Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05GENEVA1553
2005-06-22 13:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
US Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

UNHCR RE-ENGAGEMENT IN INDONESIA FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF

Tags:  PREF UNHCR 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 001553 

SIPDIS

PRM FOR PDAS RICHARD GREENE, USAID FOR RMT TSUNAMI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2010
TAGS: PREF UNHCR
SUBJECT: UNHCR RE-ENGAGEMENT IN INDONESIA FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF

REF: SPATT-PITOTTI EMAIL OF 06/20/2005

Classified By: REFUGEE COUNSELOR PIPER CAMPBELL; REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D
)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 GENEVA 001553

SIPDIS

PRM FOR PDAS RICHARD GREENE, USAID FOR RMT TSUNAMI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2010
TAGS: PREF UNHCR
SUBJECT: UNHCR RE-ENGAGEMENT IN INDONESIA FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF

REF: SPATT-PITOTTI EMAIL OF 06/20/2005

Classified By: REFUGEE COUNSELOR PIPER CAMPBELL; REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D
)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Asia Director Janet Lim described the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR's)
plans to re-engage in post-Tsunami operations in Indonesia at
a donor briefing in Geneva June 20. UNHCR's June 14
Memorandum of Understanding with the Indonesian government
will allow the organization to provide supplies and technical
assistance for up to 35,000 shelters in Banda Aceh, the Nias
islands, and North Sumatra. The MOU states that UNHCR will
work under the authority of the UN country team, will not
engage in traditional refugee operations, and can only
operate in a "low key manner." Donor Relations Chief
Jean-Noel Wetterwald said UNHCR is not actively fundraising,
as it has adequate funds for this project if it can draw on
previously obligated Tsunami funding. While the Dutch have
already de-obligated their Tsunami funding from UNHCR,
Germany and Japan appear willing to support this initiative
with existing funding. Although they are more circumspect in
public, Lim and other UNHCR officials have confided to us
privately their hope that access to Aceh will allow UNHCR
delegates to better assess local security/human rights
conditions, foster ties with local authorities, and allow for
more accurate determinations of potential repatriation of
Acehnese asylum seekers. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Asia Director Janet Lim announced UNHCR plans to
re-engage in post-Tsunami operations in Indonesia at a June
20 donor briefing attended by Refugee and Migration Affairs
staff Joe Cassidy and Mark Spatt. UNHCR officials signed an
MOU with the Indonesian government June 14 to provide
supplies and technical assistance for shelter construction in
Banda Aceh, the Nias islands, and North Sumatra. (UNHCR had
pulled out of Indonesia in March, after being notified by the
government that their presence was no longer acceptable.)
Their revived plans include the construction or renovation of
up to 35,000 structures in communities along 200km of the
west coast, beginning with a pilot project of 1000 structures
in Kreung Sabe. Detailed specifics of scope and location
will be determined after needs-assessments and in conjunction
with other UN agencies. The MOU remains in force until
December 31, 2005, but can be extended after that -- which
Lim said would be necessary to meet the housing target.


3. (U) The MOU (text transmitted to PRM/MCE on 06/20)
specifically mentions that UNHCR will not engage in refugee
operations and can only operate in a "low key manner" without
the use of "flags or stickers which identify it as the
refugee agency." UNHCR's four expatriate staff will operate
out of municipal government offices in Banda Aceh and operate
under the authority of the UN country team. The project will
be implemented by the NGO RedR Australia. UNHCR's housing
program will be part of an "integrated community-based
approach" complementing the construction of additional
nonresidential structures, such as mosques, schools, and
multifamily shelters. UNHCR's Senior Desk Officer Andrew
Harper said that a long-term challenge will be land rights,
given the post-Tsunami absence of legal documentation and
collapse of some tribal land allocation structures.


4. (U) Donor Relations Chief Jean-Noel Wetterwald said UNHCR
is not "actively fundraising." UNHCR has adequate funds for
this project if it can draw on the funding previously
obligated by donors to post-Tsunami activities. The Dutch
representative cautioned that they have already de-obligated
money initially pledged to UNHCR for post-Tsunami response
and would not likely replace it, but the Germans and Japanese
seem ready to support financially the reestablishment of
UNHCR's presence.


5. (C) COMMENT: Lim was clear that the language of the MOU
commits UNHCR to working solely on the housing project. In
response to MissionOff Cassidy's question about whether UNHCR
staff could perform refugee-related activities, however, she
and Harper indicated that they see UNHCR presence on the
ground in Aceh as an important achievement itself. In
private meetings, they have told us they see a UNHCR presence
in Aceh as a means to better assess local security/human
rights conditions, foster ties with local authorities, and
allow for more accurate determinations of potential
repatriation of Acehnese asylum seekers. In this more
crowded briefing, they were more circumspect, although Harper
did allude to a "balance" between abiding by the letter of
their agreement with the government and their other
institutional interests. END COMMENT.
Moley