Forced Migration and Refugee Protection

International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) has defined forced migration as "A
general term that refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (those displaced
by conflicts) as well as people displaced by natural environment disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters,
famine, or development projects."1 Forced migration has been a major feature of twenty and early
twenty first century. Many people around the world have been forced to move from their homes due to
many reasons. The two World wars, cold war, internal conflicts as going on in Pakistan, state partitions
as united India partition, human rights violation as in Myanmar, environmental disasters as Tsunami
have all contributed in one way or the other to force people to flee from their homes and communities
to others in search of protection. Some people have been displaced internationally across international
borders while others at national level due to internal disturbances as internally displaced people.
Globally, there are an estimated 65.6 million people who have fled their homes either as refugees (22.5
million), internally displaced persons (40.3 million), or asylum seekers as a result of conflict and
persecution.2 Weather forced migration take place at international level or national level its causes,
consequences and state's responses cannot be denied. The term Forced migration is usually confused
with voluntary migration. The separation of these two terms usually comes from policy makers as forced
migration often assumed of having political basis and voluntary migration as having economic basis,
however in practice it is usually problematic as forced migration can also have economic basis as well.
Somehow the distinction is useful to distinguish forced migration with other forms of human mobility.
Forced migration has been divided into various categories which are discussed below:

 Refugees:

The most important category of forced migrations is Refugees. Article 1a of the 1951 Convention on the
status of Refugees has defined Refugees as people who "owing to a well-founded fear of persecution, on
the grounds of race, religion, nationality or membership of a social group, find themselves outside of
their country of origin and are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country."
The number of refugee fleeing from a country is usually taken as a measure of how much a country
respects human rights. In 2007 there were 11.4 million refugees of concern to the United Nation High
Commissioner for Refugees.3 Refugees generally take hostage in their neighboring countries as in the
case of Afghan migrants in Pakistan and the recent case of Myanmar people in Bangladesh. There is an
international system which govern states on Refugees issues. The 1951 Convention on the status of
Refugees gave a definition of refugees as well as the Rights which should be entitled to them. Although
some refugee rights may be restricted under some circumstances some of the most important rights set
out in the Convention include:

 non-discrimination (Article 3);

 freedom of religion (Article 4);

2
"Forced Displacement." World Bank. April 11, 2018. Accessed May 06, 2018.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviolence/brief/forced-displacement.
3
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Report. New York: United
Nations, 2008. 1-23. Accessed May 6, 2018. http://www.unhcr.org/492d1f6a2.pdf.
  free access to the courts of law on the territory of all States parties to the Convention (Article
16);
 the right to work (Article 17);
 the right to housing (Article 21);
 the right to education (Article 22);
 the right to public relief and assistance (Article 23);
 freedom of movement within the territory (Article 26); and
 the right not to be expelled from a country [unless the refugee poses a threat to national
security or the public order] (Article 32). 4

Initially the 1951 Convention was limited to Europe only but later it was made universal through 1967
Protocol to the Convention. The core principle of system governing Refugees is "non-refoulment" which
states an individual or individuals should not force back to their country where they feel fear of
persecution. In fact, it is widely accepted that the prohibition of refoulment is part of customary
international law. That means that all States must respect the principle of non-refoulment, even if they
are not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention. 5The responsibility of monitoring and implementation of
1951 Convention has been given to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There are various
agencies also which work in partnership with UNHCR such as International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), an organization that provide help to all victims of war and internal violence and tries to ensure
implementation of humanitarian rules restricting armed violence. The International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) also works with UNHCR. Through its national Red Cross and Red
Crescent societies, it provides humanitarian relief to people affected by emergencies and promotes
international humanitarian law. There are a number of Regional agreements of Refugee protection as
well such as 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention and the 2004 European Council
Directive. Similarly, the subject of Refugee Rights can also be found in International Human Rights.

 Conflict Induced internal Displacement:

Conflict induced displacement is a form of displacement where people are forced to flee from their
homes inside a country due to some armed conflict going on and state authorities unable or unwilling to
protect them e.g. civil war, terrorism or persecution on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity etc. There
are currently about 25 million conflicts induced IDPS in the world in countries like Columbia, Sudan and
Iraq etc.6 until 1970s there was little attention given on to the protection of IDPS but after it UNHCR
started focusing on this issue and this work also fell under its responsibility and the office work with the
host states' permission. With time more work was done on it and in 1992, the UN Secretary- General
appointed the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons for the
awareness about the problem and protection of IDPS. This provided a framework for " Guiding Principles
4

6
Betts, Alexander. "Forced Migration and Global Politics." Google Books. 2009. Accessed May
06, 2018. https://books.google.com.pk/books?
id=As_qCzIx_ZUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=forced migration and refugee
protection&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8vaKUmvHaAhUhQZoKHVcfBvAQ6AEISzAH#v=onepage
&q=forced migration and refugee protection&f=false
on Internal Displacement" of 1997 which created soft laws on IDPS protection and defined states'
obligation on IDPS based on International Human Rights. Since 2006 UNHCR took responsibility of IDPS
protection in conflict situations. African Union (AU) has initiated an attempt to develop a hard law on
Internal displacement. Mostly foreign states involve in IDPS protection on state's approval for example
in case of Chechnya little means are available to protect internal displacement due to lack of support of
Russian government.

