PRESS STATEMENT ON WORLD REFUGEE DAY – 20 JUNE

"A PLACE TO CALL HOME: REBUILDING LIVES IN SAFETY AND DIGNITY"

DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights would like to join the rest of the World in commemorating World Refugee Day on 20 June 2004. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Refugee Day is celebrated every year to “salute the indomitable spirit and courage” of the world's refugees and internally displaced persons. This year’s theme is "A place to call home: Rebuilding lives in safety and dignity".

World Refugee Day 2004 calls on all partners concerned in refugee issues to renew their commitment to solving refugee issues by finding and implementing durable solutions to their plight. Such durable solutions will help them to find a place where they can rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.

Figures from UNHCR indicate that there are approximately 3.3 million refugees in Africa and 12.5 million internally displaced persons. In Botswana, the refugee population is approximately 2,800. Refugees are from countries which include Namibia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

In 2000, Botswana ratified the United Nations (UN) International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) in which it undertook to protect the fundamental rights of all individuals within its territory regardless of their nationality or statelessness. This includes asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers. Botswana has also ratified the OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (1969), The UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and its Protocol, and the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. In all these international instruments, Botswana undertook to provide protection to persons who have sought refuge within her borders. In addition, Botswana is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in which it has undertaken to ensure the protection of the rights of each child within (its) jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind (Article 2).

The OAU Convention, recognises the need to alleviate the suffering faced by refugees and to provide them with a better life and future. Based on this year’s theme, UNHCR hopes to encourage hosting Countries to view refugees as economic assets with skills which could be harnessed in the development of the host country. This will only be possible through local integration of refugees, allowing them to become self-reliant and therefore reducing their dependence on handouts.

DITSHWANELO calls on the Government of Botswana to take steps towards reforming refugee legislation in Botswana to provide for the integration of refugees. This would be in line with the current international developments for sustainable refugee protection. This should be based on the recognition of the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all human beings.

“Refugees are unwilling pawns in a game over which they have no control. For whatever reason – usually persecution or conflict – they have been presented with the stark choice of either facing death and destruction or fleeing their homes and communities. Forced to accept the latter option, they find themselves uprooted and living in an alien environment that, while certainly safer than the one from which they have escaped, cannot in anyway be thought of as ‘home’.” UNHCR 2004.

18 June 2004
Gaborone