[humantraffic-vn] AT-RISK REFUGEES GAIN TEMPORARY SANCTUARY IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER AGREEMENT WITH UN

[Vern Weitzel]

Subject: AT-RISK REFUGEES GAIN TEMPORARY SANCTUARY IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER 
AGREEMENT WITH UN
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 14:05:20 -0400
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
Reply-To: unnews at un.org
To: <news3 at secint00.un.org>

AT-RISK REFUGEES GAIN TEMPORARY SANCTUARY IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER AGREEMENT WITH UN
New York, Sep  1 2009  2:05PM
The Philippines has become only the second country in the world to be formally 
designated as a transit country for at-risk refugees on their way to 
resettlement elsewhere under an agreement reached by the United Nations and the 
Asian nation.

The pact, signed last week in Manila by the Philippine Government, the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (<"http://www.unhcr.org/4a9be1526.html">UNHCR) and the 
International Organization for Migration (IOM), means individual refugees in 
danger will be able to find a temporary haven in the Philippines while en route 
to resettlement in a third country.

Under the agreement, the refugees may stay in the Philippines for up to six 
months before they are resettled elsewhere. A similar deal with UNHCR was struck 
with Romania in March this year.

Raymond Hall, UNHCR’s regional coordinator for South-East Asia, praised the 
Philippines for setting what he described as “the protection benchmark in Asia.” 
The country is one of the few in its region to have signed the 1951 Refugee 
Convention.

“It is providing significant space for individual refugees who otherwise would 
be in danger of refoulement [forced return to a country where a person faces 
possible persecution] or of other serious threats to their well-being,” he said. 
“This will allow the onward resettlement process to be completed without such 
pressures and in a way that assures adequate protection.”

UNHCR says it expects that it will mainly be refugees from other Asian countries 
who will be evacuated to the Philippines as a result of the agreement, but 
vulnerable people from other regions can also be sent there.
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