Update on the Americas
Communities blockaded along Colombia’s San Juan river
A fresh reminder of the ways in which the conflict in Colombia continues to affect the civilian population came in August, when a team of aid workers and govern-ment officials found hundreds of people suffering from a blockade by an armed group in Colombia's Middle San Juan river in Choco province.
Organized by the municipal and provincial authorities with UNHCR support, the mission included representatives of the Colombian Ombudsman's and Attorney General's offices, the Social Solidarity Network (the government agency coordi-nating assistance to displaced people), the provincial health department, the dio-cese of Itsmina, OCHA (the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Af-fairs) and the local non-governmental organization CODHES.
They reported the discovery of 606 internally displaced persons (IDPs) when they visited 15 Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities along the San Juan river. These IDPs had not yet been registered or received assistance because of a blockade by an irregular armed group to keep essential goods out of their ene-mies' reach during clashes in July.
Aid agencies organized assistance for this group of IDPs, and sent a health team to the area, which was able to verify first hand the effects of the blockade.
United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees Headquarters, Geneva
Newsletter N°. 8 October 2004
UNHCR documents communities at risk in La Guajira
On 18 April this year, a group of armed men arrived in Puerto Portete, a sleepy coastal village in La Guajira peninsula in northern Colombia. According to local witnesses, the men proceeded to kill at least 12 people from the Wayúu indige-nous group, the largest of Colombia's indigeindige-nous groups.
The massacre spread fear in an area which hitherto had been largely spared in the internal war that has torn Colombia. It also triggered an exodus of Wayúus
UNHCR’s documentation mobile in La Guajira
UNHC R / W . S P INDL E R Contents
1 Communities blockaded along Colombia’s San Juan river
UNHCR documents communities at risk in La Guajira
2 Awareness raising still needed on displacement in Colombia 3 Colombian Congress concerned
about Cazuca
4 Hundreds of thousands gain citizenship in Venezuela UNHCR bridges gap between local and refugee children 5 Communal banks fund small
businesses in Ecuador UNHCR expands community projects in Ecuador
6 Theater teaches Costa Rican youth about human rights and refugees
Former Guatemalan refugees become Mexican landowners 7 Refugees find peace in Belize
Video to help prepare refugees for resettlement in Chile
Border officials receive refugee training
8 Southern Latin America reaffirms spirit of Cartagena
Americas Funding Overview 9 Private refugee sponsorship in
Canada marks 25 years 10 Canadian law students support
detained asylum seekers
Nearly 300 Haitian refugees return amid difficult conditions
11 UNHCR research tool to be available at detention centers United States expands expedited removal process
Colombians feel solidarity for the millions of internally displaced people in their country, but have little awareness of the human rights dimension of displacement or what actions would be most appropriate to help the displaced. These are some of the conclusions of a survey commissioned by UNHCR this year. The survey also shows how much contact ordinary Colombians have with IDPs: one out of five Colombians reports they have a family member, neighbor, or friend who is displaced.
According to the survey, 83 percent of Colombians consider internal displacement “one of the most
important problems of the country”. But awareness about its implications is not so widespread: 58 percent are conscious of the losses IDPs suffer (such as homes, goods and land), but only 31 percent are aware of the physical and emotional violence associated with forced displacement.
Colombia situation
The San Juan and its tributaries are the only means of transport in this re-gion, and the blockade, which severely restricted the movement of people, food, medicines and basic products like fuel, sugar and salt, has seriously af-fected food security, health and educa-tion in the communities downriver.
The few existing health services in the area were disrupted. The scarcity of medicines contributed to an increase in diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and parasitic infections. Fighters from the irregular armed groups used school buildings as barracks, damaging them in the process. Teachers were unable to return from their holidays and chil-dren missed over 30 days of school.
Although the blockade has now been partially lifted, the humanitarian and security situation remains precarious, since the armed groups remain in the area and new confrontations are likely. UNHCR is helping the local authorities prepare contingency plans, and orga-nizing workshops to help strengthen community organizations. z into other parts of La Guajira and as far
away as Maracaibo in Venezuela. "The impact of displacement on in-digenous groups is particularly destruc-tive because of their strong ties to their land," explains Isabel Selles, who heads UNHCR's office in Barranquilla, covering the zone. "This case is no exception. Since displacement affects indigenous men, women and children in different ways, our response has to take into account their different needs."
