By 1997 the massive humanitarian crises that arose during the first half of the 1990s had largely abated, although longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts continued on behalf of the people uprooted by those events. Overall, the world’s refugee population decreased from 15.5 million in 1996 to 13.2 million in 1997. Similarly, the overall population of concern to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) fell to some 22.7 million, representing one out of every 255 people on Earth. Of this figure, in addition to the 13.2 million refugees, 3.3 million were returnees, 4.9 million were internally displaced persons (persons in a refugee-like situation but who had not crossed an international border), and 1.4 million were others of humanitarian concern, mainly victims of conflict. UNHCR continued to implement its distinctive international protection mandate in respect to those persons, which involved safeguarding and developing principles of refugee protection, strengthening international commitments, and promoting durable solutions, be they in the form of voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement.
More than two million refugees returned to their countries of origin in the latter half of 1996 and the first half of 1997, which highlighted the fact that repatriation is the preferred solution for many of the world’s refugees. Often, however, they returned to fragile or unstable situations.
The Great Lakes region of Africa, where more than two million Rwandans and Burundians fled their countries in 1994, remained a major focus of humanitarian concern. The events in former Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Congo [Kinshasa]) during the first months of 1997 led to the return of Rwandan refugees from that country to their homeland. Locating refugees after they dispersed from camps in eastern Zaire became a predominant objective early in the year. In spite of the harsh conditions and the ongoing conflict, tens of thousands of refugees were found surviving in the surrounding forests, living in dismal conditions. Repatriation operations were mounted, using all means available, and some 180,000 of these refugees were returned to Rwanda. Though more than 860,000 Rwandan refugees were returned to Rwanda in the last half of 1996 and in 1997, thousands remained away from their homeland, spread among 10 countries in the region, while up to 190,000 more remained unaccounted for. The forced repatriation of several hundred Rwandan refugees in August and September 1997 from countries in the region raised great concern and caused UNHCR to suspend its operations on behalf of Rwandan refugees in the Congo (Kinshasa). In Rwanda itself the country was struggling with the aftermath of the Hutu-Tutsi conflict while trying to absorb the estimated 2.8 million refugees who had returned since 1994. At the end of 1997, some 74,000 Congolese (former Zairian) refugees remained in Tanzania, although their gradual repatriation was under way. There were also large groups of Burundian refugees in Tanzania and the Congo (Kinshasa). Their return was contingent on the restoration of stability in Burundi.
In southern Africa the violence that not so long ago had permeated the region was replaced by relative peace, stability, and national reconciliation. The implementation of the 1994 peace accord that ended 20 years of civil war in Angola raised hopes that the more than 300,000 refugees currently outside the country could begin returning home in the near future, this being the largest remaining refugee population in the region. Despite setbacks in the peace process, as of mid-1997 a total of some 96,000 refugees had spontaneously returned to Angola.
In western Africa renewed violence in Sierra Leone delayed the planned repatriation of some 375,000 refugees, who, for the most part, had sought asylum in Guinea and Liberia. The coup on May 25 in Freetown resulted in the outflow of an additional 38,000 refugees into those neighbouring countries. In Liberia the peace process made progress. The successful disarmament and demobilization exercise conducted in February and the holding of legislative and presidential elections in July were expected to lead to the return of the more than 500,000 Liberian refugees who were living in Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria and thus bring to an end one of the worst civil wars on the African continent. In Western Sahara renewed efforts to reinvigorate the United Nations Settlement Plan were beginning to reinstill hope that this long-standing dispute could be resolved peacefully and allow for some 165,000 refugees to return to their homeland.
During the first half of 1997 in the Horn of Africa and eastern Africa, a region emerging from years of prolonged conflict, approximately 7,000 Ethiopian refugees returned home from The Sudan and more than 7,000 Somali refugees were repatriated from eastern Ethiopia to northwestern Somalia. The onset of the rainy season, however, postponed further returns until later in the year. The return of more than 320,000 Eritrean refugees from The Sudan, however, was delayed by a stalemate in discussions over the procedures to be followed for their repatriation.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina the guns had fallen silent following the signing of the Dayton Accords in December 1995. More than 250,000 people had by mid-1997 settled or resettled in areas where their ethnic group was in the majority, by far the largest numbers coming from Germany. The return of ethnic minorities to their former homes, however, continued to be difficult. UNHCR, the lead agency for humanitarian operations in former Yugoslavia, was attempting to overcome the persistent obstacles to the return of displaced persons and refugees to these so-called minority areas by launching an "Open Cities" initiative, whereby towns and areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina were invited to declare their readiness to accept the return of former inhabitants, regardless of their origins. A number of towns and areas responded favourably, but significant progress was slow. The return of refugees to Croatia was also negligible, despite commitments established between the government of Croatia, UNHCR, and the United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja, and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) to accelerate movements into and out of Krajina and Eastern and Western Slavonia.
