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Ageing A peaceful and prosperous world is one in which people can feel
safe and secure in their homes, with their families and in their Overview
Agriculture communities. It is a world in which they can feel confident in their
AIDS country, their culture and in the family of nations and peoples on Related Links
our common planet.
Atomic Energy Resources for Speakers
Children Sometimes, for economic or other personal reasons, people
choose to leave their homes, to begin and new life in a new
Climate Change location. For better or worse, these decisions are made as a matter of conscious choice.
Decolonization
But when nature intervenes in the form of natural
Demining disasters people's homes are washed away, blown
away, or shaken to the ground, uprooting entire
Democracy communities. When war or civil unrest ravages a
Development community, masses or people are forcibly displaced
or simply flee to protect life and limb. At the
Disarmament extreme, they are left with only two options: death
by privation, assault or genocide, or life in exile. One
Environment need only think of those forced to flee the violence in
Family Darfur to glimpse the severity of their need.
Food This is the plight of the refugees and the internally
Governance displaced today. In 2010, the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Health counted 43.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide—the highest number since the mid-1990s. This
Human Rights
included 27.1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), 15.2 million refugees and 983,000 asylum-
seekers. Of the 15.2 million refugees, 10.4 million were under UNHCR’s responsibility, and 4.7 million
Human Settlements were Palestinian refugees under the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Humanitarian Assistance
International Law More than 26 million people—10.4 million refugees and 15.6 million IDPs— were receiving protection or
assistance from UNHCR at the end of 2009, one million more than in 2008.
Oceans / Law of the Sea
Peace and Security By 2010, UNHCR had identified some 6.6 million stateless persons in 60 countries. Yet it estimated that
the overall number of stateless persons worldwide could be far higher, at around 12 million.
Persons with Disabilities
Population Unfortunately, conflict and natural disasters continue to take their toll on such persons. But their lot is
much, much better than it might have been, thanks to the commitment of the UN family to help them
Refugees return to their homes, and to protect and sustain them until their return becomes possible.
Terrorism
When their homelessness results from conflict, UN peacekeepers are often there to protect the camps in
Volunteerism which they must live. When they are left without access to such basic necessities as food, water and
sanitation, the UN family provides it. When their health is endangered, the UN system sees to its
Water protection.
Women
Much of this support is provided through the United Nations humanitarian action machinery. The Inter-
Agency Standing Committee (IASC), through its “cluster approach”, brings together all major humanitarian
agencies, both within and outside the UN system, for coordinated action. UNHCR is the lead agency with
respect to the protection of refugees and the internally displaced. With the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), it is the lead agency for camp coordination and management. And it shares the lead with
respect to emergency shelter with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

UN bodies actively involved in this cluster approach include the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF); the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); the World Food
Programme (WFP); the World Health Organization (WHO); and the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR).

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has twice been the recipient of the Nobel Peace
Prize -- in 1954 and 1981.

“The problem of protracted refugee situations has reached enormous proportions. According to
UNHCR's most recent statistics, some six million people (excluding the special case of more
than four million Palestinian refugees) have now been living in exile for five years or longer. More
than 30 [such] situations are to be found throughout the world, the vast majority of them in
African and Asian countries which are struggling to meet the needs of their own citizens.”

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 Statement by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres
on “Enduring Exile”, December 2008

In addition, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA), established in 1949, is the main provider of basic services — education, health, relief and social
services — to more than 4.5 million registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East. That includes 1.3
million living in 58 refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory,
comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

UNRWA provides emergency humanitarian assistance to mitigate the effects of the ongoing crisis on the
most vulnerable refugees in Gaza and the West Bank and was among the first to respond to the
emergency needs of conflict-affected refugees in Lebanon after the fighting there July-August 2006.

As proclaimed by the General Assembly, World Refugee Day is observed annually on 20 June.

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