Yesterday I had a chance to join UNHCR symposium on“Advancing Humanitarian Engagement for Refugees in Africa” held at Waseda University. I was so impressed listening to passionate speeches addressed by Mr. George Okoth-Obbo, who is the directer of African bureau of UNHCR, Ms. Sadako Ogata, who is the former president of JICA, and some other spokespersons of different sectors ranging from NGOs to Ministry of Foreign a Affairs.
This symposium was regarded as a partnership event of TICAD V, which is going to take place from June 1st to 3rd at Yokohama. (I'm quite excited about it since it's my hometown) TICAD stands for "Tokyo International Conference on African Development". The first one was held in 1993, and it's been held every five years since then in pursuit of sustainable development of Africa.
Achievement of African development would have never been possible without conquering the issues of refugees, the displaced people in Africa. The number of refugees displaced mainly due to conflicts and wars in Africa is about 3 million at this moment, it's decreased compared to 7 million in 1997. However, compared to five years ago, the number of those who displaced has increased by 1 million. I suppose the increase is not something we can overlook. Let me also mention that the number of entire refugees worldwide is much lager. (I hope I heard the information correctly, but in case you find it wrong please point it out)
Japanese government has financially contributed to improving the situation, but there is no doubt Japanese civil society has less paid attention to refugee issues in Africa. Japan is often criticized for not accepting many refugees compared to other developed countries. For instance, no more than 18 out of 2,545 refugee candidates were admitted to settle in Japan last year, 2012. However, we cannot blame only Japanese government since Japanese citizens are also responsible for making a change. To raise awareness of refugee issues among Japanese civil society, I would love to take action however small it seems to be.
This symposium was regarded as a partnership event of TICAD V, which is going to take place from June 1st to 3rd at Yokohama. (I'm quite excited about it since it's my hometown) TICAD stands for "Tokyo International Conference on African Development". The first one was held in 1993, and it's been held every five years since then in pursuit of sustainable development of Africa.
Achievement of African development would have never been possible without conquering the issues of refugees, the displaced people in Africa. The number of refugees displaced mainly due to conflicts and wars in Africa is about 3 million at this moment, it's decreased compared to 7 million in 1997. However, compared to five years ago, the number of those who displaced has increased by 1 million. I suppose the increase is not something we can overlook. Let me also mention that the number of entire refugees worldwide is much lager. (I hope I heard the information correctly, but in case you find it wrong please point it out)
Japanese government has financially contributed to improving the situation, but there is no doubt Japanese civil society has less paid attention to refugee issues in Africa. Japan is often criticized for not accepting many refugees compared to other developed countries. For instance, no more than 18 out of 2,545 refugee candidates were admitted to settle in Japan last year, 2012. However, we cannot blame only Japanese government since Japanese citizens are also responsible for making a change. To raise awareness of refugee issues among Japanese civil society, I would love to take action however small it seems to be.
