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This is the United Nations: The U.N. and Refugee Assistance
February 14, 2008
By Zainab Abdul-Rahim
The United Nations Association’s Council of Organizations, as part of its seminar series, held a lecture on February 14 about the U.N. and refugee assistance efforts. The lecture featured Tessa Valk of the External Relations Unit with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), and Anne Richard of International Rescue Committee (IRC).
Valk began by noting that the UNHCR has regional offices and small field offices in other countries. She had worked in the agency’s Kabul office during the previous summer and fall. Afghanistan is UNHCR’s biggest operation, Valk said, citing the fact that three million individuals remain refugees. The office’s primary function is to ensure that the conditions in the countries to which the refugees return are sustainable, meaning that refugees are guaranteed necessities such as food, shelter, and education. Valk added that, in addition, the UNHCR staff talk with elders and women in Kabul to find out what their priorities are – so far, they have been primarily water and health.
Valk also discussed the new primary mandate obtained in 2001, which ensures the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). She went on to say that there are currently more IDPs than refugees.
The UNHCR also monitors Iraq’s border, where the agency interviews individuals to determine their reasons for returning. Based on the interviews, 70 percent of the Iraqis returned because their country of asylum lacked needed resources.
After Valk concluded her remarks, Richard spoke. One of the IRC’s main objectives is to safe refugee resettlement, especially in the United States, which is the top resettlement country in the world. According to Richard, the organization also maintains that individuals should not go back home until their country is stable enough to support them and there is enough assistance staff. To ensure this, the IRC sends communication leaders back before the refugees. Meanwhile, there are conflict management and resolution classes taught in the refugee camps.
The IRC works alongside the UNHCR, Richard said, especially regarding research on certain topics such as women’s rights. However, she argued that the IRC also has a special role that the U.N. has had a hard time fulfilling: it is able to provide protection to staff.
According to Richard, another advantage that the IRC has over the UNHCR is that the IRC does not depend on government funding, and therefore has greater power to speak up against states.
Education is also very important within the IRC, Richard said. Highlighting Afghanistan, she stressed that educating children there is “more than just school building,” and that support from the community, including parents and religious leaders, is key. She said that women teachers are needed to help female students. Returning to the refugee issue, she noted that women and children make up 80 percent of the refugee population.
Richard also highlighted the fact that the majority of IRC’s in-country field staff is native. For example, 99 percent of the IRC staff members in Afghanistan are Afghans who had previously been refugees. |
