Maailman johtajien piittaamattomuus koituu miljoonien pakolaisten kohtaloksi

Maailman johtajat eivät ole onnistuneet tarjoamaan humanitaarista suojelua sitä tarvitseville. Miljoonat pakolaiset ovat tuomittuja elämään kurjuudessa ja kuolemaan, sanoo ihmisoikeusjärjestö Amnesty International Maailman pakolaispäivän alla julkaistavassa raportissa.

Maailmassa on käynnissä pahin pakolaiskriisi sitten toisen maailmansodan. Neljä miljoonaa Syyrian pakolaista on paennut Turkkiin, Libanoniin, Jordaniaan, Irakiin ja Egyptiin. Saharan eteläpuolisessa Afrikassa on yli kolme miljoonaa pakolaista, joista vain pieni osa on löytänyt uuden kodin jostakin kolmannesta maasta vuoden 2013 jälkeen.

Viime vuonna 3 500 ihmistä hukkui yrittäessään päästä Välimeren yli Eurooppaan, ja tänä vuonna hukkuneita on jo 1 865. Ainakin 300 pakolaista on kuollut Andamaanienmerellä Kaakkois-Aasiassa tämän vuoden tammi-maaliskuussa.

Amnesty vaatii merkittävää muutosta tapaan, jolla maailman pakolaisia kohdellaan.

“Todistamme elinaikamme pahinta pakolaiskriisiä. Miljoonat naiset, miehet ja lapset joutuvat kärsimään sodista, ihmiskauppiaiden toimista ja itsekkäistä hallituksista, jotka ajattelevat ihmisten hädän sijaan poliittisia intressejään. Kansainvälisen yhteisön vastaus pakolaiskriisiin on ollut häpeällisen epäonnistunut”, Amnestyn Suomen osaston oikeudellinen asiantuntija Susanna Mehtonen sanoo.

Amnesty ehdottaa merkittäviä uudistuksia tapaan, jolla pakolaisia kansainvälisesti suojellaan. Järjestö vaatii valtioita sitoutumaan oikeudellisiin velvoitteisiinsa ja kansainväliseen vastuunjakoon. Amnesty vaatii maailman valtioita

• uudelleensijoittamaan miljoona pakolaista kolmansiin maihin tulevan neljän vuoden aikana
• luomaan globaalin pakolaisrahaston, joka vastaa YK:n tarpeisiin ja tukee maita, jotka ottavat vastaan paljon pakolaisia
• ratifioimaan YK:n pakolaisyleissopimuksen sekä
• kehittämään oikeudenmukaisia kansallisia vastaanottojärjestelmiä ja takaamaan, että pakolaiset pääsevät peruspalveluiden kuten koulutuksen ja terveydenhoidon piiriin.

”Maailma ei voi enää seurata vierestä, kun Libanonin ja Turkin kaltaiset maat kantavat lähes yksinään vastuuta pakolaisista. Mitään valtiota ei saa jättää selviytymään tämän mittakaavan humanitaarisesta kriisistä yksin vain sen vuoksi, että se sattuu sijaitsemaan kriisimaan naapurissa”, Mehtonen sanoo.

”On kansainvälisen yhteisön velvollisuus varmistaa, että ihmiset eivät menehdy pyrkiessään turvaan. Hallitusten on korkea aika kantaa niille kuuluva vastuu pakolaisten suojelusta. Pakolaiskriisiä ei ratkaista, ellei kansainvälinen yhteisö myönnä, että kyseessä on globaali ongelma, jonka ratkaisu edellyttää rajat ylittävää yhteistyötä. On toiminnan aika.”

YK:n pakolaistoimisto UNHCR julkaisee vuosittaiset tilastonsa pakolaisista tällä viikolla. Maailman pakolaispäivää vietetään 20.6.

Lisätietoja:

Heli Sariola
Tiedottaja
Amnesty International, Suomen osasto
p. 040 833 1532
heli.sariola@amnesty.fi

TAUSTAA: MAAILMAN PAKOLAISKRIISI

Syria: World’s largest refugee crisis

More than four million refugees have fled Syria, 95% of them are in just five main host countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

These countries are now struggling to cope. The international community has failed to provide them, or the humanitarian agencies supporting refugees with sufficient resources. Despite calls from the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, far too few resettlement places have been offered to Syrian refugees.

