Employment strategies for refugee and humanitarian entrants
This report analyses solutions to the barriers that refugee entrants face in making the transition to meaningful, sustainable employment in Australia.
Protracted refugee situations
UNHCR defines a protracted
refugee situation as one in which
25,000 or more refugees of the
same nationality have been in
exile for five years or longer in
any given asylum country. Based
on this definition, it is estimated
that well over 5.4 million refugees
were in a protracted situation by
end 2009.
Many of these protracted refugee situations involve the confinement of refugees to camps where they enjoy little freedom of movement and have few opportunities to establish sustainable livelihoods. Commentators have highlighted the semi-permanence of these situations, the lack of success of securing local integration solutions linked to a lack of resources and capacity in host states (most of which are developing countries) to provide long-term solutions, and the lack of funding and prioritisation given to these protracted situations by industrialised countries over the past decades. For the majority of people who find themselves in such situations, the options of voluntary repatriation, local integration and third country resettlement all remain a distant dream.
Location of protracted refugee situations (as at December 2009)
Country of origin |
Country of asylum |
Number of refugees* |
Afghanistan |
Islamic Rep. Of Iran |
1,022,500 |
Afghanistan |
Pakistan |
1,739,900 |
Angola |
Dem. Rep. Of The Congo |
84,400 |
Angola |
Zambia |
25,300 |
Bhutan |
Nepal |
88,200 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Serbia |
27,200 |
| Burma (Myanmar) | Bangladesh | 228,600 |
| Burma (Myanmar) | Thailand | 104,100 |
Burundi |
United Rep. Of Tanzania |
53,800 |
Central African Republic |
Chad |
71,000 |
China |
India |
100,000 |
| Colombia | Ecuador | 115,700 |
Colombia |
Venezuela (Bolivarian Rep. of) |
201,200 |
Croatia |
Serbia |
62,100 |
Dem. Rep. of the Congo |
Rwanda |
53,600 |
Dem. Rep. of the Congo |
United Rep. Of Tanzania |
63,300 |
Eritrea |
Sudan |
113,500 |
Iraq |
Islamic Rep. Of Iran |
47,900 |
Occupied Palestinian Territory |
Egypt |
70,000 |
Somalia |
Kenya |
310,300 |
Somalia |
Yemen |
161,500 |
Sri Lanka |
India |
72,900 |
Sudan |
Chad |
262,200 |
Vietnam |
China |
300,900 |
Western Sahara |
Algeria |
90,000 |
Western Sahara |
Mauritania |
26,000 |
*Includes people in refugee-like situations
Finding durable solutions
In 2008, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, through his Special Initiative on Protracted Refugee Situations, proposed that UNHCR and States work together to resolve five situations where refugees have been living in exile for long periods of time, using a combination of solutions including resettlement. The five identified protracted situations are:
- Afghan refugees in Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran;
- Rohingya refugees (from Burma) in Bangladesh;
- Eritrean refugees in eastern Sudan;
- Croatian and Bosnian refugees in Serbia; and
- Burundian refugees in the United Republic of Tanzania.
RCOA has recommended the specific allocation of resettlement places up to four years in advance for refugees in seriously protracted situations, to enable Australia to make long-term commitments to providing durable solutions for refugees in these situations.