At the request of the "Dusakawi" re-gional Wayúu organization, UNHCR helped the National Registry to carry out a campaign to issue identity docu-ments in La Guajira.
The campaign, which lasted from July 18 to August 17, used a mobile docu-mentation unit, paid for by UNHCR and equipped with the latest satellite tech-nology to link up to a Registry database in Bogotá. It also has the means to take blood samples and photographs, both of which are necessary in order to ob-tain identity documents according to Colombian law.
The campaign kicked off in the iso-lated hamlet of El Paraiso, paradise in Spanish, deep in the Guajira desert.
"The mobile unit has taken me to some of the most remote regions of Colombia, but I never thought it would take me to Paradise," jokes Jairo Grueso, driver and operator of the mo-bile documentation unit. In total, nearly 5,000 documents were issued in six communities -- most of them birth cer-tificates. Through them, victims of vio-lence in this part of Colombia will have greater protection and access to state benefits. z UNHCR / W . S P INDLER
[DOCUMENTS FOR VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE IN LA GUAJIRA]
UNHCR and other agencies follow closely the situation in Colombia’s Chocó region
Awareness raising still needed
on displacement in Colombia
Update on the Americas z No.8 3
Colombia situation
Many see IDPs simply as people who simply cannot make ends meet.
Not surprisingly, then, more than half of the people interviewed were in favor of the State giving “temporary basic help to the internally displaced while they stabilize their situation” – as opposed to asking the State to
guarantee that stabilization. More than one in three considered it a priority “to give security for returns”. But help for local integration and support for IDPs to recover their properties received little attention.
After years of suffering one of the most serious crises of internal
displacement in the world, a majority of Colombians still do not view
displacement as a problem of violation of rights. They also do not see displaced persons as people who deserve special State assistance in many areas to recover from the violation of their rights. UNHCR is working to change that perception, but more needs to be done by Colombian leaders and opinion makers to ensure that Colombians see displacement in all its gravity, and help face it. z
[AWARENESS RAISING NEEDED ON DISPLACEMENT
The UN refugee agency participated in a public Congressional hearing in the Colombian capital Bogotá in August to discuss ways to alleviate "the grave human rights situation" in Altos de Cazuca, an area close to Bogotá, and home to tens of thousands of dis-placed Colombians.
Each day, hundreds of people flee-ing violence and persecution by irregu-lar armed groups in the countryside head towards the relative safety of Bogotá and surrounding areas. How-ever, in Altos de Cazuca, many IDPs arrive to find a situation which is no different from the one they left behind.
According to official figures, the number of violent deaths in the area, already one of the highest in the coun-try, is on the increase as a result of the activities of irregular armed groups.
"It would appear that the conflict is following its victims,” says UNHCR Representative in Colombia, Roberto Meier.
In his remarks to Congress, Meier called on the authorities to work in a coordinated fashion to facilitate the integration and improve the security of the IDP population, as well as their access to education, health and other basic services. z
Colombian Congress concerned about Cazuca
An internally displaced person on the streets of Bogotá
UN HCR / A .M . ROD R IG UEZ UN HCR / A .M . RO DRI G U EZ
Some 236,000 individuals, 90 percent of them Colombians and many persons of concern to UNHCR, have so far become Venezuelan citizens under a
“regularization” program that began earlier this year. The program was originally slated to close in August, but has since been extended to February, 2005.
An additional 77,000 individuals received permanent resident cards under the process, outlined in the Feb. 3 Regularization and Naturalization Decree. The decree sought to resolve the status in Venezuela of foreigners regarded as “irregular.”
“This campaign is a fantastic
opportunity for large numbers of people
who have been deprived of their rights for quite some time to establish identity and exercise other civil, economic, cultural and social rights,” said Sergio Calle-Noreña, Deputy Regional
Representative at the UNHCR Regional office in Caracas.
