Natural Disasters and Refugee Protection Presentation by UNHCR The Crisis Behind the Crisis? Forced Migration and its Consequence as a Result of Environmental Change and Natural Disasters in ASEAN 15 December 2011, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok Background Globally, the number of recorded natural disasters has doubled over the last two decades Asia is the world s most disaster prone region States hold primary responsibility for protecting people on their territory in this context and may request international assistance include lifesaving assistance as well as technical/operational assistance Total displaced and evacuated in 2008 by sudden onset disaster by region Source: Monitoring Disaster Displacement in the Context of Climate Change Findings of a study by UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and Norwegian Refugee Council 2 1
Legal framework Refugee definition (The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees) A refugee is someone who owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; Internal Displacement 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are key and expressly include persons displaced by natural or humanmade disasters Inter Agency Standing Committee adopted Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters 3 Protection concerns Protection issues need to be addressed as part of any natural disaster response including address specific needs of those who are at risk of being vulnerable or of being discriminated against including female heads of household, unaccompanied children, older persons without family support, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups such as poor people or people living in urban slums 4 2
Protection concerns (continued) Ensuring equal access to humanitarian assistance such as education, replacement of documentation, reuniting families, unsafe return, reconstruction of shelter, access to legal remedies 5 Cluster Approach The UN has adopted a mechanism formulated by the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC)* known as the Cluster Approach UNHCR is the lead at global level for Protection, Camp Coordination and Camp Management, Emergency Shelter Cluster lead may be determined differently at country level by the UN Country Team * The Inter Agency Standing Committee is the primary mechanism for inter agency coordination of humanitarian assistance. It is a unique forum involving the key UN and non UN humanitarian partners. 6 3
UNHCR involvement in Asia ASEAN Thailand floods 2011 Myanmar floods in northern Rakhine State 2010, cyclone Nargis 2008 Philippines typhoons 2009 Other countries in Asia Pakistan floods 2010 Sri Lanka foods 2010 7 UN Country Team response to recent floods in Thailand No official request for UN assistance; however, UN agencies have provided assistance/support based on their respective expertise and resources Key sectors Shelter and logistics: Relief items provided to evacuation centres e.g. cooking stoves, mosquito nets, generators and solar powered lamps Public health: Relief items provided for use by mobile clinics and other health facilities Water, sanitation and hygiene: Water purification, alcohol hand wash gel and garbage bags 8 4
UN Country Team response to recent floods in Thailand (continued) Key sectors (continued) Education: School in a box kits distributed through the Ministry of Education to schools severely affected by floods Protection: UNHCR as cluster lead, sub clusters for child protection and gender Cross cutting issues Vulnerable groups such as women, children and migrants are protected and receive necessary assistance 9 www.unhcr.org 10 UNHCR, Bangkok, 14 December 2011 5