VZCZCXYZ0006
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0014/01 0081331
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081331Z JAN 10
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1160

UNCLAS GENEVA 000014 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: UNHCR Highlights Displaced Persons in Urban Settings 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio 
Guterres, convened "The High Commissioner's Dialogue on Persons of 
Concerns (POCs) in Urban Setting" on December 9 and 10, 2009.  A 
variety of actors (including mayors, police, parliamentarians, host 
government representatives, donors, international and local NGOs, 
academics, and actual UNHCR beneficiaries) discussed the unique 
challenges of addressing the needs of refugees, returnees, 
internally displaced persons, and host populations in cities and 
towns (rather than camps placed in rural areas).  Challenges include 
identifying persons of concern, assessing their vulnerabilities, 
ensuring protection space in urban settings, promoting livelihoods 
and self-reliance, and bolstering strained municipalities and local 
authorities.  At the end of the conference, High Commissioner 
Guterres vowed to pursue an ambitious agenda of follow-up actions to 
improve UNHCR's response to urban POCs in partnership with other 
stakeholders.  The USG urged UNHCR to focus on its core mandate, 
refugees and stateless persons (rather than IDPs and urban 
development) and issue operational guidance to its field staff on 
how to implement its new urban refugee policy.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) USDel was led by PRM Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary 
Margaret Pollack.  It included U.S. Mission Geneva Refugee and 
Migration Affairs (RMA) Counselor Peter Mulrean, RMA Attach Melissa 
Pitotti, PRM/PRP Policy Officer Sarah Cross and RMA Program 
Specialist Michelle Burdon. 
 
--- 
UNHCR SHOWCASES ITS NEW URBAN REFUGEE POLICY 
--- 
 
¶3. (U) According to UNHCR's most recent statistics, almost half of 
the world's 10.5 million refugees now reside in cities and towns, 
compared to one third who live in camps.  UNHCR's policy on urban 
refugees, which was issued in September 2009, is based on the 
principle that the rights of refugees and UNHCR's mandated 
responsibilities towards them are not affected by their location. 
UNHCR considers urban areas to be a legitimate place for refugees to 
enjoy their rights, which they consider to include: the right not to 
be arbitrarily detained; the right to family unity; the right to 
adequate food, shelter, health and education; and the right to 
livelihoods opportunities.  During his opening session speech, the 
High Commissioner said of the new policy: 1) it is not developed in 
isolation from other urban poor; 2) it is focused on development as 
well as humanitarian relief; and 3) it is inclusive (not focused on 
UNHCR alone).  He said the policy would be mainstreamed into UNHCR's 
operations in 2011, but its implementation would be contingent upon 
donor funding. 
 
--- 
STAKEHOLDERS EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS 
--- 
 
¶4. (U) A handful of selected UNHCR beneficiaries presented their 
views during a special panel discussion.  A Colombian IDP named 
Senaida related her experience being displaced four times within her 
own country.  Ahmed, a humorous Somali refugee who lived through the 
xenophobic attacks of 2008 in South Africa, explained how, when he 
was a youth, a ship he had hired to go to Yemen dropped him off in 
South Africa, instead.  An Iraqi refugee woman in Amman named Maha 
who serves as a community outreach volunteer for UNHCR described how 
refugees came forward to register after they realized the benefits 
of doing so (access to food, medical care, rental stipends, and 
resettlement).  A 19-year-old Congolese refugee described her 
family's joy at being resettled in a town in Sweden.  Sabri, a 
Crimean Tartar who was stateless until attaining Ukrainian 
citizenship in 1997, highlighted the hardships for those who lack 
citizenship (the lack of mobility and inability to access education, 
work, pensions and medical care). 
 
 
¶5. (U) During the opening session, the mayor of Geneva, Remy Pagani, 
called for greater support to local authorities to help them cope 
with increased crime, trafficking, potential xenophobia, and 
humanitarian assistance needs in  way that is consistent across 
regions.  Host stte representatives regularly expressed concern 
aout the burden posed by refugees in their cities ad towns.  A 
Sudanese representative drew attentio to the unfinished urban 
registration exercise i his country, and called for more capacity 
and asistance to finish the job.  A representative from Hong Kong 
complained about the delays in the Refugee Status Determination 
process there, claiming it takes one year to get n interview in 
Hong Kong and causes great psychosocial damage to asylum seekers, 
who are not permtted to work.  The Syrian Vice Foreign Minister 
aisal Miqdad spoke about the direct negative conseuences Iraqi 
refugees have had on the Syrian ecoomy and social infrastructure 
(schools, hospital, etc.), and called for conference participants 
t focus on supporting voluntary repatriation (a cal echoed by the 
Iraqi and Jordanian representativs).  The Armenian and Serbian 
representatives emhasized the lack of affordable housing for the 
uban displaced.  NGOs pressed for alternatives to aritrary 
detention, opportunities for self-relianc, a UNHCR policy on urban 
IDPs, stronger involveent of community-based organizations, and 
increased UNHCR legal, protection, and advocacy role.  Germany 
called for better educational opportunities for the urban displaced 
to decrease their vulnerabilities. 
 
