High Commissioner's Forum
1 October 2004

NGO STATEMENT ON TARGETING DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE TO ACHIEVE DURABLE SOLUTIONS

The NGO community welcomes UNHCR's initiative to stress the importance of Development Assistance for Refugees in the framework of Convention Plus and the interest expressed by several governments, the Danish and the Japanese governments in particular.

Preliminary remarks.

• We notice with great interest that the Issues Paper on Targeting of Development Assistance links the reduction of poverty as expressed in the Millennium Development Goals to the pursuit of durable solutions for refugees, returnees and IDPs. They are often denied the most basic human rights and therefore deserve special attention in the fight against poverty.

• We would also like to recall that refugees, as any other human persons, are the central subject of development and should be active participants and beneficiaries of the right to development. The Agenda for Protection (AfP) clearly lays down the principle of the right to participate in decision-making in all areas of refugee life (Goal 5.7.4 (in general), Goal 6.1.1 (refugee women) and 6.2.1 (refugee children).

• As a general comment, we would like to remind that according to the AfP, refugee issues should be anchored within national, regional and multilateral development agendas (Goal 3.5)

Not only is the involvement of the civil society imperative for durable solutions; durable solutions are also key for the development of the civil society.

Refugees who become dependent on assistance forget what a normal life in a normal society looks like and are often left on their own once they are no longer refugees. This increases the chances of their becoming an economic and / or social burden for the host or home country.

Refugees who are deprived of development oriented solutions risk the loss of their sense of self-esteem and dignity, the chance to solve their own problems, defend their rights and become self-reliant.

As the NGO community, we would like to stress the fact that Development Assistance for Refugees (DAR) and Development through Local Integration (DLI), be it in the host country and / or on return, need an intensive cooperation of all the stakeholders involved: a. the refugees, who will integrate locally, the returnees and the displaced, b. the local population and the (local) authorities, c. the NGOs and the civil society and d. the donor / host governments and UNHCR.

(Re)integration is the basis for a successful implementation of the DAR and DLI idea as it has been lined out in the Convention Plus Issues Paper on Targeting of Development Assistance. It is also a very intensive activity and calls for UNHCR and the development partners to adopt a community-based approach regarding investment in re-integration, as it is mentioned in the AfP Goal 5.3.4.

This is one of the reasons why NGOs, through their mandate and experience, and the civil society in general, are well placed to implement durable solutions - with the resources and support of donors and UNHCR, since the NGO community has built considerable capacity in critical areas of community development and gender and age mainstreaming. Furthermore, the all-important protection of refugees is positively reinforced by a community development approach where refugee communities are empowered to meet their own protection needs (AfP Goal 3.4.)

Closing the funding gap between emergency and development

We recognise the imperative catalytic role UNHCR and other UN agencies play towards the host governments and the donor governments to plan and fund the continuum from emergency response to sustainable development.

Donor governments and UNHCR have an important responsibility to advocate to host governments the implementation of durable solutions.

This means that the respective governments involved have to be convinced that DAR, the 4Rs and DLI are necessary and constructive instruments in the development of their country and of their entire population; that they must be helped to understand that the financial means going to DAR, DLI and the 4Rs are not per se going to decrease the support they already receive from donor states for development at home or for humanitarian programmes. They have to be convinced that investing in integrating and reintegrating refugees, returnees and displaced persons is beneficial for them since it has the potential to turn these groups into agents of development rather than a burden on the society.

Many donor governments see assistance to refugees only as emergency assistance despite the fact that it may persist for years, and development related activities too often as activities to be implemented on the bilateral or multilateral level with the governments of the developing countries and not by NGOs and the civil society.

We believe that closing the gap between emergency and development is key if longstanding refugee situations are to be resolved, both in terms of activities and funding. This means designing creative transitional mechanisms to bridge the gap.

Therefore, we warmly welcome the efforts of the donor governments who have already created 'transitional budgets' that close the funding gap between emergency and development, understanding that cost effective development activities for refugees, such as education, not only primary but also secondary and tertiary education, and increasing the gender balance, are a long term investment with sustainable outcome for all: not only between refugees and host populations but also for North and South in general.

Ensure that proper protection measures are implemented fully.

We would like to express our concern about the fact that the Issues Paper drafted by UNHCR on Targeting of Developing Assistance only touches the protection issue between the lines.

We would like to urge the donor governments that the protection of refugees is and has to remain UNHCR's main mandate and concern, and that adopting a community- based approach throughout the displacement circle can strengthen protection.

In that respect, we welcome the catalytic role that UNHCR is playing to increase the attention for long term sustainable solutions for the refugees and displaced persons and the role the donor governments can play to close the budgetary gap between emergency and development

However, we would like to urge that this should never be at the expense of people's right to seek asylum.

Therefore we urge the donor governments, host governments and UNHCR to pledge additional resources to durable solutions; furthermore, that whether existing or increased levels of resources for this, the clear objective remains PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT, not PROTECTION OR DEVELOPMENT.

We have appreciated the invitation by the High Commissioner to the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) to take part in the meeting chaired by the Danish Permanent Mission in order to participate in the debate on this issue. We would highly appreciate it if the NGO community would be involved in the future development of this DAR strand in the Convention Plus.