Durable Solutions for Developing Country Refugees

“Refugee problems demand durable solutions” is the opening statement of the Principles for Action in Developing Countries adopted by the 1984 Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In fact, in most refugee situations no such demand is made. Those same Principles weakened the demand for durable solutions 2 by labelling third country resettlement as “the least desirable and most costly solution” and by indicating that when “voluntary repatriation is not immediately feasible” it is sufficient to provide only “temporary settlement” for the refugees. This article seeks to provide some background to recent changes in refugee problems that have impeded the attainment of durable solutions and to explore some of the difficulties and possibilities for durable solutions in developing countries in the eighties. 2 In stating a belief that the Principles weakened the demand for durable solutions I do not mean to imply or suggest any flagging of commitment or effort by the High Commissioner or his staff. There is, however, a difference between the staff and administration of UNHCR and its Executive Committee comprised of sovereign governments. The Executive Committee by ranking durable solutions in priority order, particularly be labellingone solution as “the least desirable”, has provided ample excuses for those governments inclined to reject all durable solutions other than voluntary repatriation and to offer only temporary rather than durable solutions.