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UNHCR/ 2010 REVIEW
STORY: UNHCR/ 2010 REVIEW
SOURCE: UNHCR
TRT: 4.08
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL 25 DECEMBER 2010
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 23 DECEMBER 2010, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND/ FILE
FILE – 2010, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Various shots, destroyed buildings
FILE – 2010, AFGOOYE CORRIDOR, SOMALIA
2. Various shots, IDPs arriving
3. Various shots, children eating
23 DECEMBER 2010, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres High Commissioner for Refugees:
“I think that there is clearly a shrinking of the humanitarian space. Before, humanitarians were respected, now, sometimes they even become targets. There is growing insecurity. There is lack of access. Sometimes we know terrible things are happening, people are suffering enormously, but we cannot get there and this is probably the most dramatic problem we face.”
FILE – 2010, GREECE
5. Various shots, Coast guard taking out of the water a dead body of a
migrant
6. Various shots, Young migrants sneaking into a truck, Patras Greece
23 DECEMBER 2010, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres High Commissioner for Refugees:
“We see an economic and a financial crisis with an impact in the employment, with an impact in the living conditions, lots of concerns, societies being closed, looking inwards. Let’s not forget that there are people suffering even more than those that are affected by crisis in my
country, or in Ireland, or in Greece or Spain. We have people that have lost everything. We have people that badly need protection and support. Let’s find the solidarity that is necessary to show them, that we will not forget them”
FILE – 2010, PAKISTAN
8. Various shots, flood
9. Aerial shot, bottles of water being thrown by helicopter to flood
victims
10. Aerial shot, flood victim on rooftop surrounded by water
11. Various shots, flood victims
12. Tracking shot, flood victims using cabin car over the river
13. Various shots, UNHCR delivering items on rafts
14. Various shots, flood victim inside mud filled home
FILE – 2010, KYRGYZSTAN
15. Various shots, Kyrgyz refugees crossing border
16. Various shots, destroyed house
FILE – 2010, AFGHANISTAN
17. Various shots, Afghan refugees on the move
In 2010 The Horn of Africa continued to be one of the world’s major trouble spots. There are more displaced people here than anywhere else. Mogadishu is increasingly becoming a deserted city.
In less than three years, the Afgooye Corridor has grown into a city of 400,000 displaced people fleeing war.
SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres High Commissioner for Refugees:
“I think that there is clearly a shrinking of the humanitarian space. Before, humanitarians were respected, now, sometimes they even become targets. There is growing insecurity. There is lack of access. Sometimes we know terrible things are happening, people are suffering enormously, but we cannot get there and this is probably the most dramatic problem we face.”
Globally there are 43 million forcibly displaced people, the majority under UNHCR’s duty of care, including 15.2 million refugees, 27.1 million internally displaced and 983,000 asylum seekers.
In Europe, Greece saw a significant influx of migrants and asylum seekers from Sudan, Afghanistan, or Somalia.
Since the beginning of the year, over 44,000 have come from Turkey. Tragically some never made it alive.
Others try to be smuggled on transport trucks that can get them onto the ships. They hide under the carriage or the wheels, all in the hope of getting onto a ferry that will cross over to Italy.
SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres High Commissioner for Refugees:
“We see an economic and a financial crisis with an impact in the employment, with an impact in the living conditions, lots of concerns, societies being closed, looking inwards. Let’s not forget that there are people suffering even more than those that are affected by crisis in my
country, or in Ireland, or in Greece or Spain. We have people that have lost everything. We have people that badly need protection and support. Let’s find the solidarity that is necessary to show them, that we will not forget them”
The biggest natural disaster of the year was the floods in Pakistan. The rains brought misery to the lives of over 14 million people. People fled to higher ground to escape the waters.
UNHCR relief operations provided shelter, food and water, sometimes in most unusual ways. This river crossing operation transported supplies to hundreds of stranded families.
More than 248,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and 1.38 million acres (558,000 hectares) of cropland flooded across the country.
Violence in mid June in southern Kyrgyzstan forced an estimated 400,000 people to flee their homes, some within the country, and others to Uzbekistan.
Homes and businesses were destroyed and at least 300 people were killed in the inter-ethnic clashes in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad.
In 2010 Afghanistan accounted for one out of every four refugees. Iraqis were second with 1.8 million living in neighbouring states. These numbers mean that over four fifths of refugees live in developing countries.
On a positive note, UNHCR submitted a record 128,000 individuals for resettlement in third countries, the highest level in 16 years. Most will be going to the United States, Canada or Australia.
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