UNHCR

World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day 2021 focuses on the power of inclusion.

The shared experience of COVID-19 has showed us that we only succeed if we stand together. We have all had to do our part to keep each other safe and despite the challenges, refugees and displaced people have stepped up.

Given the chance, refugees will continue to contribute to a stronger, safer and more vibrant world. Therefore UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s World Refugee Day campaign this year is calling for the greater inclusion of refugees in health systems, schools and sport. Only by working together can we recover from the pandemic. Together we heal, learn and shine.

Background

Every minute 20 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. There are several types of forcibly displaced persons:

Refugees

  • A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to “a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.

Asylum Seekers

  • Asylum seekers say they are refugees and have fled their homes as refugees do, but their claim to refugee status is not yet definitively evaluated in the country to which they fled.

Internally Displaced Persons

  • Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have not crossed an international border but have moved to a different region than the one they call home within their own country.

Stateless Persons

  • Stateless persons do not have a recognized nationality and do not belong to any country. Statelessness situations are usually caused by discrimination against certain groups. Their lack of identification — a citizenship certificate — can exclude them from access to important government services, including health care, education or employment.

Returnees

  • Returnees are former refugees who return to their own countries or regions of origin after time in exile. Returnees need continuous support and reintegration assistance to ensure that they can rebuild their lives at home.

To learn more about how/why the UN commemorates this observance, including how the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol helps protect refugees, explore un.org/en/observances/refugee-day.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. 

Covid-19 Vaccination: How churches can ensure that stateless people are not left behind

Covid-19 vaccination: How churches can ensure that stateless people are not left behind

Link to join the webinar on Monday 15 March @ 13:00-14:30 CET: oikoumene.org/live

As any virus, Covid-19 is an invisible threat which has changed our lives and affected our economies a great deal. The current Covid-19 pandemic has been a good reminder that the right to health is a universal right, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 25). It is a right that every individual is entitled to, irrespective of his or her legal status.

The pandemic is also a reminder that we need to work together as a global family to escape this global health crisis. This means that vaccination should be accessible to all, ideally as soon as possible before the virus mutates and becomes resistant to existing vaccines.

In these times of health crisis, governments have been confronted with difficult decisions to make, including avoiding economic disaster while at the same time finding a decent response to the pandemic. It is almost natural that their primary concerns are their nationals. Yet, there are many individuals living on the margins in their territory, such as undocumented migrants, refugees, and stateless people.

Stateless people, i.e. people with no legal identification, have been in most cases overlooked and forgotten. Invisible, yet living in our midst.

How can governments ensure that an invisible threat like Covid-19 does not disproportionately affect people and communities who have been always been overlooked and treated as invisible in other times? The pre-existing vulnerability of stateless people, i.e. their invisibility, put them at greater risk of being left behind when national public health campaigns (such as vaccinations) are planned.

How can churches and ecumenical bodies ensure that the vaccinations are accessible to all, including stateless people and other people undocumented people living on the margins during this time of pandemic?

The current pandemic is an important reminder that we are all equally vulnerable in the face of the current pandemic: Covid-19 does not discriminate, but our responses to it does.

Speakers include (alphabetical order):

  • Mr. Amal de Chickera, Co-Director, Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion
  • Dr. Ronald Lalthanmawia, Programme Coordinator for Prophetic Diakonia, Christian Conference of Asia (CCA)
  • Ms. Mira Neaimeh, Regional Executive, World Student Christian Federation – Middle East
  • Ms. Marcella Rouweler, Legal Officer, UNHCR Statelessness Section
  • Mr. Gorden Simango, Director, All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC)

The webinar will be moderated by Rev. Prof. Dr Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, member of CCIA.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com.

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