Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1refugees042208.html
UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- China has asked "that we desist from harboring North Koreans," the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees L. Craig Johnstone told Inner City Press on Tuesday. "I would expect that the Chinese are ruing the day they ever went along with the Olympics. It's more of a political issue than they would have anticipated."
Asked whether politics, specifically that of South Africa's president Thabo Mbeki, has influenced UNHCR's ruling that those fleeing Zimbabwe are not refugees, Johnstone said no. He said that UNHCR's programs are "colored" by the attitude to the problem by host governments like South Africa.
Inner City Press asked about UNHCR's current involvement in refugee protection controversies in Greece and Liberia. Johnstone reiterated that Greece has many improvements to make in how it handles asylum seekers, and that he does not see merit in their arguments. On Liberia, he said that most of those resisting to the country do so to boost their chances of resettlement in the United States. But only last week, the UN's envoy to Liberia spoke of systematic rape of under-aged girls. Would fleeing from that make one a refugee?
"If the situation in any country, if the internal violence, crosses the threshold, then we assume prima facie that those fleeing are refugees," Johnstone said. He gave Iraq as an example of a country with this status. Inner City Press asked him if the U.S. is doing enough to take in refugees from Iraq. No, he said. He praised the relatively meager goal of 12,000, but said that even that may not be reached, the U.S. is lagged behind the target. Inner City Press ask if UNHCR acknoweldges those fleeing Somalia, often in dangerous and deadly boats to Yemen, are refugees. "That would be a safe assumption," Johnstone answered. He declined the list the countries with this status. "Then you affect things," he said.
Johnstone noted that the UN Department of Safety and Security is "discrete" in its changes to threat levels for a country. This may explain the discrepancy between Yemeni press reports that the UN Development Program has closed or suspended some operations in Sana'a
Ms. Montas responded, "I contacted UNDP about this and they said that, contrary to press reports, the UNDP office in Sana'a has not been closed and UNDP staff continue to go about their work. A security assessment is now under way and all UNDP programs in the country continue to operate and all UNDP project offices outside of Sana'a remain open."
Inner City Press asked, "Is the UNDP compound there MOSS compliant?" This is a required safety status, including such things as sufficient set-back from streets where car bombing is possible.
Ms Montas said, "I don't have that information. We would have to get the information from DSS who, as you know, will not really give specifics on security issues."
And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1refugees042208.html