The regularization process responds to the needs of large numbers of migrants who have been unable to legalize their status for lack of proper documents or economic resources. At the same time, the process has also benefited victims of the Colombian conflict, whose status as refugees and asylum seekers does not exclude them from applying for residency in their country of refuge. z
In Venezuela’s isolated border communities, elementary schools are often the first point of contact between asylum seekers and the local
population.
“Families fleeing the Colombian conflict always come to the schools because, despite their problems, they want their children to keep studying,” explained Norberto Valbuena, a representative of Community in Motion.
With funding from the Canadian Embassy and technical support from UNHCR, this local NGO is implementing a project called “Bridges of Peace,” which trains elementary school teachers in the urban refugee host communities of Maracaibo, Zulia state.
The project includes protection, peace-building and risk assessment workshops that provide elementary school teachers with the tools to
integrate topics such as refugee rights, conflict resolution and tolerance in the classroom. Volunteers from Sokka Gakai International, a group which promotes a culture of peace among young people, contribute to the effort. The project also emphasizes the specific protection and psychological needs of refugee children by building teachers' capacity to identify children who may have suffered in the Colombian conflict and attend to their needs.
“Our method is very interactive and involves the use of puppetry, art and drama,” explained Valbuena. “We hope that by the end of the training, the teachers will feel comfortable in discussing these often difficult topics with their students.”
The project allows UNHCR to expand its protection networks from rural to urban centers. “An increasing number of
refugees and asylum seekers are migrating to the cities, and this project gives us a chance to enter and establish a presence within these communities,” explained Maria Lorena Suares Ostos, UNHCR Protection Assistant.
The project will initially target four elementary schools in the municipality of San Francisco, Maracaibo and two schools in the communities of Ajonjolí and Indio Mara, which are hosting indigenous Wayúu who have sought temporary protection in Venezuela.
The project, initiated in September 2004, is expected to reach 60 teachers, who teach more than 2,000 students, by the end of the year. In addition to attending the workshops, the teachers will also be required to implement their training by leading their students in activities to promote solidarity among local and refugee children. z
Hundreds of thousands gain citizenship in Venezuela
UNHCR bridges gap between local and refugee children in Venezuela
Colombia situation
Update on the Americas z No.8 5
UNHCR expands community
projects in Ecuador
The UN refugee agency has expanded a program aimed at integrating Colombian refugees and asylum seekers and addressing the needs of their host communities in Ecuador.
The government of Ecuador has joined forces with UNHCR in the endeavor. On June 15, Minister of Foreign Affairs Patricio Zuquilanda and UNHCR Representative Maria Virginia Trimarco signed the “Program for Community Support and Local Integration.”
The $592,000 program, to be carried out by UNHCR implementing partner Fundación Ambiente y Sociedad and local authorities, has identified 74 projects in the northern provinces of Esmeraldas, Carchi, Imbabura and Sucumbíos for 52,000 beneficiaries, including refugees and Ecuadorians.
UNHCR launched the program last year, implementing 23 projects worth $105,000 for 32,000 beneficiaries.
The projects include provision of legal assistance to refugees, promotion of cultural interaction, delivery of basic services such as education, medical care, water and sanitation, training and income generation.
“Ecuador has achieved important goals in the protection of refugees,” Zuquilanda said during the signing. “However, the increasing numbers of people seeking protection does not go unnoticed in a small economy such as Ecuador. For this reason, Ecuador recognizes the importance of the international cooperation that UNHCR has provided for more than four years, and now through this innovative and pragmatic approach.” z Three new communal banks operating
in Ecuador since August are testing a small business loan project to help refugee families realize their dream of attaining economic stability in their country of asylum.
Over the past year, UNHCR has supported numerous seminars for refugees in skills such as electrical work, computing, and handcrafts. A course on starting a small business proved to be one of the most popular. Although the refugees had their plans in place, they lacked funds to get started.
An expert from Mexico recently visited Ecuador at UNHCR’s request to train UNHCR and partner staff on starting communal banks. In Mexico, a similar undertaking has been
implemented successfully since the 1980s and has helped hundreds of refugee and local families.
