UN highlighted Argentina for its treatment of refugees and displaced persons

The number of refugees and internally displaced people continued to increase in 2020, reaching a new record. Despite the pandemic, 82.4 million people have been forced to flee due to wars, violence, persecution, hunger and human rights violations. This is data from the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, which presented the report on global trends in forced displacement on Friday in Geneva.

Globally, this was 4% more than the 79.5 million figure recorded in 2019. This is the ninth consecutive year of increase, and more than double the figure of ten years ago . At UNHCR, they warn that this is the biggest humanitarian crisis in history since World War II.

In Argentina, in December of last year, the population of interest to UNHCR reached 185,342. Of this total, there are 3,988 refugees, the main nationalities of which are Colombian, Peruvian and Syrian. Another 9,247 are asylum seekers and 448 entered the country through the Syria program. There were also 171,659 internationally displaced people from Venezuela.

“The numbers have remained stable in Argentina and we don’t expect there to be an increase. The country has a tradition of offering hospitality and generosity to migrants and refugees, ”said Juan Carlos Murillo, UNHCR regional representative for southern Latin America, in dialogue with El Uncover.

Murillo emphasizes that refugees “contribute with their culture, knowledge and skills, if we give them the opportunity, they can become agents of change and development”.

“In Argentina, we are seeing how refugees have helped mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic, on the front lines of the fight against covid as nurses or in the delivery industry,” says Murillo.

In Argentina, anyone, regardless of their country of origin, can request refuge because there are no restrictions on the origin of people. The UNHCR representative underlined that the country is recognized regionally and globally as “at the forefront with high human rights standards in its regulations for refugees”, and that it also ” implemented important projects to integrate them ”.

It is worth highlighting the implementation of a Solidarity Cities project, reception programs for refugees from countries in humanitarian crisis and the inauguration this Friday of the Integration Center for Migrants and Refugees, a new space that will operate. in the Once district. It is a joint initiative of the Human Rights Secretariat and the National Directorate of Migration, with technical support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNHCR and funding from the Union. European.

“We are delighted to join and strongly support this initiative. We believe that this action is extremely valuable, as it allows us to provide advice and information, and in turn constitutes a space of protection and containment that allows refugees and migrants to fully and effectively access their rights ” , he said in the presentation Juan Carlos. Murillo.

On March 5, President Alberto Fernández canceled the changes to the immigration law made in 2017 by the Macri government, deeming them “irreconcilable with the national constitution and with the international system for the protection of human rights”. This decision was celebrated by the United Nations, through a joint communication from the Committee of Migrant Workers (CMW), the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Committee against Torture (CAT).

Regarding the situation in southern Latin America, 694,199 people have been registered in the countries covered by the UNHCR regional office (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay).

The UNHCR survey also indicates that by 2020, at the height of the pandemic, more than 160 countries had closed their borders, 99 of which made no exceptions for people who wanted to seek protection.

Globally, girls and boys under 18 make up 42 percent of all forcibly displaced people, according to official data from the United Nations agency.

“These are figures of a truly dramatic situation. This should call us to think, “Murillo tells this outlet, and warns that” if we had not had the pandemic, the figure could be even higher and if the trend continues, we could reach 100 million people displaced in the world ”.

More than two-thirds of all refugees and internally displaced persons came from just five countries: Syria (6.7 million), Venezuela (4.0 million), Afghanistan (2.6 million), South Sudan (2.2 million) and Myanmar (1.1 million). Most have sought refuge in neighboring countries, so low- and middle-income countries continue to host the largest numbers of refugees.

For the seventh year in a row, the report points out, Turkey hosted the highest number of refugees (3.7 million), followed by Colombia (1.7 million, including Venezuelans displaced abroad), Pakistan (1.4 million), Uganda (1.4 million) and Germany (1.2 million).

World Refugee Day

As part of the activities that UNHCR will carry out this Sunday to commemorate World Refugee Day, an artistic piece will be launched which “invites us to listen, to know and to recognize the reality and the identity of refugees”, composed by the Argentinian musician Santiago Vazquez, based on the recording of the voices and sounds of refugees in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay

Under the slogan “Listening can change the world”, this experience can be seen as part of the Jam Festival 2021 online event, as well as various artistic actions from the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean.