to protect vulnerable people fleeing war and persecution,” said AI Secretary General Salil Shetty.

The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol bind countries to assist and protect refugees around the world. Currently, 148 member States are parties to either one or both of the instruments, including France, United States and United Kingdom.

AI called on the world’s richest countries to take action on eight priority areas. They highlight the need to fully fund humanitarian appeals for refugee crises; fulfill all resettlement needs; provide safe and legal routes for refugees; rescue those in danger of death; allow entry through borders; combat xenophobia and racism; investigate and prosecute trafficking; and ratify and uphold the Refugee Convention.

In the plan, the organization emphasized the need for States to prioritize saving those in distress over implementing immigration policies.

“Many governments have been busy devising ways to keep people outside their borders while thousands are dying…this is moral bankruptcy of the highest order,” remarked Shetty.

“This is a pivotal moment which will define current world leaders’ legacy for generations to come – history will judge them very harshly unless they change course,” he continued.

Violence in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and sub-Saharan Africa as well as persecution in Southeast Asia have contributed to the highest refugee population since World War II.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), almost 60 million are displaced around the world. Of the figure, 19.5 million are refugees.

In other words, one in every 122 persons is either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. If this were a population of a country, it would be the 24th biggest country in the world, UNHCR noted.

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