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World Refugee Survey

By immigrationprof

USCRI Releases WorldRefugee Survey 2006: Risks and Rights

WASHINGTONDC, June 14, 2006—The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)announces the release of the World Refugee Survey 2006—Risks and Rights,revealing the number of refugees in the world has increased to 12 millionlargely due to instability in Iraq.  The Survey counts 650,000 more Iraqirefugees in Jordan and Syria since 2005.  Although nearly 740,000 Afghansreturned home, new data shows that more than 2 million Afghan refugees remainedin Iran and Pakistan.  The Middle East and Africa continued to host thelargest number of refugees, and two-thirds of the world’s refugees remained warehoused:deprived of basic human rights established in the 1951 Refugee Convention forfive years or more.

Thedeteriorating situation in Iraq has led to the refugee outflow some predictedat the onset of the war, which has only now materialized.  Over 40% of thenation’s professionals have fled.  Syria now hosts 351,000 Iraqi refugeesand has the largest population of Iraqi Shi’a Muslims outside Iraq. Jordan hosts 450,000 Iraqi refugees, many of whom are Christianminorities.  Neither Jordan nor Syria recognize the United Nation’s callfor temporary protection and both refuse entry to many new arrivals. USCRI anticipates a more significant outflow in the near future, as the Iraqigovernment has issued over 2 million passports in the last ten months.

TheSurvey rates host country treatment of refugees, and this year’sgrades reveal that physical protection for refugees is on the decline, witheleven countries scoring worse than last year for forced return and otherviolations.  Egypt dropped two letter grades for its deadly crackdown onSudanese refugee protests, and the Russian Federation received all F’s for itstreatment of Uzbek and other asylum seekers.  The United States againearned an F for its refoulement of thousands of Haitian asylum seekersand the European Union was not far behind with a D for its egregious detentionpractices.  Yet some of the poorest countries of the world scored quitewell.  Benin earned straight A’s for hosting 32,000 refugees, mostly fromTogo, without restricting their rights.

TheSurvey also highlights the success of the anti-warehousing campaign ininfluencing host country policies.  Lebanon lifted the ban on Palestinianemployment in many manual and clerical jobs, Malaysia granted work permits tothousands of Indonesian refugees, and Thailand opened up educational and vocationaltraining opportunities for Myanmarese refugees.

Thisyear’s feature articles include “We Ain’t Refuges,” a message from USCRIPresident & CEO Lavinia Limón on refugees and the victims of HurricaneKatrina; a consolidated NGO Statement to the UN on “Women at Risk;” and amoving dedication by Senator Edward Kennedy to the life of Edward Marks,founder of the U.S. Committee for Refugees who passed away in October2005. 

The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants(USCRI) is a non-profit, nongovernmental organization that has served refugeesand immigrants and defended the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, andinternally displaced persons worldwide since 1911.  USCRI’s resettlementprogram and network of community-based partner agencies help thousands ofrefugees build new lives in the United States each year.  USCRI publishesthe World Refugee Survey and Refugee Reports.

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