2008 Conference on

Refugee Warehousing

What is Warehousing?

    Refugee warehousing is a human rights tragedy affecting the majority of refugees in the world.  Nearly 9 million of the world's 14 million refugees have languished in segregated camps for ten years or more, creating greater global instability. [1]  They are denied many basic human rights including the rights to engage in wage-employment or self-employment, to practice a profession, to own property, to move freely, to acquire a residence, and to obtain travel documents. [2]  In a perpetual state of impermanence, they are usually dependent on foreign aid and are the victims of some of the worst political and economic crises in the world. The consequences of warehousing are severe; encamped refugees typically become more impoverished and are more reluctant to repatriate than those who are self-settled.