Elsewhere in Europe negotiations were under way on the conflict between Georgia and its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which had displaced an estimated 38,000 persons from Georgia, forcing them to seek asylum in Russia. In the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, legislation to address refugee flows and migratory movements affecting an estimated nine million persons was beginning to be fostered. In Central Europe during the first half of 1997, some 31,000 Albanian refugees fled unrest and uncertainty in the country, seeking temporary asylum in Italy and Greece. Many later returned to Albania following the deployment of a Multinational Protection Force and moves by the authorities in Albania to restore stability to the country. In Western Europe the number of people seeking asylum continued to decline, partly as a result of stricter visa requirements, reinforced border controls, and, in some countries, restricted social benefits. The rate of recognition of those who were applying for refugee status dropped from 42% in 1984 to some 10% by the mid-1990s. New applications for asylum declined nearly 10% in 1996 from a year earlier.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the subsequent 18 years of civil war led to the uprooting of more than six million Afghans, one-third of the nation’s population. Afghan refugees constituted the largest refugee caseload of concern to UNHCR, with 1.4 million persons in Iran and 1.2 million in Pakistan. In addition, up to one million persons were displaced inside the country, most of them since 1993. Between Oct. 1, 1996, and May 1, 1997, more than a quarter of a million people were displaced within Afghanistan or became refugees in Pakistan; approximately 80% of them had left Kabul for a variety of reasons, including fear of persecution by the new conservative faction that controlled much of the nation and its prohibition on women’s working outside the home and receiving education. Despite the ongoing conflict, several thousand refugees returned to areas of relative safety in Afghanistan, mainly rural regions.
Afghanistan also had served as host to some 60,000 Tajik refugees who had fled the 1992-93 civil war in Tajikistan. Most of them had returned to their homeland by mid-1997, about 20,000 remaining in northern Afghanistan. The peace talks in Tajikistan, initiated in the first quarter of 1997, were aimed at improving political and security conditions in that nation and served as an encouragement for higher levels of repatriation.
In Southeast Asia the recent power struggle in Cambodia overshadowed the successful operations with respect to refugees in the region. In July and August some 28,000 Cambodians fled renewed fighting in Cambodia, crossing the border into Thailand. More than 3,000 of them later returned voluntarily despite the precarious conditions at the border area. Following the conclusion of the Comprehensive Plan of Action in June 1996, more than 24,000 Vietnamese boat people returned to Vietnam in late 1996 and the first half of 1997. Some 1,700 Vietnamese remained in Hong Kong after the transfer of the territory to Chinese sovereignty on July 1. In Myanmar (Burma) more than 220,000 Muslim refugees from Rakhine state, who had fled their country in late 1991 and 1992, returned to their homes. Some 21,000 remained in camps in Bangladesh, pending discussions between the two nations on possible solutions to their plight. Elsewhere in Asia more than 90,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese origin remained stranded in southeastern Nepal after having been uprooted from their country in 1991 and 1992. Renewed military activities in Sri Lanka caused large-scale internal displacement in the north of the country. More than 500,000 persons were forced to flee by the fighting, and some 8,000 arrived in India, the first outflow of people from Sri Lanka in recent years.
New waves of internal displacement in Colombia, caused by the actions of leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups and security forces, caused increased concern in the region. As many as one million persons were estimated to be internally displaced in Colombia. The numbers seeking refuge across international borders were, however, negligible, owing in part to the rugged terrain in that part of the country. Guatemalan refugees, approximately 38,000 of whom remained in camps and settlements in Mexico, continued to return to their country.
In North America recent changes in immigration laws placed new requirements and limitations on asylum seekers. Stricter deadlines for filing applications and tighter control of ports of entry were among new initiatives to discourage illegal immigration. Despite these tendencies toward further restrictions on immigration, the United States and Canada were increasing their efforts to address the issues of requests for asylum by those who had suffered from sexual violence and from discrimination based on gender.
This article updates population.