DUSHANBE, June 21, 2008, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan is among the countries that have successfully tackled problems of their refugees, Mr. Ilija Todorovic, Head of the UNHCR Office in Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus on June 20.
According to him, the new statistics showed globally there were 11.4 million refugees outside their countries and 26 million others displaced internally by conflict or persecution at the end of 2007. He noted that after a five-year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, this is the second year of increases in refugees and displaced people.
Touching upon the issue of countries in which refugees found asylum, Mr. Todorovic that the most densely refugee-populated countries are Iran and Pakistan that granted asylum to Afghans. They are followed by Jordan, Syria and Germany, granting asylum to many refugees from Iraq.
“Even in Tajikistan, there are several hundreds of refugees seeking permanent residence here,” the UNHCR Tajik Office head said, noting that there all categories of displaced persons in Tajikistan.
He added that Tajikistan is the first country in Central Asia to accede to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which is the key legal document in defining who is a refugee, their rights and the legal obligations of states. Tajikistan was also the first country in the region to adopt national refugee legislation.
Speaking about motives of granting a refugee status, he said that they are connected with well-founded fears of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
“At present, in connection with global warming and climate change a new notion “refugee by reason of natural cataclysms” has appeared,” Mr. Todorovic said.
He noted that the UNHCR Office in Tajikistan has worked for 16 years, helping people displaced by the civil war to return home as well as assisting refugees.
June 20 is World Refugee Day, and across the globe, in the 116 countries where UNHCR works, staff, refugees and humanitarian partners were involved in a huge range of activities to mark the occasion.
Mr. Todorovic said that World Refugee Days was marked in the city of Vahdat Friday morning together with refugees who feel themselves here like at home. “It is sad that there are refugees,” said he. “It would be good if all people could live in their country of origin.” “And the day, when our office is closed, will mean that there no refugees any more here and the system works perfectly,” the UNHCR Tajik Office head concluded.
