Refugee Diversity

REFVIEW Refugee Diversity The UN Refugee Agency Bureau for the Americas The UN Refugee Agency R © UNHCR/HEGE UNHCR facilitates access to school for IDP children in Colombia. Here, a displaced child in Quibdo. REFVIEW NUMBER MARCH 2006 Editorial by the Director of the Americas 3 Refugee Diversity in the Americas 4 GUEST EDITORIAL: Luiz Paulo Barreto 8 COLOMBIA: Working with Indigenous People 9 MEXICO: New Shelter for Unaccompanied Minors 10 USA: Protection of Alien Children 11 COSTA RICA: Elderly Refugees 12 ECUADOR : The Psychological Impact of Displacement on Refugee Women 13 Refugee Participation 14 CANADA: Volunteer Teachers for Minors in Detention 15 ARGENTINA: Hip Hop and Football for Young Refugees 16 BRAZIL, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR, VENEZUELA, MEXICO: From the Field 17 PANAMA: Refugee Voice 20 ECUADOR: Staff Diary from Lago Agrio 21 COVERPAGE PHOTO Director Editorialist Marie-Helene Verney Refview is a publication of the Bureau for UNHCR provides financial assistance for Philippe Lavanchy Philippe Lavanchy Marte Fremstedal the Americas. The opinions expressed refugees and local children to attend school, Coordinator Guest editorialist Nanda Na Champassak by our collaborators do not necessarily Nazli Zaki promoting the integration of refugees with the Xavier Creach Luiz Paulo Barreto reflect those of UNHCR. Refview editors Editors Collaborators Oscar Butragueño reserve the right to edit all articles prior to local population. Here Colombian refugee Marie Helene Verney Bernardo Pisani Sabine Wahning publication. No authorisation is required Thais Bessa Juan Carlos Murillo Elaine Bole for the reproduction of articles and photos school children in Ecuador. Xavier Orellana Production Giovanni Monge without copyright. Please credit UNHCR. © UNHCR/HEGER Original design Nazli Zaki Gustavo Valdivieso José Luis Loera Viceversa Asesoria Creativa Virginia Pico Jozef Merkx Adaptation of design Luis Varese Agvisual Mariana Echandi Printing Artes Graficas Kuce SA REFVIEW Editorial ith four million people under UNHCR’s mandate in the re- Wgion, the Americas are facing a steady rise in the number of people in need of protection. This trend is creating a wide range of problems common to many states in the region. It increases the pressure on infrastructures and local economies, can lead to the destabilisa- tion of border areas and in some cases can even constitute a threat to demo- cratic institutions. In all cases, stronger cooperation between states is required to address some of these adverse consequences. When seeking to help the victims of the long-standing conflict in Colombia, greater cooperation is needed. When trying to assist the people of long- Philippe Lavanchy , Director Bureau for the Americas UNHCR troubled Haiti, greater cooperation is also essential. Throughout the region, we must look for ways of empower- The first year of implementation of children, elderly or disabled their partici- ing governments to develop collective the Mexico Plan of Action was decisive pation and feedback are essential to the responsibility and to set up new mecha- to test the ability of all concerned to good running of all UNHCR activities. nisms for solidarity between states. jointly address protection challenges in The diversity of refugee experiences in Against this background, the adop- the region. The results are encouraging. the Americas and the various ways in tion in November 004 by 0 Latin Throughout Latin America, protection which UNHCR is trying to help are the American countries of the Mexico Dec- networks have been strengthened and themes of this publication. laration and Plan of Action is a mile- a series of innovative projects were stone. It is Latin America’s response implemented, ranging from the signing Philippe Lavanchy to the challenges facing the region of agreements between Colombian cit- Director and represents the implementation of ies to facilitate IDPs’ access to basic Bureau for the Americas UNHCR’s Agenda for Protection on the rights and social benefits to an increase sub-continent – a further sign that Latin in resettlement places for Colombian American governments remain faith- refugees in countries such as Argentina, ful to the region’s asylum traditions. It Brazil and Chile. is another concrete translation of Latin It is important to note that a substan- America contribution to the develop- tial number of these projects were im- ment of international refugee law. It is plemented with the active participation not just a declaration of good intentions of the refugees and internally displaced but a very concrete action plan which themselves. To be successful, projects includes a protection response and a have to be relevant to the needs of the durable solutions component while people they are meant to assist. Wheth- focusing on effective partnerships. er the beneficiaries are men, women, EDITORIAL REFVIEW Refugee Diversity in the Americas UNHCR/VERNEY At 1, Lola fled to Mexico after suffering from years of sexual abuse in Guatemala. Today, she has been recognised as a