- Title: VARIOUS: UNHCR launches a global online campaign to mark World Refugee Day
- Date: 20th June 2006
- Summary: (W3) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 20, 2006) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DEPUTY UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES, WENDY CHAMBERLIN, SAYING: "Nine million. Nine million children, nine million refugee children. Nine million faces, nine million stories, nine million kids that don't live in their homes anymore, many of them living in camps. Some of them born in
- Embargoed: 5th July 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVABPYKF5ACEURL22NTNQ57GVQCR
- Story Text: Many refugee girls and young women miss out on education for practical reasons such as a lack of separate toilets, but making simple improvements to camp schools can encourage more to attend, the U.N. deputy high commissioner for refugees said on Tuesday (June 20).
To mark World Refugee Day, the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has launched a global online campaign entitled ninemillion.org, which aims to increase awareness of the plight of the world's 9 million refugee and displaced children.
"Nine million faces, nine million stories, nine million kids that don't live in their homes anymore, many of them living in camps. Some of them born in camps. We're giving with this web-based campaign the chance for everybody in this world to join this community," said Deputy United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, Wendy Chamberlin.
Using football at its theme and Brazilian star Ronaldo as its face, ninemillion.org is the brainchild of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees supported primarily by Nike Inc and Microsoft with cash and commercials.
A promotional video -- viewable at www.ninemillion.org -- highlights the plight of three refugee children in Azerbaijan, Thailand and Uganda. What they all have in common is a love of football.
The goal is to raise awareness of and donations for children in the 324 refugee camps dotted around the world. Two-thirds of the money raised by the campaign will be used by UNHCR for education in refugee camps, with the remainder to improve access to sporting programmes.
"To help these nine million kids. Click onto 'ninemillion.org'. Click onto a camp in Uganda, Azerbaijan, Thailand. Click onto a picture, a photo of a kid. Get his story," added Chamberlin.
UNHCR says over a third of Liberia's population was displaced during more than a decade of conflict. A peace agreement and recent presidential elections spurred tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons to head home in 2005 and 2006.
Over 60 per cent of returnees from neighbouring Guinea have gone back to Lofa county. UNHCR workers are helping them restart their lives by providing shelter, water and sanitation programmes as well as the rehabilitation of schools and clinics.
"I have some career I learned over there. I do carpentry, I do soap making... I can live (support) my family on. This is what I have been doing in Guinea. And so far, I'm trying to do the same in Liberia so my family can live well," said Momoese Sambula.
Many former refugees have returned to their homes damaged in past conflict.
"Even though we suffered a lot in the war, that time is gone - people are coming back home to re-start their lives and the families are getting together (reuniting) and so I feel fine," said Jallah Kesselry, also returned from Guinea.
Chamberlin says although the number of refugees world-wide is decreasing, the number of those displaced internally, within their own countries, is on the increase.
"Well the good news is the refugee population is shrinking because people are going home. People are realising the theme of World Refugee Day which is hope. Hope to go home, to the communities they had to flee from forcibly," said Chamberlin.
"Now the bad news is there are even more people who are internally displaced. They haven't left their country but they're still refugees from their communities, chased out, forcibly displaced from their homes by persecution or war or whatever it is that makes them leave. So whereas the number of refugees across borders has gone down, the number of forcibly displaced people is going up - it's about almost 20 million people world-wide now," she added.
Decades of conflict in Colombia have forced thousands of families to leave their homes. It's estimated there are over two million internally displaced people in Colombia, home to some of the world's oldest and smallest indigenous groups.
The pressure is taking its toll on the youth of a small indigenous community in Union Embera. Only 400 people live there but the UNHCR says 18 youngsters from the village have committed suicide over last two years.
The UNHCR runs workshops to give the villagers the confidence to retain their traditions and present their case to the Colombian government.
Meanwhile, Sudan is barring access for aid workers in the east of the country and worsening security in the western Darfur region has cut off more than 250,000 people, a senior U.N. official said on Monday (June 19).
Despite a May 5 peace deal in Darfur, increasing violence has put large swathes of the north, west and south out of reach of one of the world's largest aid operations, set up to help 2.5 million forced to flee their homes in the remote west of Sudan.
Manuel Aranda da Silva, Sudan's top U.N. humanitarian official told reporters that while the parties who had signed the peace deal were no longer fighting, other factions were. Rebel infighting had caused most U.N. agencies to withdraw from areas of north Darfur.
Only one rebel faction signed the deal and many other armed groups in Darfur were not present at the talks.
They say it does not give Darfur enough political posts or compensation for war victims. They also want more assurances that they will be involved in disarming the government-allied Janjaweed militia.
Khartoum is to present a plan to disarm militia fighters blamed for much of the violence in Darfur by June 22.
Da Silva said aid workers had also been stopped from moving in Sudan's east, where a similar conflict has simmered for a decade. Rebels there complain of neglect by the central government.
Peace talks opened last week hoping to resolve the revolt in the east, one of Sudan's poorest regions which also shelters 120,000 refugees from neighbours Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Da Silva said despite central government assurances that they would implement a freedom of access agreement signed with the world body, local authorities in the east were not implementing that deal.
"We've had access before and we are not having access now on the maintenance side, this is what I am saying. We are puzzled, we are disappointed because the government has assured us that this would not happen but on the ground it is happening," added Da Silva.
In Thailand a high tech UNHCR project is underway to improve its ability to deliver aid and protection to refugees.
Most of the 20,000 refugees in Umpiem Camp are from Myanmar.
The UNHCR says it has developed 'Project Profile' to ensure these refugees are not overlooked and will eventually implement the system world-wide.
'Project Profile' creates an electronic profile for every refugee - each has a history, photo and fingerprint.
UNHCR says the individual profiles allow the organisation to target aid more efficiently and identify which refugees need the help the most. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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