Whose Security?

1 General Assembly Resolution 428 (V), New York, 12 December 1950.

2 `International protection signifies, at a minimum, ensuring respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms that the refugee is unable to secure from the country of origin.' Erin Mooney, `In-Country Protection: Out of Bounds for UNHCR?', in Frances Nicholson & Patrick Twomey, eds, Refugee Rights and Reality: Evolving International Concepts and Regimes (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 200-201.

3 UNHCR's total expenditures were $497 million in 1980, $545 million in 1988 and $1,145 million in 1996; the revised budget at 30 May 2000 was $955.5 million (http://www.unhcr.ch/fdrs/main.htm).

4 Arthur Helton, `UNHCR and Protection in the 90s', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 6, no. 1, 1994, pp. 1-5, on p. 1.

5 Guy Goodwin-Gill, `Refugee Identity and Protection's Fading Prospect', in Nicholson & Twomey (note 2 above), p. 224.

6 Gil Loescher, Refugee Movements and International Security, Adelphi Paper 268, IISS (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992); Nana Poku & David Graham, eds, Redefining Security: Population Movements and National Security (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998); Myron Weiner, ed., International Migration and Security (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1993).

7 Adam Roberts, `More Refugees, Less Asylum: A Regime in Transformation', Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, December 1998, pp. 375-395. Displacement was also cited among the Security Council's reasons for declaring the situation in East Timor a threat to peace and security: Security Council Resolution 1264, 15 September 1999.

8 The question of imported labour is less about economic security (safeguarding jobs) than about `societal' security (safeguarding cultural identity). However, recent events, such as the tragic death of 58 illegal Chinese immigrants in Dover (`The Last Frontier', The Economist, 24 June 2000, p. 37), together with pro-migration economic arguments (`Go For It: Europe Needs More Immigrants', The Economist, 6 May 2000), have reopened the debate on the EU's restrictive immigration policies.

9 UNHCR, `Indicative Number of Refugees, 1989-1998', in Refugees and Others of Concern to UNHCR: 1998 Statistical Overview (Geneva: UNHCR, July 1999), pp. 19-23; UNHCR, The State of the World's Refugees: A Humanitarian Agenda (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 54.

10 Refugee movements are still primarily a regionally contained rather than a global problem. For example, refugee numbers in Western Europe have fluctuated yearly since 1992, with a low of 1 million in 1995 and a high of 2 million in 1996. A significant part of this fluctuation is explained by regional (European) refugee movements, predominantly from the Balkans; UNHCR, `Indicative Number of Refugees' (note 9 above), pp. 21-22.

11 Security Council Summit Meeting S/23500, New York, 31 January 1992.

12 UNHCR, `The Humanitarian Debate: Context and Contents', Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 1, 1998, pp. vi-xvi, on p. xi.

13 UNHCR, UNHCR Global Report 1999 (Geneva: UNHCR, 2000), p. 19, available at http://www.unhcr.ch/fdrs/gr99/toc.htm.

14 Rosemary Preston, `Researching Repatriation and Reconstruction: Who Is Researching What and Why?', in Richard Black & Khalid Koser, eds, The End of the Refugee Cycle? Refugee Repatriation and Reconstruction (Oxford: Berghahn, 1999), p. 19.

15 UNHCR, `Total Refugee Returns During 1998, 1997 and Earlier', in 1998 Statistical Overview (note 9 above), p. 27.

16 Sadako Ogata, Statement on the Occasion of the Inter-Governmental Consultation on Asylum, Refugee and Migration Policies in Europe, North America and Australia, The Hague, 17-18 November 1994, available at http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/unhcr/hcspeech/menu.htm.

17 Stephen Walt, `The Renaissance of Security Studies', International Studies Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 2, June 1991, pp. 211-239, on p. 212.

18 Barry Buzan, Ole Wæver & Jaap de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis (London: Lynne Rienner, 1998); Thomas Homer-Dixon, `Environmental Scarcities and Violent Conflict: Evidence from Cases', International Security, vol. 19, no. 1, Summer 1994, pp. 5-40; Theodore Moran, `International Economics and National Security', Foreign Affairs, vol. 69, no. 5, Winter 1990, pp. 74-90.

19 Ole Wæver, Barry Buzan, Morten Kelstrup & Pierre Lemaitre, Identity, Migration and the New Security Agenda in Europe (London: Pinter, 1993).

20 Loescher (note 6 above), p. 3.

21 Ken Booth, `Security and Emancipation', Review of International Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, October 1991, pp. 313-326; David Graham & Nana Poku, eds, Migration, Globalisation and Human Security (London: Routledge, 2000); Keith Krause & Michael Williams, eds, Critical Security Studies: Concepts and Cases (London: UCL Press, 1997); Astri Suhrke, `Human Security and the Interests of States', Security Dialogue, vol. 30, no. 3, September 1999, pp. 265-276.

22 See B. S. Chimni, `The Geopolitics of Refugee Studies: A View from the South', Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 11, no. 4, December 1998, pp. 350-373, on pp. 366-368.

23 UNHCR (note 13 above), pp. 36-39.

24 On UNHCR's navigation between state interests and refugee rights, see Goodwin-Gill (note 5 above), pp. 221-223.

25 Speeches and reports are posted on UNHCR's website at http://www.unhcr.ch.

26 The three issues are subtitled The Challenge of Protection (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993), In Search of Solutions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) and A Humanitarian Agenda (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

27 Sadako Ogata, Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to the Third Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations, New York, 12 November 1999 (emphasis in the original).

28 UNHCR (note 13 above), p. 19.

29 Sadako Ogata, Human Security: A Refugee Perspective, keynote speech at the ministerial meeting on human security issues of the `Lysoen Process' group of governments, Bergen, Norway, 19 May 1999.

30 UNHCR, The State of the World's Refugees: In Search of Solutions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 43.

31 UNDP, Human Development Report (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).

32 UNHCR, `The Humanitarian Debate' (note 12 above), p. xi.

33 Quoted in UNHCR, `The Humanitarian Debate' (note 12 above), p. xi.

34 Karen Jacobsen with Steven Wilkinson, `Refugee Movements as Security Threats in Sub-Saharan Africa', in Weiner (note 6 above), p. 213.

35 UNHCR, UNHCR Strategy Towards 2000 (Geneva: UNHCR, 1996/97), available on UNHCR's CD-ROM RefWorld.

36 Sadako Ogata, Assuring the Security of People: The Humanitarian Challenge of the 21st Century, Olof Palme Memorial Lecture, Stockholm, 14 June 1995.

37 Kinhide Mushakoji, quoted in Ellen Lammers, Refugees, Gender, and Human Security: A Theoretical Introduction and Annotated Bibliography (Utrecht: International Books, 1999), p. 55.

38 Sadako Ogata, `The Right to Remain', Refugees, no. 92, April 1993, p. 11. See also Michael Barutciski, `The Reinforcement of Non-Admission Policies and the Subversion of UNHCR: Displacement and Internal Assistance in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-94)', International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 8, no. 1/2, 1996, pp. 49-110, on pp. 95-102.

39 Sadako Ogata, Opening Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the Fiftieth Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Geneva, 4 October 1999.

40 UNHCR, The Kosovo Refugee Crisis: An Independent Evaluation of UNHCR's Emergency Preparedness and Response (Geneva: UNHCR, February 2000), pp. vi, 36-39.

41 Sadako Ogata, Briefing at the Formal Session of the Security Council. Agenda Item: `Promoting Peace and Security: Humanitarian Assistance to Refugees in Africa', New York, 26 July 1999.