VOA标准英语2009年-UN Hosts Colloquium to Assist Refugees

Planners seek solutions, protections for city-based populations that far outnumber rural refugee groups

Howard Lesser¹ | Washington 09 December 2009

Sudanese refugees seek health services in Chad.

 

In the 21st century, images of refugees living in forlorn camps in Vietnam, Southwest Asia, and the Middle East are rapidly giving way to a new urban prototype that mirrors a general population shift from countryside to the city.

U.N. High Commissioner² for Refugees Antonio Guterres greets refugees from Sudan.  

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which begins hosting mayors from 20 world cities Wednesday in Geneva, estimates that as many as 50 percent of the earth’s 10.5 million refugees now live in cities and towns.  To address their needs and plan for the future, a two-day dialogue will engage heads of government, municipalities, humanitarian³ and civic⁴ groups, academics, and refugees themselves to set up new protections and help dispersed⁵ populations secure jobs, public health, food, housing, and education.

High Commissioner chief of media and content Adrian Edwards says that the focus of Wednesday’s and Thursday's meeting includes the challenges facing many African urban refugees.

Darfur woman refugee with children

 

“Africa is certainly bearing the brunt of the problem.  You have many of the refugee problems of the world that we’re looking after are on the African continent.  Most of the settings where this is occurring are in developing countries.  This isn’t a phenomenon that primarily we’re seeing in North America, Europe, or the richer world. It is located in the developing world.  Africa is very much part of it,” he said.

 

Refugees in Ivory Coast

  
Since 1950, the number of city dwellers⁶ has mushroomed between four and fivefold to about 3.3 billion people.  For refugees in Africa and other developing countries, Edwards expects that trend to continue and raise new issues for planners and government authorities to solve.
“Increasingly, we’re seeing the world’s population living in cities.  Refugees are part of that population.  If you don’t as a city planner focus on the fact that you’re going to have to deal with refugees as well, you are likely to have problems down the road if this isn’t addressed.  You’ll have people moving to the city for economic reasons on the one hand.  You’ll have refugee populations on the other.  We think refugees deserve protection.  They deserve being cared for, and their needs are going to have to be addressed in planning for the future,” he noted⁷.

Women refugees

  
The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines the rights of individuals who are granted asylum⁸.  Edwards says that planning for the future will enable municipalities to ensure that transplanted populations will continue to obtain their necessities in a changed world.
   
“When refugees travel, their rights go with them.  We want these rights to be respected.  We would rather that refugees could be accepted into the communities, that they can appeal for the rights that they’re entitled to, and that might for example include access to food rations⁹, to education, to health services, to being part of the labor¹⁰ market.  You should not have in a city people living in dire¹¹ conditions, who have to hide from the authorities.  This is a reality of where the world is changing, and we think the world’s major cities need to adapt to this new reality,” he said.
   
While the UNHCR will continue to work with more reluctant governments to improve opportunities for new arrivals, it is calling on all governments to recognize a new reality that threatens in an urban backdrop to raise new obstacles. 
   
Edwards warns that not only do cautious refugees feel the need to keep low profiles and stay out of public view, but many of them become subject to discrimination and in the extreme to xenophobic confrontations¹².  He admits refugee planners lack answers for helping¹³ host governments to deal with their unique problems and divergent attitudes toward their guests. But he remains¹⁴ hopeful that this third dialogue will come up with some solutions that can make a difference for the refugees and the local populations that support them.

 

1 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

2 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

5 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

6 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

9 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

12 confrontations   

n.对抗，对抗的事物( confrontation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At times, this potential has escalated into actual confrontations. 有时，这一矛盾升级为实际的对抗。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• These confrontations and uncertainties were bing played out for the first time on a global scale. 所有这一切对抗和不稳定，第一次在全球范围内得到充分的表演。 来自辞典例句

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。