Defying US, UNGA renews mandate for agency helping Palestinian refugees
The United Nations General Assembly has, by an overwhelmingly vote, extended the mandate for a UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees for another three years amid a cash shortfall triggered by a halt in US funding.
The 193-member Assembly renewed the mandate mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) with 169 votes in favour and nine abstentions. The United States and Israel voted against.
UNRWA, which as established in 1949, provides education, health and relief services as well as housing and microfinance assistance to more than 5 million registered refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
The agency has faced budgetary difficulties since last year, when the United States – its biggest donor – halted its aid of $360 million per year. The United States and Israel have both accused UNRWA of mismanagement and anti-Israeli incitement.
In a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised the vote as a victory for international law and the rights of the Palestinian refugees.
Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, hailed the U.N. vote as a defeat for the United States and a failure of its attempts to pressure U.N. member-states against UNRWA.
“We welcome the decision to renew the international mandate to UNRWA and we see it as another failure to hostile U.S. policies to the Palestinian rights,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Last month UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl resigned amid an investigation into misconduct allegations. Krahenbuhl has denied wrongdoing and said his agency was the victim of a political campaign designed to undermine it.
Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium suspended payments to UNRWA over the inquiry, deepening the budget crisis set off last year by the United States. UNRWA hopes the management shake-up will help pacify donors, said a source with knowledge of the organization’s thinking.
The United States has advocated shifting the agency’s relief services to refugee host countries. But UNRWA counters it provides a humanitarian lifeline and that it safeguards and advances Palestinians’ rights under international law.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official, praised the U.N. vote on Friday and said it was the United Nations’ responsibility to combat what she called U.S. and Israeli attacks on Palestinian refugees.
“All attempts at trying to limit UNRWA’s mandate or defund it or attack it have failed, and we hope that the international community will continue to come to the rescue,” she said.
▻https://www.app.com.pk/defying-us-unga-renews-mandate-for-agency-helping-palestinian-refugees
#réfugiés_palestiniens #UNWRA #asile #migrations #réfugiés #malversation #déficit #déficit_budgétaire #mandat_international #renouvellement #Suisse #Pays-Bas #financement #sous-financement #Belgique #USA #Etats-Unis #Nations_unies #UN
On the #migration_compact : a few notes
In the long term the focus on Africa is important for Europe. But I am not talking in terms of curbing migration, rather as an opportunity for Europe. By creating safer environments and more stable (and democratic) institutions in Africa, unauthorised migration flows will decrease as people are likely to stay closer to home especially if they can make a decent living and can move relatively freely back and forth. Libya used to be the economic powerhouse of north Africa and an immigration hub. It will also contribute to a more orderly mobility towards Europe – let’s not forget that Europe needs migrants to rejuvenate the workforce and sustain its welfare systems. And it is not only highly skilled workers that are needed.
▻https://nandosigona.wordpress.com/2016/08/31/on-the-migration-compact-a-few-notes
#asile #migrations #réfugiés
Talk by James Hathaway
▻http://fundamentalrightsforum.eu/en/frf/frf_programme?date=20160621&nid=21573
#James_Hathaway #protection #asile #migrations #réfugiés #réforme #politique_d'asile
]]>IRIN | Le moment est-il venu de réformer la manière dont on protège les réfugiés ?
▻http://asile.ch/2016/05/14/irin-le-moment-est-il-venu-de-reformer-la-maniere-dont-on-protege-les-refugies
Le droit des réfugiés est en crise. Ces mots ont été écrits par James Hathaway, professeur spécialisé dans le droit des réfugiés, il y a près de 20 ans. Ils auraient tout aussi bien pu l’être aujourd’hui.
]]>A global solution to a global refugee crisis
When introducing the draft of the Refugee Convention some 65 years ago, the UN’s first Secretary General explained that “[t]his phase… will be characterized by the fact that the refugees will lead an independent life in the countries which have given them shelter. With the exception of the ‘hard core’ cases, the refugees will no longer be maintained by an international organisation as they are at present. They will be integrated in the economic system of the countries of asylum and will themselves provide for their own needs and for those of their families.”
Yet today, and despite the fact that 148 countries have signed onto the Refugee Convention, the reality is quite the opposite. Most refugees today are not allowed to live independent lives. Most refugees are maintained by an international organization. And most refugees are emphatically not allowed to provide for their own needs.
Most refugees today do not enjoy the freedom of movement to which they are entitled under international law. In an especially cruel irony, the UN’s refugee agency—the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)—runs more refugee camps than anyone else. Not only is this response unlawful, it is absurdly counter-productive. Refugees become burdens on their hosts and the international community, and they are debilitated in ways that often make it difficult for them ever to return home, integrate locally or resettle. The risk of violence in refugee camps is also endemic—with women and children especially vulnerable to the anger that too often arises from being caged up.
▻http://rightsinexile.tumblr.com/post/142066466342/a-global-solution-to-a-global-refugee-crisis
#asile #migrations #réfugiés #James_Hathaway #solutions
Plusieurs articles abordent la question du vocabulaire. Faut-il les appeler migrants, réfugiés, sans-papiers, demandeurs d’asile, exilés...? Les avis sont partagés
« Migrant » ou « réfugié » : quelles différences ?
Alexandre Pouchard, Le Monde, le 25 août 2015
►http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2015/08/25/migrant-ou-refugie-quelles-differences_4736541_4355770.html
Le « migrant », nouveau visage de l’imaginaire français
Sylvia Zappi, Le Monde, le 26 août 2015
►http://www.lemonde.fr/immigration-et-diversite/article/2015/08/26/le-migrant-nouveau-visage-de-l-imaginaire-francais_4737104_1654200.html
« Migrants », « réfugiés » : sur le sujet sensible des migrations, le choix des mots n’est pas neutre
AFP, le 27 août 2015
►https://www.45enord.ca/2015/08/migrants-refugies-sur-le-sujet-sensible-des-migrations-le-choix-des-mots-nes
Ne dites plus « migrant »
Jean Quatremer, Libération, le 4 septembre 2015
►http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2015/09/04/ne-dites-plus-migrant_1375999
La distinction entre réfugiés et migrants économiques ne va pas de soi
Céline Mouzon, Alter Eco, le 11 septembre 2015
►http://www.alterecoplus.fr/refugies/la-distinction-entre-refugies-et-migrants-economiques-ne-va-pas-de-soi-
Le discours sur les réfugiés syriens : un analyseur
Saïd Bouamama, le 11 septembre 2015
►https://bouamamas.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/le-discours-sur-les-refugies-syriens-un-analyseur
"La distinction entre ’bons’ réfugiés et ’mauvais’ migrants n’est pas tenable"
Laura Thouny, L’Obs, le 12 septembre 2015
►http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/societe/20150910.OBS5614/la-distinction-entre-bons-refugies-et-mauvais-migrants-n-est-pa
Demandeurs d’asile ou sans-papiers ?
Paris-Luttes Info, le 13 septembre 2015
►https://paris-luttes.info/demandeurs-d-asile-ou-sans-papiers-3761
Pourquoi je n’userai pas du terme "réfugié"
Paris-Luttes Info, le 15 septembre 2015
►https://paris-luttes.info/pourquoi-je-n-userai-pas-du-terme-3770
Contre la logique du tri : pour un droit d’asile et au séjour, pour tous et toutes, maintenant !
Solidaires, le 17 septembre 2015
►http://solidaires.org/article51763.html
#migrants #réfugiés #sans-papiers #demandeurs_d_asile #exilés #Syrie #Guerre #Tragédie #Vocabulaire #Mots
#recension