 Development-Induced Displacement:
Development induced displacement is the kind in which people are forced to move as a result of certain
plans and projects which are supposed to promote and enhance development such as infrastructure
projects like dams, roads, airports building and deforestation etc. The reason of displacement due to
development projects is that government assert legal claim over the land which is needed for collective
interest. Most of Development induced displacement takes place in the third world or developing
countries. According to a World Bank Survey in 1993, 80-90 million people were displaced by
development projects between 1989 to 1993. 7 China's development projects like the Three Gorges Dam
on Yangtze has also be said to displaced a lot of people. Such projects are justified by saying as
important for national development. Development induced displacement have many consequences as
redistributive consequences where taking resources from the marginalized and giving them to the
powerful. Development agencies have been helpful in providing guidelines about the consequences and
guidance of this kind of displacement and to ensure that people should be provided compensation and
rehabilitation in response to their displacement. World Bank had been criticized for funding such
projects but has responded positively by presenting “Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction Model”
to provide guidelines on this matter. This lending criteria has also forced the governments to have a
reconstruction plan for displacement. Un Commision on Human Rights has also provided soft framework
to response to this matter in the form of “Comprehensive Human Rights Guidelines on Development-
Based Displacement”. Non-state actors like private actors are also involved in Displacements.

 Environmental Displacement:
This is quite a new form of forced migration. With the increasing rate of climate change there
have been increasing observations in displacement due to climate change e.g. increased
flooding in countries like Bangladesh or sinking islands. An environmental change may also
provide factors for displacement than itself being the cause. It may affect access to livelihood,
competition for resources etc. Natural disasters such as tsunami in Southeast Asia in December
2004 and Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2006, also frequently compel people to move.
Increasingly, UNHCR and other humanitarian actors are being drawn into addressing
humanitarian crisis and displacement created by serious natural disasters. 8

7
Betts, Alexander. "Forced Migration and Global Politics." Google Books. 2009. Accessed May
06, 2018. https://books.google.com.pk/books?
8
Betts, Alexander. "Forced Migration and Global Politics." Google Books. 2009. Accessed May
06, 2018. https://books.google.com.pk/books?
id=As_qCzIx_ZUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=forced migration and refugee
 Case Study: Forced Migration in Syria
With the civil war and insurrection in Syria in 2011, the issue of exodus of refugees has largely
emerged. The chaos situation inside the country has created problems of turmoil and violence
for the people due to which mass migration from the country has occurred both within and
outside the region. Currently "Refugee Crises" has escalated in the area and its impacts are also
growing from the neighboring countries towards Europe. The conflict in Syria has driven more
has four million people to the neighboring countries according to UN. With at least 7.6 million
people forced from their homes within Syria, almost half the country's people are either
refugees or internally displaced.9 it is considered the biggest exodus of refugee population from
a single conflict. These refugees are living in poor conditions in various camps and risking their
living to reach Europe in any way and some can't even make their way across the border. Some
are taking shelters with friend and relatives.The neighboring countries are taking some of the
refugees like Turkey having the largest number of Syrian Refugees but still here are a lot left
backward. Most of these Refugees have no intention of returning home near future so settling
them is also a problem. This large number of Syrian refugees is putting the humanitarian system
under financial strain as lack of funds to various organizations have put many of these refugee's
life at risk but organizations like UNHCR are trying hard to take control of the situation as much
as possible and provide the refugees with basic necessities of life and protect their lives. WFP
aim to deliver food to 3.7 million people and vaccines and urgent medical supplies for more
than a half million people were distributed by World Health Organization. UNICEF helping 16.5
million people having access to safe water. Some sectors like education, protection and shelter
are funded very less. The Refugee Crises has led the Syrian people in extreme peril. Responding
effectively to Syrian Refugees problem requires an approach of protecting the people at both
sides of the border.

Conclusion

Forced migration can occur within or outside a border due to many reasons like due to conflict
situation, development, environment etc. Whatever the cause may be there are many
organizations working for the rights of the displaced people and most prominent being UNHCR.
With the growing conflicts around the world like Myanmar Muslims genocide, Afghanistan war,
and Terrorism in Pakistan the number of displacement of people is growing and protecting their
rights is becoming difficult but organizations both at state level and international level are
making laws and working on the refugee's protection.