[UNHCR] The Urgency to Prevent Mistreatment of Refugees

Written by Global Times

What is the main problem?

The situation

Refugee camps. A common site for those who wish to seek freedom from war and violence flee to. However, that is not the reality for many refugees. Reports of sexual, physical abuse of refugees, some even conducted by higher authorities themselves. The UNHCR dives into a discussion as to how to prevent such situations from happening in the future.

The discussion

Since the start, the UNHCR has expressed their general concerns about the mistreatment of refugees, bringing about multiple solutions, such as educating refugees on their human rights, and other skill sets to help them in the future. It seems so far that all delegates have a common understanding-seeking the best for the refugees. 

Education

Educating refugees of their rights was a bulk of the discussion UNHCR had. Taking into consideration that most refugees entering the camps do not have basic knowledge of their human rights, the UNHCR has pressed the need to do so. The UNHCR has placed strong emphasis on the importance of refugees knowing their rights and how to handle them. As such, they have decided to invest in educating refugees on their basic rights, along with how to identify and report cases of abuse they experience. This would help bring to light earlier the identity offenders, and prevent them from causing any further harm.

Communication

Throughout the session, the delegates have also brought up other solutions. They have decided to create a separate entity, consisting of local government, UNHCR personnel and neutral third parties. It was stated that entities should be created to reduce the corruption rates, considering that abuses are at times committed by officials themselves. Early on in the debate, it was also brought up that translators should be added to help facilitate conversations, since refugees and volunteers at the camp are unlikely to be speaking the same language.

Problems that may arise

Although both solutions are plausible, and may help prevent further cases, there are still some factors that affect the whole situation. A huge concern would be the manpower, along with the funding. If such a system is applied to all refugee camps, finding enough manpower may be a problem. With more than 50 refugee camps, supplying these many camps with more staff such as translators may not be achievable for all. Finding and sending additional staff to help may not be feasible, as there are multiple refugee camps, and millions of refugees. Not only that, including many parties into an entity may not work out, and though it may prevent situations, the investigation process itself for abuse cases may be prolonged. Considering that many parties are involved, finding the right time to discuss such issues in real time may be a hassle. Moreover, if the cases do not go down, and there is increasing violence in a particular country, it is likely that abused refugees might not be able to get the relevant attention for their abuse cases.

Conclusion

The UNHCR has made much progress into their debate, making possible solutions to help counter such cases the refugees face, and have recognised the urgency. Delegates should focus on the factors that may affect their solutions, and take into consideration the cost of their proposals. 

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