wfn.org | Team finds that refugees still face a bleak future

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2001-211

Team finds that refugees still face a bleak future

by James Solheim
jsolheim@episcopalchurch.org

     (ENS) A seven-member team from the Refugee Council USA returned from an 
extensive tour of refugee centers in West Africa and Egypt with discouraging 
news--refugees are still facing a bleak future.

     "Our purpose was to try to understand more fully the problems of refugee 
protection in these regions which host thousands of forcibly displaced persons--
and to identify specific groups for whom settlement in the United States might be 
their only hope," said Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration 
Ministries and a member of the team that visited the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Ghana, 
Sierra Leone and Egypt.

     In Cairo, for example, the delegation found scores of Sudanese and Ethiopian 
refugees seeking a solution as Egypt continues to receive 350-500 new asylum 
seekers every month. "An intolerable backlog of cases waiting for the United 
Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to determine their status means that 
thousands exist in a state of limbo with little or no aid and no clear signal 
about when their protracted suffering will end," Parkins said. 

     While Egypt keeps its doors open, the slow movement of people to 
resettlement countries hardly reduces the impact that refugees are having on the 
Egyptian social and economic structures, according to Parkins.  He expressed 
concern that the capacity of Egypt to absorb more refugees without also being 
able to resettle some of them "could further marginalize already vulnerable 
populations."

     Parkins also said that Liberians who fled to Guinea and Sierra Leone had 
endured years of hardship in both countries, unable to return home and unable to 
find a secure place in the host countries.

     The delegation also expressed deep concern over the 20 percent reduction in 
assistance that the United Nations was able to provide due to substantially 
reduced support from donor countries. Parkins noted specifically the thousands of 
Liberians in West Africa and thousands of Sudanese, Somalis, and Ethiopians in 
Cairo who receive no assistance from the UN and little or no support from host 
governments. Unless designated as refugees, those seeking asylum and those whose 
claims are rejected are without support in Egypt.

Solace from the church

     In the midst of this bleak situation, the churches are providing whatever 
solace they can. Parkins pointed to the generosity of the Diocese of Guinea where 
its bishop, Albert Gomez, has spearheaded the formation of a refugee committee 
that has done considerable work with refugees from Sierra Leone who reside in 
remote camps in the country. This effort has recently been augmented 
substantially by a grant from Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD).

     In Cairo, the principal and possibly only safety net available to thousands 
of refugees is provided by the churches. During a visit to the Episcopal 
cathedral, which operates a Joint Refugee Ministry, Parkins witnessed the role it 
plays as a gathering place for refugees, a center of religious life, and as a 
critical and often the only source of medical assistance to thousands of the 
city's most destitute refugees.

     With support from ERD, the Joint Refugee Ministry and the ministry of St. 
Andrew's Church and Church of the Sacred Heart are able to minister to the 
burgeoning refugee community, using dedicated volunteers and a core of leaders 
"to make Christian hospitality a powerful force in a desperate situation."

     The team will report its findings to the Department of State which has shown 
keen interest in its recommendations as the basis for urging a more generous 
program of admissions for African refugees and higher levels of support for the 
work of the UN High Commission for Refugees.

--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal News Service.