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United Nations

Priority Policy Recommendations
Somalia
UNHCR must take on a stronger advocacy role with host governments to ensure the implementation of basic human rights in urban areas, particularly access to schools and jobs.
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DR Congo
UNHCR and the governments of the DRC and Rwanda should ensure that the tripartite technical working group seeks full transparency regarding the nationality of populations moving into the Kivus from Rwanda.
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DR Congo
OCHA, UNHCR, and MONUC must take a strong leadership role to ensure that assistance and protection is provided to the displaced where they are now, and to mitigate the push for non-voluntary returns.
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DR Congo
The UN Security Council should ensure that any discussions of MONUC drawdown are based on reasonable benchmarks and that the mission maintain the capacity for rapid reaction and political monitoring to respond to future crises in western DRC.  
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DR Congo
MONUC and international donors should support the Congolese government to address the long-standing grievances between the Boba and Lobala tribes and implement a comprehensive reconciliation and dialogue process in collaboration with local civil society organizations.
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Sudan
The UN, non-governmental organizations and donor governments in north and south Sudan must urgently draw up coherent contingency plans for possible conflict around the 2011 referendum. The recently started planning process led by the Humanitarian Country Team in the south must be accompanied by and coordinated with a similar process in the north, and donors must be willing to provide flexible funding for a quick response.
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Iraq
The UN and the U.S. should review and adapt their security measures in Iraq to allow staff greater freedom of movement and access to vulnerable communities.
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Iraq
The U.S. and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) should urge the Government of Iraq to create a process for IDPs to voluntarily integrate into the local communities in which they have been displaced.
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Haiti
The current UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti should be mandated to lead the Humanitarian Country Team.
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Afghanistan
UNDP should immediately establish and lead an early recovery cluster.
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Letters and Testimonies
Letter to UNSC Members: Security Council must monitor human rights in Southern Kordofan
Advocacy Letter  |  07/27/2011
Huffington Post: Libya: What Few People Witness
OpEd  |  03/24/2011
Refugees International Expresses Sadness Over Sudden Death of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke
Press Release  |  12/14/2010
Letter to United Nations Security Council Members: Minority Communities in Sudan Must Be Protected
Advocacy Letter  |  11/11/2010
Successes
  • Colombia: Increased Funding for NGOs
    In October 2011, with serious cuts to foreign assistance looming, RI advocates pushed for and secured $8 million in U.S. aid to Colombian refugees, almost half the total funding for international NGOs working on this issue.
  • Afghanistan: Increased Protection Staff
    Following our June report on Afghanistan, in September 2011 the United Nations High Commission for Refugees increased the number of protection staff to track displacement in the country’s northern regions.
  • Iraq: Improved Conditions for Iraqis in Squatter Settlements
    February 2011: After RI called for greater assistance to displaced Iraqis living in squalid squatter settlements, the U.S. government and UNHCR made the provision of assistance to these communities a top priority.  Today, some of the funding helps these Iraqis stay dry from the winter rains, watch their children play in safe spaces, and drink clean water.
  • Burma
    In 2008, the U.S. provided $50 million in assistance after Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy Delta -- killing 140,000 and affecting 2.4 million others. This was a tremendous increase over the U.S. government’s previous $3 million budget for aid to Burmese people inside the country. Refugees International slowly began to change the U.S. government’s stance against funding humanitarian aid programs inside Burma after two years of being one of the few organizations calling for increased assistance.