Photo credit: United Nations Photo via Flickr
Unlike other refugee groups that fall under the mandate of UNHCR with the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN created the Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in 1949. The long-standing nature of a temporary agency has led to some unique challenges in serving those who have held refugee status for 66 years.
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Phot Credit: World Humanitarian Summit via Flickr
The World Humanitarian Summit set out to coordinate an international relief effort by asking attendees to commit to specific action on issues from education to emergency response. Some participants were optimistic about the outcome, but there was also skepticism from aid agencies and humanitarian observers.
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Photo credit: World Humanitarian Summit via Flickr
The World Humanitarian Summit ended yesterday evening — and though it may come as a surprise to many, much of the discussion in Istanbul focused squarely on the Sustainable Development Goals – the set of 17 anti-poverty goals established at the United Nations Summit last September.
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UN Dispatch talked with Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and special advisor to the Syrian peace talks on the issue of humanitarian access and the protection of civilian. As one of the largest organizations in the world working on the issue of displacement, Egeland is in a great position to explain what needs to come out of the summit, as well as what needs to be done now.
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Photo Credit: Fotomovimiento via Flickr
As the international community met in Istanbul today to call for greater accountability in adhering to humanitarian law and upholding the rights of those forcibly displaced around the world, the Greek government announced that it plans to clear a large refugee camp that has built up at the Macedonian border.
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Photo Credit: UNHCR
As the international community prepares to address the ongoing needs of the global refugee crisis at the World Humanitarian Summit later this month, it got a nasty surprise last week when Kenya announced it would be closing the Dadaab refugee camp in central Kenya.
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While there are many reasons to believe the deal made between the EU and Turkey to stop the flow of refugees will ultimately fail, its existence highlights the lengths Europe is willing to go to get refugees off its doorstep, regardless of the potential human cost.
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
It is clear that the status quo on humanitarian funding is no longer feasible. While gaps in what was needed have always existed, the current “megacrises” have created a system where what is lacking almost matches what is being given.
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After a quiet year in 2015, migrants fleeing violence in Central America are crossing the US border in numbers rivaling the massive influx that occurred in 2014. But in a significant policy shift, the US announced last week it would formally open its refugee resettlement program to those fleeing violence in Central America, marking a significant change in how these children and families are treated.
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Refugees fleeing Kosovo in 1999 | Photo credit: UN Photo/R. LeMoyne
The decades old system of international laws and agreements intended to facilitate the safe and dignified processing of refugees is now clearly broken. Unless the international community substantially updates these policies to reflect the realities of the 21st century, the old system is bound to fold under the pressure.
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