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UN: Number of refugees falls to 9.7m The number of refugees worldwide has fallen to 9.7 million, the lowest level in at least a decade because of increased international efforts to help uprooted people, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday.
"The statistics are very encouraging," said Ruud Lubbers, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
"The phenomenal return of Afghans to their homeland over the past few years underscores the benefits of sustained international attention and support for the work of UNHCR and its partners," Lubbers said. "The impact is felt as far away as Europe, where the numbers of Afghan asylum seekers have plunged."
UNHCR said the latest figure for refugees — compiled for the end of 2003 — was down 920,000 from the previous year. Refugee numbers were down in all the five world regions covered by UNHCR.
"Nearly 5 million people ... over the past few years have been able to either go home or to find a new place to rebuild their lives. For them, these dry statistics reflect a special reality; the end of long years in exile and the start of a new life with renewed hope for the future," Lubbers said.
UNHCR defines refugees as people who have fled across a national border, but it also tries to help others who have been forced from their homes, lumping them all together as "the population of concern."
Afghans remain the largest single nationality seeking asylum, with 2.1 million looking for refuge in 74 countries, followed by Sudanese and Burundis.
Pakistan tops the list of countries for asylum, with 1.1 million seeking refuge there. Next on the list are Iran, Germany, Tanzania and the United States, which has 452,500 asylum seekers.
There has been an unprecedented level of voluntary repatriation in the last two years, with around 3.5 million refugees returning home, most of them Afghans from Pakistan and Iran.
But countries accepting returning refugees still need international support and investment, Lubbers warned. "Then we know refugees can go home and stay home, ensuring the sustainability of their return," he said.
In some countries, such as Iraq and Liberia, people are going home even though UNHCR is not promoting voluntary return.
Not all the news is good, however. Six countries — Sudan, Liberia, Central African Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast and Somalia — each produced more than 15,000 refugees in 2003. Some 807,000 claims for asylum or refugee status were submitted in 141 different countries.
Around 112,000 refugees fled from Sudan alone. The flow of refugees from western Sudan to Chad has picked up dramatically in recent months, with many U.N. and other officials warning of a pending catastrophe.
The United Nations appealed for $236 million this month to meet emergency needs of Sudanese facing "the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world today." The United States has announced that it will be adding $188.5 million over the next 18 months to the $100 million Washington has already donated since early last year.
Flight also has been picking up from Congo as a result of renewed fighting in the eastern part of that country. More than 22,000 Congolese refugees fleeing fighting in eastern Congo have crossed into neighboring Burundi in the past week.
Estimates of Afghan refugees will be subject to revision this year, as current figures do not include refugees living in urban areas in Pakistan. The number of Afghans in Iran is also thought to be higher than previously estimated. |
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