Brussels, 20/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European commissioners for home affairs and humanitarian aid, Cecilia Malmström and Kristalina Georgieva respectively, celebrated World Refugee Day on Monday 20 June and pointed out that in 2011 the day was not particularly auspicious given the current circumstances due to the increasing number of displaced persons and refugees provoked by the different conflicts in Libya and Syria.
The two commissioners point out that at the end of 2010, the number of refugees and displaced persons exceeded 42.5 million; 44 million refugees according to the UN High Commission and 257,800 people seeking asylum in the EU. In 2010, 55,100 asylum seekers had received a positive opinion on their asylum in the EU and could benefit from refugee status, subsidiary protection or another kind of “humanitarian” protection.
The two commissioners also point out in their joint declaration that more than 1 million people have fled Libya since the beginning of the war. Malmström and Georgieva also mention the displaced persons following clashes in Côte d'Ivoire, Yemen and Southeast Asia, particularly Burma and Bangladesh.
World Refugee Day provides an opportunity for the EU27 to renew their commitments, explained the Malmström and Georgieva. The forthcoming EU27 summit on Thursday and Friday (23- 24 June) in Brussels will have immigration on its agenda and member states are also expected to make a commitment on the question of the common European asylum regime by the end of 2012, as they had previously done and for which they have to step up their mutual efforts. The two commissioners again highlight the fact in their press release that providing asylum is an obligation. Once again they call on member states to help third countries take in people displaced from Libya and demonstrate their solidarity by setting up reinstallation programmes and preventing these displaced persons having to go to countries where they would be persecuted.
On 20 June, the HCR also published a study highlighting World Refugee Day. This study points out that in 2010 “43.7 million people were uprooted throughout the world”, which almost equalled “the population of Columbia or that of South Korea”. This figure has increased on that for 2009 (43.3 million) and is turning out to be the highest for the last 15 years. It includes 15.6 million refugees, 27.5 million internally displaced persons and almost 850,000 asylum seekers. The HCR also explains that contrary to commonly perceived opinions, 80% of these 43.7 million displaced persons were located in developing countries. (S.P./transl.fl)