UN's refugee commissioner hails ‘compassionate Islam’

Zoi Constantine

• Last Updated: November 23. 2009 11:37PM UAE / November 23. 2009 7:37PM GMT

ABU DHABI // Greater awareness of the links between Shariah and international refugee law would go a long way towards combating “misperceptions” about Islam, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said yesterday.

António Guterres said key principles of international refugee law were already established in that of Islam.

Promoting a study on the comparison between the right to asylum in Islamic law and international refugee law, Mr Guterres said: “Not only is this clearly embodied in Islamic law but, to a certain extent, it codifies what already existed in the traditions of the tribes in the Arabian peninsula.

“I believe that it is very important that the world is aware of this.”

The study, commissioned by the UNHCR, was a “useful instrument of advocacy” for the protection of refugees across the world, Mr Guterres said.

“At a moment when so many try to spread misperceptions, this allows to show the true face of a compassionate and human rights-minded Islam,” he said.

During Mr Guterres’s visit, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, President of the UAE, was awarded the plaque of the UNHCR in recognition of his role supporting humanitarian work and the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation’s work in helping about 200,000 families in Pakistan, according to WAM, the state news agency.

Last night, Mr Guterres and the author of the Islam study, Dr Ahmed Abu al Wafa, of Cairo University, addressed the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research.

The study argues that inherent in Shariah are key principles of modern refugee law, including the protection of refugees, or non-refoulement, meaning that no one should be sent back against their will to a place where they may face persecution.

According to Mr Guterres, two-thirds of all refugees are Muslim.

“I do believe that if there is an area of the world where you have a very generous approach to the protection of refugees, it is the Muslim world,” he said.

“The four biggest refugee-hosting countries in the world are all Muslim Pakistan and Iran for Afghan refugees, and Syria and Jordan for Iraqi refugees.”

However, none of these countries are signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Nor is the UAE among the 146 states that have ratified the convention.

While encouraging countries to sign the convention, Mr Guterres said applying its principles in the protection of refugees was more important.

“We always like to see countries joining the convention, but, more important than that is the excellent co-operation that we enjoy with the United Arab Emirates,” he said.

Last month, the UAE was invited to join an elite club of countries that form the refugee agency’s primary donors, all of which have donated more than US$20 million (Dh73m) in the past year.

The announcement followed the signing of an accord in July between the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation and the UNHCR, which was the agency’s largest partnership in the Arab world for three decades.

Thanking the Government and the Khalifa Foundation, Mr Guterres singled out the “very strong financial support” that was given to the UNHCR to support its work with internally displaced people in north-west Pakistan. Such “meaningful help”, he said, provided assistance to 20,000 families.

Mr Guterres, 60, a former Portuguese prime minister, was elected by the UN General Assembly in 2005 to a five-year term as the head of UNHCR. The agency, founded in 1951 to help repatriate people uprooted during the Second World War, is currently working with 10.5 million “refugees of concern” worldwide as well as helping millions of internally displaced people.

The agency is almost entirely funded by voluntary contributions, with 93 per cent of its budget coming from governments.

The agency’s annual budget doubled from $1bn in the early 1990s to $2bn this year, to cope with crises including those in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan and the Horn of Africa.

“The most dramatic group of crises takes place in an arc that, to a certain extent, has its centre very close to where we are now,” Mr Guterres said. “This group of crises is becoming more and more interrelated, and creates concerns for global security. It is very important that the international community engages in the solution.”

zconstantine@thenational.ae