Event Highlight: 2011 Global Report on Refugee Trends

Event Title: 2011 Global Report on Refugee Trends 

Location: National Press Club

Date: 20 June 2012

Organization: UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)

Speakers: Khaled Hosseini, Author, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador 

Weblink: http://press.org/events/khaled-hosseini-united-nations-high-commissioner-refugees-unhcr-goodwill-envoy-and-best-selli

Description:  Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and One Thousand Splendid Suns, identifies as a refugee, although his circumstances of forced exile were inarguably more fortuitous than the majority of the UN estimated 4.6 million Afghan persons internally and externally displaced in the past three decades. Actualizing the “deep bond” all Afghanis feel for their homeland, their people, Mr. Hosseini launched the Khaled Hosseini Foundation--a humanitarian assistance NGO providing the vulnerable with access to basic services including shelter, safe water, and education.

In the capacity of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Mr. Hosseini delivered expert opinion and first hand analysis of the long run trend characterizing the “human dimension of a human refugee crisis.”

Of registered UNHCR refugees, one in four persons originated in Afghanistan, with 95% located in Pakistan (1.7M) and the Islamic Republic of Iran (886K). At the end of 2011, Afghanistan was the largest producer of refugees with 2.7M people in need of relocation. An estimated 2M Afghanis are unregistered--whether externally or internally displaced--and therefore unable to attain the protections granted by UNHCR refugee status, as conveyed by signatories to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Many of these persons were fleeing conflict--the Soviets, the Taliban, the NATO mission--while others were economic migrants looking for better wages and a higher standard of living.

80% of the Afghan refugee population have been in exile for decades, acculturated to increasingly urban lifestyles while unable to achieve citizenship or its benefits and protections in their host nations. 

“Even given the chance to return to the homeland,” says Mr. Hosseini, “many will refuse to repatriate.” 

The adjustment from urban to rural life is one many young Afghanis, raised outside of the homeland seeing images of chaos and destruction, resist. 50% of minors seeking asylum are Afghani children, primarily due to a lack of viable communities to take them in, a factor increasing the possibility of revictimization upon return.  

Flaws in the humanitarian assistance strategy over the past decade have resulted in a bare trickle of results being felt at the micro, village level, contributing to the sustained underdevelopment of much of the country. Investing on a local level, Hosseini contends, is key to building sustainable communities capable of the growth that will anchor exiled and future Afghanis to the country. A long term international commitment is crucial, especially in the years surrounding the 2014 post-NATO security transition.

Mr. Hosseini’s report contained a positive note. The Afghan people are interested and invested in the promise of democracy, evidenced by political participation in elections even in the face of threats of violence from extremist factions. Women and girls enjoy increased access to education and political representation, with cultural norms increasingly the greatest obstacle to women’s empowerment. Maternal, infant, and child mortality are down, as health services have improved. Infrastructure and resource security have improved access and transportation of goods to isolated areas.

Afghanistan will need help as it endures the grueling process of creating, promoting, and embodying the habits of democratic governance. 

“Above all,” says Hosseini, “The people must not bargain away their rights in the push for peace.”