The micro-credits will supplement the income of refugee families and boost the economy in refugee-hosting communities in Ecuador. UNHCR hopes the project will yield a longer term benefit as well, leading to greater
acceptance and more favorable conditions for the integration of refugees and asylum seekers.
UNHCR Program Assistant Angel Granja explains that each bank comprises 25 to 60 people. The members appoint a board of directors to manage the funds and establish payment schedules.
So far, three banks are operating in Quito, Ibarra and Lago Agrio. Each funds around ten projects, including poultry farms, a bakery, grocery stores and beauty parlors.
“Our hope is to double the number of banks and beneficiaries for next year,” says Granja.
One beneficiary says that being accepted as a refugee in Ecuador has been a blessing, but getting a bank loan is difficult. “I am applying for a loan to produce a folding rack for drying clothes that I invented. I am sure it will sell well on the streets,” he says. Smiling, he unfolds the clever device which indeed seems to have what it takes to become a hot item on the market. z
Colombia situation
Communal banks fund small businesses in Ecuador
Colombians at a refugee center in Lago Agrio, one of the towns piloting a new communal bank project
UNHCR /
B
. H
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Theater teaches Costa Rican
youth about human rights and
refugees
A new educational initiative, centered around a theatrical adaptation of the Diary of Anne Frank which premiered in Costa Rica in August, is helping young people in Costa Rica better understand human rights and refugee issues.
The play is accompanied by a teaching guide and a photo exhibition depicting refugee situations and human rights themes. A discussion forum with experts in the human rights and refugee fields follows each
performance of the play. UNHCR has participated in some of the discussions, interacting with the high school
students and discussing topics such as why refugees flee their countries and the difficulties they encounter along the way while applying for asylum and integrating in their host community.
The project was created by the theatrical group 50 al Sur, and is sponsored by UNHCR, the Dutch Embassy, the Costa Rican National University and the Dutch Cooperation Agency, HiVos.
“This project contributes to enriching the students´ cultural background and helps fight against the growing xenophobia in the country,” said the play’s director, Guatemalan national Jorge Carrillo.
The play “La Casa de atrás” will be performed until December 2004 and will be presented in San Jose, Alajuela and Heredia, the three main cities of the Costa Rican Central Valley. z
The Guatemalan community of Santo Domingo Kesté in Mexico’s southern state of Campeche is celebrating these days. These women and men would have never imagined that the road they took 20 years ago would finally lead them to land they now own.
The Guatemalan refugees in Campeche arrived in Mexico in the 1980s and are one of two large groups relocated from the border to the states of Campeche and Quintana Roo.
Nearly 12,000 Guatemalans were transferred to Campeche in 1984. By the time peace agreements in 1996 ended 36 years of civil conflict in Guatemala, the Guatemalan population in Campeche had grown to 18,000.
Almost half of them decided to return to Guatemala to rebuild their lives, while the rest remained in Campeche. Their integration in Mexico started with the granting of citizenship by the Mexican government in 1996. By 2004, 3,693 Guatemalans in Campeche had naturalized. Their children born in Mexico — totaling more than 5,400 — are also Mexican citizens.
The next step to full integration for the refugees was land and a home to call their own. In 2000, the Mexican government began granting land titles
to former Guatemalan refugees. August 5 marked the end of the long integration process in Campeche, when the Mexican Minister of the Interior, Santiago Creel, handed over land titles to 894 families in Santo Domingo Kesté, the last group in Campeche to become landowners. Each family received the title to around 4 hectares for farming or a home.
Overall in Campeche, 4,657 refugee land titles were issued, most of them for “national lands”, owned by Mexico, where the former refugees live alongside other Mexican owners.
In Santo Domingo Kesté, however, the 5,208 hectares of land the former refugees have been living on were purchased through a trust fund, established in 1987 by UNHCR, the Mexican Commission for Assistance to Refugees (COMAR) and the refugee community. The trust fund was part of a plan for the self-sufficiency of the refugees in the state.