refugee and lives in a shelter for unaccompanied minors. For every single one of the four million people who come under UNHCR’s mandate in the Americas alone, there is a different story. Each of these stories reflects the different experiences that drive people into exile and displacement. With different experiences come different needs, different skills and resources, and different hopes for the future. This diversity of refugee experiences calls on UNHCR to be flexible in its working practices. “There is no ‘one-fits-all’ solution,” says Philippe Lavanchy, Director of UNHCR’s Bureau for the Americas, “and while this is true everywhere in the world, refugee experiences in the Americas are particularly diverse. An Afghan girl resettled in Canada does not need the same help as an indigenous boy displaced by the violence in Colombia. A young Congolese refugee in the U.S. has opportunities that may not exist for an elderly Colombian woman in Venezuela. If we want to be of real help, we have to take these differences Indigenous woman in Soacha, a suburb of the Colombian capital Bogota, hundreds of miles away from the home in Choco she had to flee to escape violence. into account.” In recent years, UNHCR has been reviewing the way it works with iber was 16 when he ca- Angele knew no-one in Argentina refugees, paying special attention to me under pressure to join when she arrived from Congo with a the impact its programmes have on Wone of Colombia’s irregular young child and a violent partner. Life individual refugees of different armed groups. Fearing for his life and as a refugee got so bad that she genders, ages and backgrounds. that of his younger brothers, his pa- attempted suicide. With the help of Under a framework known as “Gender, rents took the decision they had been UNHCR, she has now rebuilt her life, Age and Diversity Mainstreaming”, putting off for years. Within days, the thanks notably to a micro-credit loan UNHCR is actively seeking the family fled across the border to take that allowed her to start her own small participation of refugees in the design refuge in Ecuador. business. and implementation of its policies. The 4 REFVIEW REFUGEE DIVERSITY IN THE AMERICAS overall goal of mainstreaming is to ensure that all refugees can equally enjoy their rights. In the Americas staff are engaged in structured dialogue with refugees and building on existing programmes and initiatives to achieve this aim. The Colombian Conflict With more than two million internally displaced persons (IDPs), Colombia provides a poignant illustration of the myriad different ways in which forced displacement and exile can impact on individual people. After more than 40 years of internal armed conflict, almost every social group has been affected: men and women, children and the elderly, farmers and intellectuals. Some groups, however, are especially at risk: among them are Colombia’s ethnic minorities, including its indigenous population. EY According to the National RN Indigenous Organisation of Colombia, UNHCR/VE ONIC, nearly ,000 indigenous Indigenous boy from the Embera indigenous group in Choco in the north-west of Colombia. people were forced to leave their homes in 00 alone. Indigenous communities often live in remote help these young people in distress. do that. So we are sad.” areas, with their own language, culture The number of suicides has been Young men are rarely considered to and tradition. UNHCR in Colombia steadily on the decline since then, be a vulnerable group, yet in Colombia realised early on that the only effective even though young people still come they are amongst the most likely to way to help these communities was to under a lot of external pressure. become victims of the conflict. Not strengthen indigenous organisations “The armed groups are all around,” only are threats and physical violence and enable them to define the one young man whose brother against them common occurrences, problems and implement the solutions. committed suicide explains, “they stop young men also frequently come un- In 004, a local indigenous us from going into the forest or down der pressure to join one or another of association, CAMIZBA, warned the river, so we have nothing to eat. the irregular armed groups. Ulyses, UNHCR that young people in remote Our fathers and grandfathers used to another young indigenous man river communities in the Choco region hunt all over these forests,” he adds, living in one of Choco’s threatened were committing suicide in large pointing at the thick jungle surrounding communities, has a very clear numbers. UNHCR and CAMIZBA got the tiny settlement. “For a boy to explanation for the high number of together to develop a joint project that become a man, he must hunt and suicides among the young. relied on local indigenous people to bring food to his family, but we cannot REFUGEE DIVERSITY IN THE AMERICAS REFVIEW © UNHCR/SMITH seeing my boys joining one of the groups that had made our lives so difficult.” A week later, the family fled to Ecuador, this time for good.

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