U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)

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NGOs Draft Rights-based Conclusion on Self-Reliance:
Ask Your Government to Support it!

A number of NGOs from refugee hosting and donor nations have drafted a rights-based Conclusion on Self-Reliance with equitable international responsibility sharing for consideration at the 2009 session of UNHCR’s Executive Committee. This is the product of extensive discussions over the past few years (see below) and is the successor to the USCRI-RCK draft put forward earlier. It affirms that the rights of refugees to work and freedom of movement are core elements of protection, valid whether any particular durable solution is available or not; that granting these rights does not obligate host countries to naturalize refugees; and that donor countries should shift their aid from wasteful, segregated programs to integrative models that support host countries helping refugees along with their own populations.

USCRI’s President and CEO Lavinia Limón sent a letter September 16, 2008 to the U.S. Department of State encouraging them to consider the draft and to share it with their fellow ExCom members at upcoming meetings in Geneva. If you would like to send a similar letter to influential members of UNHCR's Executive Committee, here’s one you can modify that we will deliver for you.

To check out what folks said about warehousing at ExCom 2008 and the protection Standing Committee meeting in June, go to www.refugees.org/UNDox.