Chapter 2 Protracted refugee situations UNHCR defines a protracted refugee situation as one in which 25,000 or more refugees from the same nationality have been in exile for five consecutive years or more in a given asylum country. This criterion clearly has limitations, as the refugee population in each situation changes due to new arrivals and returns that are not captured under this definition. Furthermore, smaller refugee situations might not be included even if the displacement is prolonged, especially if refugees from one nationality are in various countries of asylum. In protracted situations, refugee populations have moved beyond the emergency phase – where the focus is on life-saving protection and assistance – but have not yet achieved durable solutions and, based on current trends, are unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. These populations are hosted in a variety of situations including populations both in and out of camps. A protracted situation will be the result of conditions in the refugees’ country of origin, the responses of and conditions in the host countries, the availability of durable solutions, and the level of engagement by the international community, with some situations receiving far more attention than others. Based on the existing definition, 13.4 million refugees, representing some two-thirds of all refugees, were in protracted refugee situations at the end of 2017, an increase on the 11.6 million in 2016. Of this, 3.0 million were in a situation lasting 38 years or more, dominated especially by the 2.3 million Afghan refugees in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan whose displacement situation began in 1979 [Figure 7]. There were 6.9 million people in protracted situations of shorter duration (between five and nine years), of which 5.4 million were Syrian refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. The remaining 3.5 million people were in protracted refugee situations of between 10 and 37 years. In 2017, three new situations become protracted: that of refugees from the Central African Republic in the DRC, South Sudanese in Ethiopia, and Syrians in Egypt. At the same time, two situations were no longer considered protracted: that of Eritrean refugees in Israel (due to a reduction to below 25,000) and Malians in Burkina Faso (with a reduction in numbers mainly due to a reverification exercise). ■ Ethiopia. At Kebribeyah camp in eastern Ethiopia, home to some 14,000 Somali refugees, a man conveys his desperation to go home. “My children and grandchildren all grew up here, while we wait for a solution. I am tired of waiting.” © U N H C R / D i a n a D i az 22 unhcr > Global trends 2017