¶6. (U) Conference participants divided into four working groups.  A 
group led by Walter Kaelin, the UN Secretary General's Special 
Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons 
(IDPs), emphasized that IDPs remain in their country of origin and 
are thus entitled to all rights available to the general population, 
including the right to work.  The group concluded that it is not 
necessary (indeed, it is potentially harmful) to individually 
register IDPs in urban settings.  These populations can be generally 
"profiled" instead.  Family unity and non-displaced family members 
are especially important sources of support for IDPs.  Local 
authorities and municipal structures need to be informed about the 
rights of IDPs and supported so they can serve IDPs as well as the 
host populations. 
 
¶7. (U) The other groups focused on urban refugees.  Their findings 
converged on the following issues: 
-- The centrality of local governments in ensuring protection. 
Although both national and local governments may not be pleased 
about the existence of urban refugees, the local governments 
nonetheless are obliged to deal with the reality of their presence. 
UNHCR, donor governments and NGOs need to reach out directly to 
local governments to gain their acceptance of, and support for, 
urban refugees, including the granting of legal status in their 
territories. 
-- The importance of comprehensive registration, which identifies 
people with protection needs, provides them with important 
documentation of their status, and helps local governments to better 
plan services.  The use of mobile registration teams was encouraged 
in order to more effectively reach these dispersed and mobile 
populations. 
-- The effectiveness of outreach.  In situations where urban 
refugees prefer to remain "invisible," outreach through community 
organizations, churches and NGOs can be effective in identifying 
particularly vulnerable cases and in doing surveys to develop a good 
profile of the urban refugee population and its needs. 
-- The connection between local communities to the strategy and 
solutions.  Conducting public information and awareness campaigns 
and providing services to the broader community (and not just to 
refugees) will promote acceptance (or at least reduce xenophobia), 
and reduce the need for refugees to "go underground."  Examples 
included community centers or sports facilities for this dual-use 
approach, as well as creating "local trustees," made up of community 
leaders, school directors, municipal officials, etc. 
-- The role of refugee camps. UNHCR's Africa Bureau Director 
suggested that it might prove impossible to revamp the approach 
towards urban refugees without improving conditions in camps. 
Introduction of protection services and assistance in the cities 
could result in an exodus from the camps.  Thus, there is a need to 
make the camps and settlements themselves a place of safety and 
rights, not of risk. 
-- The need for development and livelihoods.  There were many calls 
for integrating urban refugee needs into development plans and for 
working with local and international businesses to develop 
livelihood opportunities for urban refugees.  Some Dialogue 
participants raised concerns that development actors were not 
present at the Dialogue. 
-- The complexity of mixed migratory flows.  There was a call for 
more thinking to be done on addressing the protection and assistance 
needs of migratory populations that do not qualify for refugee 
status.  Some suggested there should be a referral system for those 
not qualifying for refugee status from UNHCR, but in need of 
protection nonetheless.  If so, to whom would these migrants be 
referred? 
-- The importance of partnerships with NGOs, community 
organizations, municipal authorities, development actors and the 
private sector in providing assistance and transitioning from relief 
to development programs. 
-- The benefits of civic education.  A representative from a 
community receiving many asylum seekers in Canada underscored the 
importance of educating the local population of the plight of these 
persons and the responsibility they have as a community to support 
and encourage them. 
-- The value of transitional programs and exit strategies.  One 
group underlined the need for UNHCR to plan ahead to when its 
programs would slow down, or transition, in a particular urban area. 
 Some also argued for the need to recognize that many refugees will 
choose to remain in urban areas permanently, rather than return to 
their rural places of origin when conditions permit. 
 
--- 
NEXT STEPS: AN AMBITIOUS AGENDA TO BE ROLLED OUT OVER TIME 
--- 
 
¶8. (U) UNHCR will harness the momentum of this event with the 
following activities: 1) slightly modifying UNHCR's urban refugee 
policy to incorporate views expressed at the Dialogue; 2) 
identifying five pilot cities for the urban policy roll-out in 2010 
(perhaps Kigali, Nairobi, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, and Cuenca); 3) 
conducting regional workshops; 4) issuing guidance to UNHCR field 
staff on how to work with mayors; 5) maintaining an international 
network of mayors; and 6) carrying out evaluations to inform 
planning for 2012.  The USG urged UNHCR to expeditiously issue 
operational guidance to its field staff to help them implement 
UNHCR's new urban refugee policy; however, the High Commissioner 
prefers to implement the policy in a phased approach based on 
available resources.  The USG urged UNHCR to focus on its core 
mandate (refugees and stateless persons, rather than IDPs and urban 
development); UNHCR subsequently withdrew from its list of follow-up 
actions the creation of an urban IDP policy.  For more information 
on the Dialogue, see: www.unhcr.org/hc-dialogue. 
 
GRIFFITHS