The situation in Liberia is fragile and the return of refugees at times is uncertain. Burundi refugees are still hosted in Tanzanian camps. Hostilities persist between rival clans in Somalia, while thousands of Somalis risk their lives by crossing the Gulf of Aden to Yemen in overcrowded boats supplied by human traffickers. Beyond Africa, Afghanistan remains extremely worrying, with the largest number of refugees in the world more than three times as many as those from Kosovo in Iran and Pakistan since 1979. I notice in affluent societies a growing tendency of inward-lookingness and isolationism.
Governments find little political incentive to commit themselves to an internationalist course.
In certain Western European countries, for example, refugee problems have been politicised and even turned into campaign issues, justifying, at times, the most xenophobic excesses. The focus of refugee policies in many industrialized countries has shifted from protecting asylum-seekers to limiting and controlling potential abuses. This is true even in a country like the United States. I hope very much that the current generous response to the Kosovo refugees will turn public attention and government policy to a more humane and open approach to victims of war and persecution. This restrictive trend is seen not only in the industrialised world, but also in developing countries.