UN AGENCY HAILS 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF LANDMARK AFRICAN REFUGEE CONVENTION

Today marks the 40th anniversary of an African refugee convention, which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home">UNCHR) hails as "groundbreaking" for having paved the way for millions on the continent to receive protection and assistance.

Under the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee was defined as a person having "a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion."

The 1969 Refugee Convention of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to the African Union (<"http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/index/index.htm">AU), expanded that definition to include "every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order."

The pact's "importance and vitality remain undiminished today," UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic <"http://www.unhcr.org/4aa641da6.html">said.

In Africa today, there are nearly 2.7 million refugees and asylum-seekers. There are a further 6.3 million uprooted within their own countries, with the continent home to almost half of all of the world's internally displaced persons (IDPs).

George Okoth-Obbo, UNHCR's Africa Bureau Director, <"http://www.unhcr.org/4aa7b80c6.html">acknowledged that there have been and continued to be failures, due to derelict State behaviour and other reasons, to protect the rights enshrined in the pact, but stressed these "cannot be put at the door of the 1969 Convention itself."

He noted that the Convention does not protect those forced to flee their homes internally by conflict or other factors, along with the emerging threat of climate change.

To this end, the AU is holding a special summit next month in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to adopt a regional convention on internal displacement.

That agreement will be the first of its kind in the world, Mr. Okoth-Obbo noted. "It is critical that the convention elaborates the primary obligations of States, ranging from the responsibility to prevent displacement itself to responses which should be activated when and where displacement takes place."

AT LEAST SEVEN DEAD IN LATEST SMUGGLING TRAGEDY OFF YEMENI COAST – UN

At least seven Africans drowned over the weekend when the smugglers' boat they were travelling in capsized shortly after docking in the Yemeni port of Aden, the United Nations refugee agency has reported, adding that 85 passengers survived thanks to rescue efforts by local officials and the French Navy.

The incident occurred on Saturday as passengers tried to disembark from the boat, which had just been towed to the Yemeni coast by a French frigate that on Thursday had found it adrift and taking on water in the Gulf of Aden.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said the French sailors stopped the leak and then towed the boat, which was carrying 104 people, to Aden. As it docked, "the frightened passengers all rushed at the same time to disembark, causing the vessel to founder because of the sudden shift in balance," the agency said in a press release.

French sailors and the Yemeni coastguard rescued 85 passengers, which included Somalis and Ethiopians, and four of the smugglers, who were later arrested. In addition to the seven that drowned, five people are missing and presumed dead.

"We are grateful to the French Navy and the Yemeni authorities, including port officials and the coastguard, for the rescue operation," said Leila Nassif, the head of UNHCR's sub-office in Aden. "As soon as the boat overturned, we saw everyone jump in the water and no effort was spared to save lives."

According to UNHCR, some 260 boats and 13,250 people have made the dangerous voyage across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa to Yemen so far this year, with 54 people reported dead and 36 missing at sea.
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UN RELIEF CHIEF CONCERNED OVER PHYSICAL CONDITION OF SRI LANKANS TRAPPED BY CLASHES

UN RELIEF CHIEF CONCERNED OVER PHYSICAL CONDITION OF SRI LANKANS TRAPPED BY CLASHES
New York, Feb 27 2009 5:00PM

The top United Nations humanitarian official today voiced concern for the hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans pushed into a progressively shrinking pocket of land in the northern part of the country due to clashes between Government forces and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The world body estimates that some 200,000 people are being squeezed into a narrow 14-square kilometre patch of land on the coast in Vanni which the Government has declared a 'no-fire zone.'

Many of these people have been uprooted several times in recent months or years, and are in danger of getting caught in the crossfire between the two sides, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who visited Sri Lanka last week, told the Security Council in a closed meeting today.

"And there is strong evidence that the LTTE are preventing them from leaving," he cautioned.

The violence has impeded humanitarian aid delivery, with supplies of food, medical supplies, clean water and other essential supplies in critically short supply.