On behalf of the Santo Domingo Kesté community, landowner Rosa González said, “We feel great respect for Mexico and are proud to live here. We are determined to contribute with our daily work to the development of our state and our country.” z
Former Guatemalan refugees become Mexican landowners
Mexico and Central America
Update on the Americas z No.8 7
Border officials receive refugee training
Border officials in southern Latin America are getting trained in refugee issues through UNHCR and the respected Argentine human rights NGO, CELS, which has signed an agreement with UNHCR to organize training in Argentina. The training helps officials detect people who have protection needs, and assists national authorities in disseminating legislation related to refugees and human rights at border crossings. Three workshops have taken place so far this year in Arica (on the three-country border shared by Chile, Bolivia and Peru), Jujuy (in the northwest of Argentina) and in La Quiaca (Argentine-Bolivia border). Several more are planned for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. z A new information video — the second
of its kind in southern Latin America — aims to help refugees considered for resettlement to prepare themselves for their new lives in Chile.
The video provides orientation on the political and socio-economic context in Chile and features the personal experiences of refugees already living there. While showing Chilean society’s solidarity with foreigners, it also clearly presents employment and other challenges faced by newly arriving refugees. Testimonies from refugees already in Chile stress that successful integration depends most of all on their own sense of initiative and flexibility.
This latest production follows a similar initiative in 2003 in Brazil. UNHCR and its Brazilian partners produced the video “Bem-Vindo Ao Brasil” to orient refugees considered for resettlement in Brazil on the
opportunities and challenges they were likely to encounter. According to refugees who have since resettled, the video has proved a useful part of preparation prior to arrival.
UNHCR has been working on the Chile resettlement video with the Chilean government, UNHCR’s local partner Vicaría de Pastoral Social, and refugees living in Chile. The video is slated for completion in October. z
Refugees find peace in Belize
The Valley of Peace (Valle de Paz) is a refugee village one hour away from Belmopan, the capital of Belize. Here, 20 years ago, Central American refugees fleeing war in their homelands finally found peace. Largely
Salvadorans, Hondurans and Guatemalans, approximately 200 families remain in the valley today.
“Twenty years ago, I arrived in Belize from El Salvador. Back then, Belize was very poor,” said community leader María Consuelo at an August meeting with UNHCR’s partner Help for Progress. “Since then,” Consuelo continued, “refugees have contributed with their work and will to Belize’s development. This country has received them well. Our effort and gratitude belongs to Belize.”
The refugees introduced new goods such as coconut and flour and old crops like beans, tomatoes, sweet chili and corn, unfamiliar to Belizeans. Nowadays, these crops complement and enhance the Belizean diet.
The first generation born in Belize has also made an impact. Like their parents, they are contributing to local economic development in new areas including tourism, sales, and education.
“Our sons and daughters have found new opportunities aside from growing crops. They will achieve greater things than us. Belize is providing them a hopeful future,” said one Salvadoran refugee.
When asked on how they feel about the future, they all agreed without hesitation: “Belize is our home, we feel good here and we have contributed to the country. We are citizens with the right to participate.” z
Video to help prepare refugees for resettlement in Chile
Central and Southern Latin America
A Sri Lankan refugee child at school in Chile
Government and civil society representatives from southern Latin America recently reaffirmed the validity of the principles of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, as well as those of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees. The recommendations came at an August meeting convened in the Brazilian capital Brasilia as part of the run-up to the twentieth anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration. Adopted in 1984, the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees broadened the refugee definition to include people fleeing generalized violence, foreign
aggression, internal conflicts, massive human rights violations or serious disturbance of public order, and contained recommendations for humanitarian treatment of people in need of protection.
The participants at the Brazil meeting also recognized the necessity to
reinforce the application of the Cartagena refugee definition in the treatment of individual cases. They emphasized the need to harmonize legislation in the region to improve protection, and called on governments to take into consideration the special protection needs of women, children, and the elderly.
The event was co-organized by UNHCR and the Norwegian Council for Refugees, and hosted by the Brazilian government on August 26 and 27. It brought together 20 government and 19 civil society representatives from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru, as well as diplomats and UNHCR staff from Geneva, Costa Rica, Argentina and Brazil. Discussion topics included the interaction between human rights and national security, international solidarity, the sharing of responsibilities in international protection, and resettlement.
Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay have incorporated the Cartagena refugee definition in their legal frameworks, and Argentina and Chile apply it in practice. The Brasilia meeting was one of three leading up to the commemoration of the Cartagena anniversary, scheduled for November 15-16 in Mexico City. z
Southern Latin America reaffirms spirit of Cartagena
Southern Latin America
AMERICAS FUNDING UPDATE: Annual Programme Budget (as of 16 Sept 204)
Americas N. America & Caribbean Central America South America Subtotal
2004 Excom budget 6,737,112 4,126,351 14,011,203 24,874,666 2004 Revised budget 7,691,573 4,507,388 15,832,770 28,031,731 Canada 381,679 381,679 EC 1,025,527 1,025,527 Germany 306,373 306,373 Luxembourg 248,756 248,756 Italy 245,098 245,098 Japan 500,000 500,000 Spain 1,039,323 1,039,323 Sweden 274,725 1,098,901 1,373,626 Switzerland 396,825 396,825
Trust Fund for Human Security 713,700 713,700
Update on the Americas z No.8 9 Many Canadians have become experts
in providing new homes and a hopeful future for large numbers of refugees. They have privately sponsored over 180,000 refugees from all regions of the world since 1979.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary
of the Canadian Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, a uniquely
Canadian initiative.
“That remarkable spirit of generosity that motivated the response of ordinary Canadians to the plight of Indochinese refugees 25 years ago is still alive today,” said Jahanshah Assadi, UNHCR Representative in Canada.
Out of the 56,000 refugees resettled in ten main resettlement countries last year, Canada accepted 10,700, of whom over 3,200 were privately sponsored. Those who arrived under the private sponsorship program came from over 30 different countries with Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Colombia together accounting for 77 percent.
In order to document this enduring spirit of compassion, UNHCR launched the Canadian Refugee Chronicle: 25 Years of the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program. The launch was held at a special World Refugee Day event organized by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina on June 19.
Resettled refugees and their Canadian sponsors in communities across Canada are currently
contributing their personal experiences with the Private Sponsorship Program
to the chronicle. The testimonies will be collected and bound into a single book to be delivered to Library and Archives Canada at the end of the year as a special record of this humanitarian milestone in Canadian history.
In a related event on July 1st, the Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, presided over a Canada Day citizenship ceremony at the Museum of Civilization. Clarkson swore in 50 new Canadians from 20 countries, many of them former refugees from Algeria, Rwanda, Congo, China and Iran.
In her speech, Clarkson noted: “June
20th was the United Nations World
Refugee Day, whose theme this year was "A Place to Call Home". That
sounds like Canada! The UN counts on us to help ease the international refugee crisis, in part through opening our doors to resettle thousands of displaced or oppressed people every year. 2004 marks the 25th anniversary of Canada's
private sponsorship program – and I know there are a number of private sponsors here with you today.”
A number of other events in
communities across Canada are taking place to mark the anniversary of this special refugee program. z
Canada, United States and Caribbean
Canada’s private refugee sponsorship program marks 25 years
Resettled refugee children at a reception class in Canada
A small group of volunteer law students has brought some relief to asylum seekers in provincial jails in Ontario through a pilot project supervised by UNHCR in co-ordination with NGOs such as Amnesty International, Refugee Law Office, Canadian Red Cross, and Toronto Refugee Affairs Council.
The project, which began in January, sought to provide asylum seekers and other immigration detainees information about Canada’s immigration and refugee process, including reasons for detention and appeal mechanisms. The information sessions have brought a measure of relief to many detainees who live in constant uncertainty about their future.
"The Canadian asylum system is a highly sophisticated legal process, with procedural requirements that are strictly enforced,” explains UNHCR Legal Officer Rana Khan. “For refugee claimants confined in detention centers, these requirements can be particularly difficult to fulfill given the limited access to information, services or legal counsel who can help them to understand the system better,” she added. Khan has worked hard with other members of an NGO working group on detention to fill this protection gap.
