PIA PRUTZ PHIRI,
Madam, - I wish to clarify certain facts misinterpreted in a letter of January 4th from Fachtna O'Reilly. Mr Ruud Lubbers, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has never advocated a limit on the right to seek asylum to one refugee per 1,000 citizens of a country.
This would be contrary to the international refugee principles that the High Commissioner serves to protect. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees all refugees, without limit in number, the right to seek and enjoy asylum.
The High Commissioner said in a recent BBC interview that the global refugee burden could be more effectively spread if asylum hosting countries accepted for "resettlement" as many as one refugee per 1,000 citizens.
Resettlement is a mechanism for protecting refugees facing security problems in their first asylum country. UNHCR assists these refugees to move to countries such as Ireland, which currently operates an annual quota of 10 cases.
Resettlement allows the orderly movement of refugees with specific problems and reduces their reliance on and exposure to the ruthless world of criminal smugglers and traffickers.
The High Commissioner is not proposing a quota system for regular asylum-systems, but rather stressing the need to enhance the global asylum regime through additional solutions.
Europe, contrary to many myths, is not playing host to the world's refugees, only to a fraction. From sheer necessity the majority of refugees flee to a neighbouring country.
Recent statistics show that 86 per cent of the world's refugees originate from developing countries and seven out of every 10 were hosted by non-industrialised countries.
Over 5,490 refugees, some resettled, have been protected by Ireland in recent years from being returned to situations where their lives or liberty are under threat. By hosting refugees, Ireland is sharing the burden of a global problem. In an international comparison of countries hosting persons of concern to UNHCR in 2001 (per 1,000 inhabitants), Ireland ranked 53rd.
Providing asylum always entails a financial cost and UNHCR recognises that this is a concern for governments. Practical solutions to ease the burden while maintaining high standards for protecting refugees are needed. In Europe, for instance, asylum-seekers could be allowed to work rather than being forced to live on the public purse.
A right to work would reduce public expenditure on their welfare, protect asylum-seekers from being unjustly scapegoated for problems that exist in society, and provide an opportunity to contribute to society. - Yours, etc.,
PIA PRÜTZ PHIRI,
Representative,
UNHCR Branch Office,
Fitzwilliam Street Upper,
Dublin 2.