The situation is so desperate that some of Syria’s neighbours have resorted to deeply troubling measures, including denying desperate people entry to their territory and pushing people back into the conflict.

Since the beginning of 2015, Lebanon has severely restricted entry to people fleeing Syria. The Lebanese authorities issued new guidelines whereby Syrian nationals are required to fulfil specific criteria in order to enter. Since these criteria were imposed, there has been a significant drop in registration of Syrian refugees – in the first three months of 2015 UNHCR registered 80% fewer Syrian refugees than in the same period in 2014.  

Mediterranean: The most dangerous sea route

The Mediterranean is the most dangerous sea route for refugees and migrants. In 2014, 219,000 people made the crossing under extremely dangerous conditions and 3,500 died attempting it.  

In 2014, the Italian authorities rescued more than 166,000 people. However in October 2014, Italy, under pressure from other EU member states, cancelled the rescue operation, Mare Nostrum, which was replaced by the much more limited Operation Triton (by the EU border agency, Frontex).

Operation Triton had fewer vessels and its area of operation was far away from where the majority of SOS distress calls are made. This contributed to a dramatic increase in the number of lives lost in the Mediterranean. As of 31 May 2015, 1,865 people had died attempting the Mediterranean crossing, compared to 425 during the same period in 2014 (according to the IOM).  

Follow several horrific cases of loss of life in the Mediterranean, at the end of April, European leaders finally increased resources for search and rescue. Triton’s resources and area of operation were increased to match Mare Nostrum’s. In addition European states such as Germany, Ireland and the UK have deployed ships and aircrafts, additional to Operation Triton resources to further boost capacity for assisting people at sea. These measures, which had long been advocated for by Amnesty International, are a welcome step towards increasing safety at sea for refugees and migrants.

The European Commission also proposed that EU states offer 20,000 additional resettlement places to refugees from outside the EU. While this proposal is a step forward, 20,000 is too small a number to adequately contribute to international responsibility-sharing.

For example, Syrian refugees faced with reduced humanitarian assistance in the main host countries and with no prospect of returning home in the near future, are likely to continue to attempt to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. Without sufficient safe and legal alternative routes for refugees – but also for migrants – people will continue to risk their lives.

Africa: Forgotten crises

There are more than three million refugees in sub-Saharan Africa. Outbreaks of fighting in countries including South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR), have led to an increasing number of people on the move – fleeing conflict and persecution. Of the top 10 countries globally from which people are fleeing as refugees, five are in are in sub-Saharan Africa. Four of the top ten refugee-hosting countries are in sub-Saharan Africa

The conflicts and crises in the region have led to an influx of refugees to neighbouring countries, many of which already host long-standing refugee populations from countries such as Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, among others.

In some of these situations, as in the case of South Sudan and Sudan, refugees are hosted by countries that are themselves beset by conflict.

The refugee crises in Africa receive little or no attention in regional or global political forums. In 2013 fewer than 15,000 refugees from African countries were resettled and UN humanitarian appeals have been severely underfunded. For example, as a result of the conflict which broke out in South Sudan in December 2013, more than 550,000 people became refugees, the majority of whom are now in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. Only 11% of the UN’s South Sudan regional refugee response plan was funded as of 3 June 2015.

South East Asia: Turning away the desperate

In the first quarter of 2015, UNHCR reported that some 25,000 people attempted to cross the Bay of Bengal. This is approximately double the figure for the same period in 2014. This Bay of Bengal sea route is predominantly used by Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladeshi nationals.

On 11 May, the International Organization for Migration estimated that there were 8,000 people stranded on boats close to Thailand. Many of those aboard were believed to be Rohingya fleeing state-sponsored persecution in Myanmar.

During May, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand turned back boats carrying hundreds of refugees and migrants desperate for help, despite the dangers they faced. UNHCR estimates that 300 people died at sea in the first three months of 2015 due to “starvation, dehydration and abuse by boat crews”.

On 20 May Indonesia and Malaysia changed course, announcing that they would provide “temporary shelter” for up to 7,000 people still at sea. However, this temporary protection would only last for up to a year, and on condition that the international community would help with repatriation or resettlement of the people. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have not ratified the UN Refugee Convention.

Elsewhere, a terrible precedent has been set in the region by the Australian government whose hard-line approach to asylum-seekers attempting to arrive by boat has, under the guise of saving lives, violated its responsibilities under refugee and human rights law.

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