In any given week, there are over 600 immigration detainees across Canada, half of them held in prison facilities, largely due to lack of space in immigration holding centers. Women and children generally represent less than 20 percent and are held in designated immigration detention facilities. For those in correctional institutions, maintaining separate arrangements for asylum seekers such as avoiding commingling with convicted
criminals has proven difficult. Training correctional staff to identify and address the special needs of asylum seekers has, therefore, become an important objective for UNHCR.
When approached by UNHCR a year ago, both Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and jail administrators welcomed the pilot information sessions for detained refugee claimants.
Two fairly remote locations – Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold and the Central East Correctional Centre at Lindsay, each about an hour and half drive from Toronto — were selected for the pilot project.
“You really felt the sense of isolation, of being distant from everything when you drive out there,” remarked project volunteer coordinator Lara Sarbit.
A recent graduate of York University’s Osgoode Hall, Sarbit, together with six other students have been giving presentations twice a month to groups of ten detainees from diverse national backgrounds. The refugee claimants were keen for information on issues such as detention reviews, completion of administrative forms, the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment process, bond payment, and legal representation.
The language barrier posed a problem, as some detainees had to rely on fellow inmates to loosely translate the English sessions. Another practical challenge was transport. Despite modest funding from Legal Aid Ontario and Osgoode Hall’s Legal and Literary Society to cover fuel costs, the students had to work out their own transport, often resorting to borrowing cars.
Sarbit has no doubt about the benefits of the project. “The feedback has been very positive with many detainees
shaking our hands and thanking us for this useful service. Also, staff at the correctional facilities have themselves been quite helpful, involved and supportive of the project.” Sarbit also sees the project’s impact as helping lessen detainees’ anxiety, fear, and frustration provoked by their detention.
The pilot has generated interest among NGOs and legal aid groups such as the Welland Legal Clinic to become more involved with detained asylum seekers. The Community and Legal Aid Services Program (CLASP) based at York University has recently agreed to make the project a permanent feature of its immigration work.
UNHCR will continue to monitor facilities where asylum seekers are detained to ensure that their rights are upheld and that conditions of detention meet international standards. z
Canadian law students support detained asylum seekers
Canada, United States and Caribbean
Update on the Americas z No.8 11
UNHCR research tool to be
available at detention centers
In an unprecedented arrangement, the U.S. Government has agreed to distribute UNHCR’s research CD-ROM, Refworld, to at least its main detention centers, which are used to hold large numbers of non-citizens, including asylum-seekers.The United States detains some 20,000 people for immigration reasons every year. As most detention centers lack sufficient legal material, and detainees do not have internet access, the addition of Refworld is a significant benefit for detained asylum seekers.
Refworld contains nearly 90,000 refugee-related documents, including legislation and jurisprudence, UN documents, maps, speeches, policy guidelines, information on refugees' countries of origin, and statistics.
A mission from UNHCR’s Geneva-based Protection Information Section to Washington in June helped secure authorization from U.S. officials to distribute Refworld for potential refugees and asylum seekers in detention centers throughout the United States. The Office of Deportation and Removals (DRO) -- in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement – informed UNHCR in August that they consider Refworld to be appropriate for distribution and a great tool for asylum seekers.
DRO will distribute any donated material to at least their main detention centers – eight Service Processing Centers and seven Contract Detention Facilities -- and potentially to local jails in the future. Refworld CD-ROMs were delivered to DRO in September and should be available to detention center staff and detainees soon. z
United States expands expedited removal process
The United States recently announced plans to expand its expedited removal process from ports of entry and sea arrivals to also include U.S. land borders, a move which could affect large numbers of asylum seekers and refugees in the United States. In response to the August 10 announcement by Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), UNHCR has raised with DHS key protection concerns related to the expansion.
The expedited removal process, which went into effect at ports of entry in 1997, allows the United States to deport quickly people arriving in the country with false or no documents. UNHCR has been working to ensure that safeguards are in place for refugees and asylum seekers within the system.
The expansion would apply to third country nationals found within 100 miles of the border between the United States and Mexico and the United States and Canada (generally excluding Mexican and Canadian nationals) who were apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents within the first fourteen days after their arrival in the United States.
