By Globe reporter
UNHCR estimates that there are about 12 million stateless people around the world.
Speaking during the 60th Anniversary of UNHCR’s Mandate, which fell on December 14, at US Ambassador’s Residence in Lusaka, Joyce Mends – Cole said there were still 43 million people who had been forcibly displaced.
She said the majority of the displaced persons were under UNHCR’s duty of care, 15 million refugees, almost 1 million asylum seekers, and 27 million internally displaced who remain in their home countries but uprooted from their communities.
“December 14th, UNHCR is 60 years old and we commemorate that with both joy and sadness. Joy because we are in Zambia, which has a long tradition of hosting refugees and providing them with safety and a gracious welcome, regardless of their country of origin - beginning with Polish refugees fleeing the Holocaust during World War II, continuing with liberation fighters from many of the African countries and now to people fleeing persecution, generalized violence and armed conflict,” she said. “Sadness because today there are still 43 million people who have been forcibly displaced, the majority of whom are under UNHCR’s duty of care – 15 million refugees, almost 1 million asylum seekers, well as 27 million internally displaced who remain in their home countries but uprooted from their communities. UNHCR also estimates that there are about 12 million stateless people around the world.”
She said 60 years ago, when UNHCR was created, it was for a period of three years and until 2003, the mandate was renewed every five years.
Mends – Cole said UNHCR now had an indefinite mandate, which she said, was not something to be celebrated.
“When UNHCR was created to help Europeans displaced by the Second World War, no-one could have foreseen the kind of challenges we would face over the coming six decades – mixed migration scenarios with refugees drowning side by side with migrants sharing the same rickety boat; women fleeing persecution because they have refused to succumb to social mores; millions of earthquake victims left without housing and all basic needs; blurring distinctions between voluntary and involuntary movements, just to name a few,” she said.
Zambia is currently hosting 25,507 Angolans, 12,075 Congolese, 5,640 Rwandans, 2,113 Burundians, 1,854 Somalis and 404 refugees of other nationalities.
2010 saw the voluntarily repatriate of 7,000 Congolese refugees to the Katanga province while Kala and Mwange camps closed and turned over to the Zambian government.
Sarah Muke, a 15 year-old Grade Nine Angolan refugee pupil from Meheba Refugee Settlement in North Western Province, said she would like to see a world without refugees and a world with all countries at peace.
She announced her intention to repatriate to Angola next year and rebuild her life.
“Now that there is peace in my country, Angola, my family and I have decided to repatriate to Angola next year and rebuild our lives there. We know that it will take some time for us to adapt and for my parents to find a livelihood. But I believe that with the education I have achieved here, my fluency in English and hopefully soon in Portuguese when we go back, I will be able to help myself, my family and my country. My dream is to be an accountant,” she said.
UNHCR estimates that there are about 12 million stateless people around the world.
Speaking during the 60th Anniversary of UNHCR’s Mandate, which fell on December 14, at US Ambassador’s Residence in Lusaka, Joyce Mends – Cole said there were still 43 million people who had been forcibly displaced.
She said the majority of the displaced persons were under UNHCR’s duty of care, 15 million refugees, almost 1 million asylum seekers, and 27 million internally displaced who remain in their home countries but uprooted from their communities.
“December 14th, UNHCR is 60 years old and we commemorate that with both joy and sadness. Joy because we are in Zambia, which has a long tradition of hosting refugees and providing them with safety and a gracious welcome, regardless of their country of origin - beginning with Polish refugees fleeing the Holocaust during World War II, continuing with liberation fighters from many of the African countries and now to people fleeing persecution, generalized violence and armed conflict,” she said. “Sadness because today there are still 43 million people who have been forcibly displaced, the majority of whom are under UNHCR’s duty of care – 15 million refugees, almost 1 million asylum seekers, well as 27 million internally displaced who remain in their home countries but uprooted from their communities. UNHCR also estimates that there are about 12 million stateless people around the world.”
She said 60 years ago, when UNHCR was created, it was for a period of three years and until 2003, the mandate was renewed every five years.
Mends – Cole said UNHCR now had an indefinite mandate, which she said, was not something to be celebrated.
“When UNHCR was created to help Europeans displaced by the Second World War, no-one could have foreseen the kind of challenges we would face over the coming six decades – mixed migration scenarios with refugees drowning side by side with migrants sharing the same rickety boat; women fleeing persecution because they have refused to succumb to social mores; millions of earthquake victims left without housing and all basic needs; blurring distinctions between voluntary and involuntary movements, just to name a few,” she said.
Zambia is currently hosting 25,507 Angolans, 12,075 Congolese, 5,640 Rwandans, 2,113 Burundians, 1,854 Somalis and 404 refugees of other nationalities.
2010 saw the voluntarily repatriate of 7,000 Congolese refugees to the Katanga province while Kala and Mwange camps closed and turned over to the Zambian government.
Sarah Muke, a 15 year-old Grade Nine Angolan refugee pupil from Meheba Refugee Settlement in North Western Province, said she would like to see a world without refugees and a world with all countries at peace.
She announced her intention to repatriate to Angola next year and rebuild her life.
“Now that there is peace in my country, Angola, my family and I have decided to repatriate to Angola next year and rebuild our lives there. We know that it will take some time for us to adapt and for my parents to find a livelihood. But I believe that with the education I have achieved here, my fluency in English and hopefully soon in Portuguese when we go back, I will be able to help myself, my family and my country. My dream is to be an accountant,” she said.
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