Albert, Marlene, Melina, Gilberto and the others
| Guide to International Refugee Law |
How we loved Marlene Dietrich and Melina Mercouri ! How Graça Machel, Rigoberta Menchu and Phan Phuc moved our hearts ! And how Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Gilberto Gil made our spirits soar ! All of these men and women shared so much daring, courage, intelligence and talent. And all, at some point in their lives, were refugees.
Like the millions of Bosnian, Rwandan or Afghan men, women and children who haunt our television screens and the consciences of political authorities, these personalities were once obliged to opt for exile - because of war, because of their ideas, or simply because they belonged to the wrong ethnic group, religion or culture. Some countries opened their doors to them, while others kept them shut. "The boat is full", as they said at the time. "We can't take in everybody", as they explain today.
Nevertheless, in the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution".* Aware that that claim is as pertinent now as it always was, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have decided to jointly publish a handbook on international refugee law. The UNHCR, the agency which assists forcibly displaced persons, and IPU, the world organization of parliaments, are together providing MPs and other government leaders with a working tool that aims to bridge the gap between national legislation and international standards for the protection of refugees. The publication was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and the book was presented at the Ministerial meeting of the States Parties to the 1951 Convention. It will also be given a formal launch at a special ceremony during the IPU Conference in Marrakech.
There is no stock answer to how to cope with emergency humanitarian situations and the resultant flood of refugees seeking new homes in host countries. Or perhaps there is. One solution, as many MPs suggest, would be to "see to it that there are no more refugees". How? By focusing on preventing the conflicts that trigger the refugee flows. Yet, there must be the political will to achieve this goal. Meanwhile, MPs and decision-makers now have a handbook which not only sets out the moral and political parameters and the principles of international law concerning asylum-seekers but, above all, offers practical suggestions on how parliaments and their members can effectively contribute to their implementation. No one knows better how crucial that role is than Mosé Tjitendero, Speaker of the Parliament of Namibia, and himself a former refugee who once had to seek asylum from persecution.
L.B.
*Article 14(1)
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