The American International School of Bucharest (AISB) as well as the AISB Alumni Association do not discuss political issues but the current refugee crisis is an issue facing the international community. Therefore, we felt that it is important to publish an interview on this matter. To this extent we have interviewed the Representative in Romania of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr. Eduardo Yrezabal. 

WM: Today, the international community, is facing a refugee crisis. Could you please elaborate on the extent of this issue?

EY: Refugee crises are not new. Probably what is new is the high visibility that few refugee crises have in the news, in particular the Syrian refugee crisis. This is motivated by the number of people that arrived in Europe during 2015 and 2016. Other more distant crises such as Nigeria, Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia or Yemen do not feature so prominently in the news, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

The sad reality is that there are more than 60 million people in the world who are forcibly displaced from their homes. More than 21 million of them are refugees.

Refugees are persons who are compelled to leave their countries owing to persecution on account of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership to a particular social group. They can also be persons who have left their countries unwillingly owing to war, generalized violence and con ict or other serious violations of human rights.

The big tragedy of refugees is that they cannot return to their countries without a serious risk to their lives and security. 
 

WM: What is the role of the UNHCR in this matter?

EY: The UNHCR is the agency of the United Nations Organization that is mandated to assist governments and the civil society to o er protection to refugees and nd durable solutions to their situation. This mandate stems from a Resolution approved in 1950 by the General Assembly of the United Nations that created the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and from the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees that provides the international legal framework that States must follow to protect refugees.

WM: How is Romania helping out in this situation?

EY: Romania is party to the 1951 Geneva Convention and has assumed its obligations to protect refugees. Romania has adopted legislation and a procedure to conduct refugee status determination and grants all the rights foreseen in the 1951 Geneva Convention to persons recognized as refugees. Romania is also contributing to international solidarity e orts o ering the possibility of resettlement to refugees that are in first countries of asylum in which, owing to the difficult situation of those countries, refugees cannot nd the protection that they need. 
 

WM: We are talking here about the lives of people, what are their expectations?

EY: What refugees want is to have a normal life: Identity documents, work, access to education and to be self-reliant; to be able to take care of themselves and their families. I remember a conversation I had with a young refugee from Afghanistan approximately one year ago. When I asked him how he would like to see himself in one year time, he told me “I want to be a tax payer”. I told him that most people hate to pay taxes. He replied, “If I had to pay taxes that would mean that I have income, and having an income would mean that I would be in a position to take care of my family without having to be assisted by the government or humanitarian organizations”.

WM: What are the solutions and what is the end goal?

EY: The most desirable solution would be that con icts, persecution and violations of human rights end, and that refugees could return to their countries and homes in safety and dignity. Unfortunately, that is not in our hands. It requires political commitment and actions, and we, the organizations working with refugees, are humanitarian organizations and not political actors. While we all wait for that to happen, refugees need to have a dignified life in the countries hosting them. The UNHCR started a campaign in 2016 which is known as the #WithRefugees Campaign. We ask people to sign petitions asking for 3 very concrete things:
 

1. Every refugee child gets an education, because 50 percent of the refugees in the world are children;

2. Every refugee family has somewhere safe to live; and

3. Every refugee can work or learn new skills to make a positive contribution to their community.
 

These things are basic pillars of what it is known as “integration,” and integration needs the active involvement of governments, civil society and refugees themselves. States have the legal obligation to o er meaningful protection to refugees, but States are not to be understood solely as the authorities or the rulers of countries. The State is also the people, the sovereign people of a country.

WM: How can individuals or organizations help the effort to better the situation?

EY: Private individuals and private entities can help in many ways. The most important one is enabling a positive attitude towards refugees. Refugees are not a threat. They are the victims of persecution and human rights violations. Once this is understood, refugees will be able to receive from the population of the host countries the same treatment as the rest of the population. It is not about giving refugees privileges, it is about giving them equal opportunities. This can only be achieved by the people, by the community, by employers. It is about not discriminating against refugees when they seek jobs, when they want to rent an apartment, or when they want their children to have an education. Help them not to feel second like class persons or a heavy burden to the society. In summary, as that young Afghan refugee once told me, help them to become tax payers.
 

WM: How can people, organizations or corporations help? Who can they contact or what programs are available?
 

EY: In Romania, the Government, and more concretely the General Inspectorate for Immigration (GII) is coordinating the integration e orts through its Asylum and Integration Directorate. GII works with a number of NGOs that are implementing projects on housing, language training, access to the labor market, and many other similar issues. These organizations would be happy to have the cooperation of private individuals and private entities that are willing to o er support in the form of job opportunities or nding private accommodation at a ordable prices for refugee families. But again, I want to repeat, the most urgent thing is to contribute to the creation of a positive attitude towards refuges. This is the key to many other things. 


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Do you have opportunities for refugees in Romania? Please refer to the list below with the contact details of several NGOs providing assistance and counselling to asylum-seekers/refugees.

These contacts can assist with further disseminating the information to beneficiaries and act as liaisons to which job offers can be referred.


 


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A few questions on the career of a diplomat 


 

WM: You are a seasoned diplomat and have many years of experience. What attracted you to this career?

EY: I prefer to be called an “international civil servant of the United Nations”. “Diplomat” sounds very formal. Although it is true that my job entails plenty of humanitarian diplomacy. I started my professional life as a young lawyer working in the private sector in my country, Spain. Later, I entered in contact with some NGOs that were o ering “pro bono” legal assistance to asylum-seekers, so I began cooperating with them. First I did it during my free time, but little by little I became more and more involved until I made it full time. That meant having to quit my previous job, but what I lost in salary, I won in personal satisfaction with what I was doing. I started working with UNHCR almost 24 years ago, and I have been posted in eight di erent countries in four di erent continents. 


What attracted me to the path I chose is the possibility to humbly contribute to make a change for the better in the lives of persons in need of desperate help because they have lost everything except their dignity as human beings.
 

WM: What path should a young student take to have an international career in diplomacy?
 

EY: Law, Political Science, and International Relations are the usual backgrounds. However, if you want to work in the humanitarian eld as I do, we need also experts in nance, journalists, experts in procurement, logistics, epidemiology... there are so many elds to cover!

WM: What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of a career in international diplomacy? 
 

EY: The advantages are personal satisfaction with what you are doing, and the fact that you get to know people, countries, societies and many cultures that otherwise you would know only through reading or watching documentaries on TV. 


There are disadvantages too. This work requires a lot of mobility. Today I live in Bucharest. Only one year ago I was living in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and before that In Geneva, from where I arrived from Ankara... And so on. It is difficult to reconcile family life with mobility, and it is sad to say good-bye to the friends you make in di erent countries. However, with the great possibilities that technology gives nowadays for connectivity, it not di cult to keep in contact.