"The risks from hunger and diseases are growing rapidly, in addition to those from fighting," noted Mr. Holmes, who also serves as UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

He told the 15-member Council of his visits to camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), adding that movement into and out of these sites is "currently highly and unacceptably restricted."

With reports of the LTTE shooting some civilians trying to flee the Vanni pocket, Mr. Holmes said he called on the rebel group to allow people to leave and stop forced recruitment, especially of children.

He said he also called on the Government to do all they can to allow civilians to get out of the area safely through such measures as a halt to fighting or the creation of a humanitarian corridor.

"I trust that my pleas to all parties to do all they can to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law will not fall on deaf ears," Mr. Holmes said. "The continuing close attention of the international community will be a very important part of this, including scrutiny of the implementation of the assurances given by the Government."

He also appealed to "those with any influence on the positions of the LTTE" to persuade the rebels to let civilians go.

"There is no time to lose," the Under-Secretary-General stressed.

Addressing reporters following the closed-door meeting, Ambassador Yukio Takasu of Japan, which holds the monthly rotating Council presidency, said that there was a convergence of views among members that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mr. Holmes continue to be engaged on the issue.

In a related development, a recently-opened sea route has allowed the World Food Programme (WFP) to deliver 40 metric tons of the agency's food – enough to feed 80,000 people for a day – to the Government-designated safe zone in the Vanni region.

Sailing under an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) flag, the supplies in the tugboat reached the area yesterday, with another shipment planned for tomorrow.

WFP now aims to deliver up to 300 metric tons of food supplies weekly by sea.

Since last September, the agency had been bringing food to the Vanni region by road convoys, but was forced in January to halt its deliveries due to the escalating hostilities.

WFP food has been reaching some 40,000 displaced people seeking refuge in Government-controlled areas in the north, with 145 metric tons of food having been supplied to 11 camps.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency today urged the Government to exercise caution and the LTTE to allow civilians to move to safe areas.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has received 300 acres of land from the Sri Lankan Government and seeks to set up a camp for 42,000 people by the end of the week. But given the large number of people trapped by fighting, the agency has asked for an additional 300 acres to shelter 85,000 civilians in all.
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OVER 40,000 DISPLACED SOMALIS RETURN TO CAPITAL DESPITE CLASHES, SAYS UN AGENCY

OVER 40,000 DISPLACED SOMALIS RETURN TO CAPITAL DESPITE CLASHES, SAYS UN AGENCY
New York, Feb 27 2009 10:00AM

Although the Somali capital is witnessing some of the worst clashes in months, more than 40,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have returned to Mogadishu in the last six weeks, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) reported today.

The violence has led to civilian casualties and the agency is currently assessing the scale of displacement caused by this latest round of fighting, spokesperson William Spindler told reporters in Geneva.

"UNHCR is not encouraging returns to Mogadishu at this juncture, as the security situation is volatile and the conditions are certainly not conducive," he said, noting that there is limited access to basic services and very few international aid agencies on the ground due to the violence.

"Nevertheless, we are preparing to help returnees or those who wish to return in the near future, in the hope that the security situation will improve," Mr. Spindler said.

There are some 1.3 million Somalis uprooted within their own country, while last year alone, 100,000 people fled to neighbouring Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Yemen, and the total number of Somali refugees in asylum countries numbers nearly 450,000.

The majority of the IDPs who have recently returned to Mogadihsu have come from the southern and central regions, which have faced a combination of renewed conflict and severe drought.

Many are returning as complete families, while some are heads of households who have left their relatives behind in camps who have gone to the capital to check on their properties. The returnees are going back to neighbourhoods in northern Mogadishu that are virtually empty after two years of conflict.

Somalia, which has been beset by factional fighting and has not had a functioning central government since 1991, witnessed several encouraging developments over the past month, including the election of the country's new President and the creation of an enlarged Parliament.
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