Urban Refugees

Malaysia: Refugees helping themselves

Many Malaysians are astonished to learn that there are refugees living in their country. That's how invisible most of the 67,800 refugees in Malaysian towns and cities are. They don't live in camps, but in low-cost flats and houses alongside the homes of Malaysians. The refugees, overwhelmingly from Myanmar, live in tight-knit groups with as many as 20 or 30 people in one small flat.

As in many other Asian countries, even official UNHCR refugee status does not always afford adequate protection. Refugees are not allowed to work legally, so are subject to exploitation in dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs that locals do not want.

More than in many other countries, refugees in Malaysia have banded together to help themselves in the absence of official services. UNHCR, non-governmental organizations and volunteers support these initiatives, which include small crafts businesses, as well as schools and clinics, but they are largely driven by the refugees themselves.

Colombia: A struggle for rights

Overlooked by the rest of the world, decades of violent internal conflict have forced more than 3.5 million Colombians from their homes, with more fleeing nearly every day. Some seek shelter overseas, but about 80 percent head for urban centres within the country.

For most, towns and cities represent much-prized safety after seeing loved ones killed, or rescuing their children from threats of forced conscription. But the places where they can afford to live are usually the poorest barrios - located on a landslide-prone cliff or, perhaps, a flood-plagued beachfront.

Rural people and farmers also often find it a challenge to make a living in a town or city. Instead of growing plantains and catching fish, they now have to somehow earn enough money every day to feed their families.

Traumas also follow displaced Colombians. Formerly independent women used to working or staying alone now need to have others around constantly.

UNHCR is working with the Colombian government to make services available to forcibly displaced people. An important first step is a long-standing collaboration under which more than 3 million displaced Colombians have received identity cards.

South Africa: Searching for Coexistence

South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa where registered refugees and asylum-seekers can legally move about freely, access social services and compete with locals for jobs.

But while these right are enshrined in law, in practice they are sometimes ignored and refugees and asylum-seekers often find themselves turned away by employers or competing with the poorest locals for the worst jobs - especially in the last few years, as millions have fled political and economic woes in countries like Zimbabwe. The global economic downturn has not helped.

Over the last decade, when times turned tough, refugees in towns and cities sometimes became the target of the frustrations of locals. In May 2008, xenophobic violence erupted in Johannesburg and quickly spread to other parts of the country, killing more than 60 people and displacing about 100,000 others.

In Atteridgeville, on the edge of the capital city of Pretoria - and site of some of the worst violence - South African and Somali traders, assisted by UNHCR, negotiated a detailed agreement to settle the original trade dispute that led to the torching of Somali-run shops. The UN refugee agency also supports work by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to counter xenophobia.