With the expansion, a new group of government agents will now be
responsible for identifying potential asylum seekers. UNHCR has urged DHS to ensure that sufficient training be made available to the officials, who would not have been included in earlier training programs. Under the proposed expansion, Border Patrol agents will now have the authority to deport quickly foreign nationals to their countries of origin, without a hearing before an immigration judge, unless they indicate a fear of persecution or intention to apply for asylum. Providing agents with the necessary technical and sensitivity training is crucial to ensure that any potential asylum seeker or refugee entering the United States is afforded a full opportunity to seek asylum.
During his public briefing, Under Secretary Hutchinson pointed out that the expansion – while authorized in the 1996 Immigration Reform Act -- was being implemented at this time due to national security considerations and the high numbers of illegal entries documented in recent years. He noted that due to the national security threats presented at ports of entry, specifically airports, land borders could become more vulnerable to potential terrorist threats and would need to be secured and safeguarded more effectively. He also argued that the expedited removal authority would allow DHS to process cases more quickly, thereby freeing up bed space for increased detentions. Through increased detention, DHS hopes to decrease the number of persons who fail to appear for their removal proceedings. UNHCR has made its views known to DHS that, as a general matter, asylum seekers should not be detained.
UNHCR is currently seeking additional details on the expansion and the plans by DHS to train the officials involved. UNHCR has urged that the
recommendations included in its October 2003 report on the expedited removal process at U.S. ports of entry be taken into account with the expansion. DHS has been receptive to UNHCR’s comments, and it is expected that DHS and UNHCR will continue to discuss the issue over the coming months. z
U.S. refugee resettlement may finally meet target figures this year for the first time in three years. The U.S.
resettlement program has been stifled since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 by additional security constraints and backed-up procedures. This year’s numbers, however, seem to indicate that the program has been revitalized.
By the end of August 2004, the United States had resettled 41,500 refugees out of its target of 50,000. The 50,000 quota was expected to be met or exceeded by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, almost doubling the 2003 level of 27,000 refugees.
Traditionally, the United States is the largest resettlement country in the world, and this revival and commitment to fulfilling resettlement targets sets an important example and precedent for other resettlement countries.
Africans continue to account for almost half of all the refugees resettled
to the United States, with two specific large groups accounting for a significant portion of 2004 arrivals. This year, nearly 6,000 Liberians were resettled from Cote d’Ivoire and 6,000 Somali Bantu refugees were resettled from Kenya.
With numbers eventually expected to reach some 15,000, the Somali Bantus represent the largest single group of Africans resettled in the United States. Despite the challenges and initial concerns of integrating a large population with relatively low levels of education and work experience, the Somali Bantu resettlement has so far been quite successful. This appears to be in large measure due to the positive efforts and attitude of the refugees themselves, along with significant planning by resettlement agencies in areas receiving Somali Bantu families.
UNHCR staff have undertaken monitoring visits to several cities where
Somali Bantu and Liberian refugees have been resettled, and have been struck by the quick and effective integration of many of these families. In Omaha, Nebraska, for example, UNHCR noted that several single mothers resettled from Liberia with their children had already found jobs, registered for classes for themselves and their children, and were fully self-sufficient, paying for their own rent and living expenses within four months of arriving in the United States. While these individuals may not be
representative of all resettled refugee families, their positive experience indicates the powerful combination of refugees’ determination and
resettlement agencies’ initial support. In light of the success of the Liberian and Somali Bantu resettlement, UNHCR has referred several new populations for resettlement to the United States. Refugees in East and West Africa should be resettled in the coming months. UNHCR also helped the United States process 15,000 H'mong refugees in Thailand. The H’mong began to arrive in the United States this summer.
The United States has not yet formally decided or announced the resettlement ceiling for 2005. The expectation, however, is that the United States will again set a global ceiling of 50,000 people for the year. Africa will likely be the largest source of resettled refugees, alongside significant increases in resettlement from Asia. The hope is that the revitalization of the resettlement program will continue in 2005. z
Canada, United States and Caribbean
United States on track to fill 2004 refugee resettlement target
Somali Bantu in Kenya are one of the largest groups resettled to the United States
