Angelina Jolie, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, pled in her address for World Refugee Day “Please remember the millions of people around the world forced from their homes whose only hope of return is to not be forgotten.”
“Never forget” has become an almost ironic slogan in the humanitarian world, as crises enter and leave public consciousness, and sporadic aid funding follows publicity trends. Nonetheless, awareness is key, and the numerous “international days” for cultural and humanitarian topics offer useful publicity tools for organizations working on issues that continue with or without international attention.
Jolie’s statement is problematic however, because it oversimplifies the message. This makes it more accessible, yet glosses over the layered issues that complicate refugees’ plights.
UNHCR struggles to provide relief and rights protection for refugees. The organization provides temporary shelter and services, often centralized in refugee camps. Camps are meant to be temporary safe havens, but people are often stuck for years, and many camps are exceedingly dangerous. In Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, refugee camps set up for displaced Rwandans following the 1994 genocide became a hot bed for Hutu extremists, who regrouped in the camps, rebuilt militias and joined the layered ongoing war in DRC.
Many refugees flee the camps, and increasing numbers are landing in urban slums, where they can fall off the humanitarian grid and lose access to social services. Many households are vulnerable, with ill family members, or single parents (often mothers). Racism, xenophobia and restrictive laws hinder many refugees’ efforts to productively enter society and support themselves in their new country.
When it is impossible to return to their country of origin, some refugees seek resettlement in a third country. The United States is the largest host country for resettlement, the refugee quota for 2010 is 80,000, while New Zealand and Canada trail with between 5,000 and 12,000 annual slots.
Yet the quotas often go unfilled. Mapendo International is a refugee organization that works to identify vulnerable refugees eligible for resettlement. Matt Edmundson, Operations Officer explained the motivation for their work “it’s not because there’s a supply issue, its because there is a lack of labor, of man and woman hours on the ground to identify people. So its an identification issue.” In 2009 74,652 refugees resettled in the US, short of the 80,000 quota. Mapendo works in Africa, where only 9,669 of an allocated 12,000 slots were filled last year.
Once refugees make the list and resettle to the US they face new challenges to integrate into a new culture, learn a new language, navigate a new education system, and find gainful employment. The recently released documentary Pushing the Elephant poignantly profiles one Congolese family’s transition to the life in Arizona.
The US government has offices in different states to help recently resettled refugees, but the program lasts at most five years. Services are also delegated to NGOs such as the International Rescue Committee. NGO’s rely on volunteers who at times lack the necessary skills to fully address families’ needs.
The numerous organizations working to fill gaps in refugee service provision demonstrates the piecemeal approach currently used to address refugee needs, and the possibility that many will not access the full range of dispersed services imperative to a smooth transition.
We certainly should not forget refugees, but we also should look at how services can be reformed to address refugee needs in more a holistic and continuous manner.