Major Refugee Crises

GS 2: Important International Institutions, their mandate and functioning (UNHCR)

UNHCR

• Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (established in 1950)
• Protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their return or resettlement.
• World Refugee Day: 20^th June

Major Refugee Crises across the World

Europe

1933 (rise of Nazism) to 1944

• The rise of Nazism led to such a very large increase in the number of refugees from Germany

Movements in Africa

• The largest number of refugees are from Sudan and have fled either the longstanding and recently concluded Sudanese Civil War or the War in Darfur and are located mainly in Chad, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
• In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, over two million people fled into neighboring countries
• Sahrawis – people from the disputed territory of Western Sahara – have lived in five large refugee camps near Tindouf in the Algerian part of the Sahara Desert since 1975

2011 Libyan civil war

• Refugees of the 2011 Libyan civil war moved into neighbouring states of Tunisia, Egypt and Chad, as well as to European countries, across the Mediterranean, as Boat people.

Asia

Afghanistan

• From the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 until the late 2001 US-led invasion, about six million Afghan refugees have fled to neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

Dissolution of the British Raj, The Partition of 1947 and Independence

• The partition of the British Raj provinces of Panjab and Bengal and the subsequent independence of Pakistan and one day later of India in 1947 resulted in the largest human movement in history.
• Approximately one million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs died during this event.

Bangladeshis in India in 1971

• As a result of the Bangladesh Liberation War, on 27 March 1971, the Bangladesh-India border was opened to allow panic-stricken Bangladeshis' safe shelter in India.
• The governments of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura established refugee camps along the border.
• During the Bangladesh War of Independence around 10 million Bangladeshis fled the country to escape the killings and atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army.

Rohingyas in Bangladesh and Pakistan from Burma

• Bangladesh hosts more than 250,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees forced from western Burma (Myanmar) who fled in 1991-92 to escape persecution by the Burmese military junta.
• An estimated 90,000 people have been displaced in the 2012 sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Burma's western Rakhine State

Tibet

• After the 1959 Tibetan exodus, there are more than 150,000 Tibetans who live in India, many in settlements in Dharamsala and Mysore, and Nepal.

Sri Lanka

• The civil war in Sri Lanka, from 1983 to 2009 had generated thousands of internally displaced people as well as refugees most of them being the Tamils.
• Many Sri Lankans have fled to neighborly India and western countries such as Canada, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Jammu and Kashmir

• 300,000 Hindu Kashmiri Pandits have been forced to leave the state of Jammu and Kashmir due to Islamic militancy and religious discrimination from the Muslim majority, making them refugees in their own country.

Chechnya

• From 1992 ongoing conflict has taken place in Chechnya, Caucasus due to independence proclaimed by this republic in 1991 which is not accepted by the Russian Federation or any other state in the world.

Ukraine

•  Thousands of Ukrainians have fled to Russia since the beginning of 2014.

Palestinians

• Zionism: As a result of the 1948 Palestine war and the 1948 Arab-Israel war, much of the Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes.

Most Arab states have refused to absorb Palestinians as equal citizens.

Jews of Arab and Muslim countries

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Zionist movement led to the refugee crisis of Jews who travelled towards Israel from Arab countries.

Kurds

• Between 1984 and 1999, the Turkish Armed Forces and various groups claiming to represent the Kurdish people have engaged in open war, and much of the countryside in the southeast was depopulated.

Iraq War (2003-today)

• The Iraq war has generated millions of refugees and internally displaced persons.

2011 – (    ) Refugee crisis across Mediterranean

• 2011 – (   ) Arab Spring: Movements against dictatorships have destabilized many countries in the Arab world.
• Interference of USA and European countries in Middle Eastern affairs have destabilized North African countries like Libya, and Middle East countries like Syria etc.
• Crack down on Kurdish separatists by Turkish armed forces.
• Emergence of ISIS and mass massacre of Yazidis, Kurds and other minority groups.

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