[refugee-rights] 2002 proved 'mixed bag' for refugees

2002 PROVED 'MIXED BAG' FOR REFUGEES ­ UN AGENCY
New York, Dec 26 2002 12:00PM

Describing 2002 as a "mixed bag," the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) today predicted next year would bring more of the same 
unless war in Iraq triggers a fresh exodus of civilians in that region.

In a review of the past year, the UN agency recalled that the return of 2 
million Afghans from exile was the big story. Their return was the largest 
repatriation of refugees in three decades, ever since 10 million people 
fled from the disintegrating region of East Pakistan into India in the 
early 1970s and then returned to the newly created state of Bangladesh.

Even if results last year in Afghanistan were "staggering," however, High 
Commissioner Ruud Lubbers cautioned that "huge tasks still lie ahead." 
Around 4 million Afghans remain abroad, and with an anticipated budget of 
around $200 million for 2003, UNHCR said it expects to help an additional 
1.5 million return in the next 12 months.

Overall, the number of persons cared for by UNHCR around the world had 
dropped by nearly 2 million the previous year, to just under 20 million. 
Those figures kept falling in 2002, fuelled mainly by the Afghan returns, 
and Mr. Lubbers predicted that this trend would likely continue. Only eight 
years earlier the refugee agency had been assisting more than 27 million 
people around the world.

While the drop in the overall number of people needing help was encouraging 
in itself, UNHCR said, equally positive was that much of this progress was 
reported from some of the world's worst trouble spots.

Progress in two major "breakthrough areas" ­ Sri Lanka and Angola ­ 
appeared sturdier, UNHCR said, with some of the major causes of conflict 
resolved. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are expected to continue the 
long march home begun in those countries in 2002.

But parts of Africa such as Liberia, Western Sahara and Burundi remain 
deeply troubled, UNHCR said, stressing that in looking beyond immediate 
refugee crises, there had to be fundamental improvements in the way 
millions of Africans are treated by the rest of the world.