CHAPTER 7
GUATEMALA. A HONDURAN FAMILY FLEEING GANG
VIOLENCE ARRIVES AT THE MEXICAN BORDER.
Hondurans and Salvadorans, fleeing gang
violence, travel through Guatemala, and begin the
hazardous 1200 km journey to the United States of
America, in hope of finding asylum. People fleeing
gang violence in this region may be in need of
international protection. .
© U N H C R / T I TO H E R R E R A
UNHCR extends its protection or assistance activities
to people considered to be ‘of concern’ but who do
not fall into any of the other population or legal
categories. In most cases, UNHCR’s activities in
relation to these people are based on humanitarian
grounds. Examples of people helped in this way have
included former refugees who were assisted to
integrate locally, rejected asylum-seekers whom
UNHCR deemed to be in need of humanitarian
assistance, and host populations significantly
impacted, directly or indirectly, by an influx of
displaced people.
There were 803,100 people in this category at the
end of 2016. That was a decline from previous years,
with over 1 million having been in the ‘other of
concern’ category in 2014, for instance. Of this 2016
population, 180,000 were Ugandan nationals living in
refugee-hosting communities benefiting from
UNHCR-assisted programmes such as education,
UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016
health, water, and sanitation, so as to equip the
communities to meet the challenges of the arrival of a
large number of refugees.
Former refugees also were a key population
receiving assistance from UNHCR. These included
the 114,200 Afghan returned refugees who continued
to face social, economic, and security challenges in
their reintegration in Afghanistan, and the over
162,200 naturalized former Burundian refugees in
Tanzania who continued to need assistance and
protection while being locally integrated. In addition,
80,000 Filipino Muslims living in Sabah in Malaysia
were in need of international protection and were
considered of concern to UNHCR in 2016.
Forty-seven UNHCR offices reported data on other
populations of other groups or populations of
concern in 2016.
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