DUSHANBE, June 20, Asia-Plus - Like other countries throughout the world, Tajikistan marks a World Refugee Day today. 

According to the UNHCR Dushanbe Office, a number of cultural activities with participation of refugees will be organized in Dushanbe and Khujand today afternoon.  

The source at the UNHCR Dushanbe Office said that more than 1,000 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan, currently live in Tajikistan.     

Tajikistan has played host to several thousand Afghan refugees.  In 2000, some 4,500 Afghan refugees lived in Tajikistan.  Many of them have returned to their homeland.  Besides, Tajikistan UNHCR has assisted in resettlement of a number of Afghan refugees to Canada.  And some Afghan refugees left Tajikistan for Norway, the Netherlands and the United States.    

In the meantime, the problem of Afghan refugees illegally living in Dushanbe remains unsolved.  

We will recall that by capital mayor’s resolution of June 8 Afghan refugees illegally living in Dushanbe were given ten days to leave the capital city for Tajik regions, where they have registration.  The same day, a group of Afghan female refugees appealed to the UNHCR Dushanbe Office asking for providing observance of their rights and some 30 Afghan refugees gathered in the building of the UNHCR Dushanbe Office, seeking support. 

Tajik MFA said that in accordance with Tajikistan’s laws on refugees and legal status of foreign citizens in Tajikistan, foreign citizens or persons having refugee status should live in places where they have registration.  “However, the results of recent raids have shown that the majority of Afghan refugees registered in the regions are currently living and working in Dushanbe,” the source said, noting that the resolution requiring them to leave Dushanbe for the places of registration does not hurt their rights.  

Meanwhile, Afghanistan.ru reported on June 9 that the Afghan refugees living in Tajikistan said that Tajik authorities’ decision to resettle them is unfriendly aimed at forcing them to move out of Dushanbe.   According to the Afghan female refugees, there are no schools or hospitals, and no jobs in the regions where their families are registered, raising a real threat of starvation to their children. 

For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks.  One of the most widespread is Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated on 20 June in several countries.

As an expression of solidarity with Africa, which hosts the most refugees, and which traditionally has shown them great generosity, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 55/75 on December 4, 2000.  In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June. The Assembly therefore decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. 

The refugee challenge in the 21st century is changing rapidly. People are forced to flee their homes for increasingly complicated and interlinked reasons.  Some 40 million people worldwide are already uprooted by violence and persecution, and it is likely that the future will see more people on the run as a growing number of push factors compound one another to create conditions for further forced displacement.

Today people do not just flee persecution and war but also injustice, exclusion, environmental pressures, competition for scarce resources and all the miserable human consequences of dysfunctional states.

The task facing the international community in this new environment is to find ways to unlock the potential of refugees who have so much to offer if they are given the opportunity to regain control over their lives.

There are three ways the UN Refugee Agency is this goal a reality: it protects, it builds and it advocates.  First, it protects refugee rights to safety, shelter and health, focusing special attention on the most vulnerable people, particularly women and girls.  Second, it works with its partners to build the capacity of refugees to fend for themselves once they are able to do so.  And it works hard to find solutions so that refugees become self-sufficient as soon as possible.  Third, it advocates to draw attention to the plight of refugees and to raise the money necessary to get the job done.  Its goal is to persuade people that it is its common responsibility to make a difference for those forced to pick-up and go through no fault of their own.