I. THE NEED FOR AN EMERGENCY RESPONSE
In 1970, there were 2.5 million refugees worldwide; currently, some 27.4 million persons are "of concern" to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).1 This crisis of displacement has been reflected in Central America as well, where social upheaval and armed conflict in the 1980's uprooted more than two million people in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala out of a combined population of 18 million.2 In 1994, 37,139 Cubans and 24,917 Haitians were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard after fleeing their homelands.3 Many of the countries of Central America and the Caribbean have thus been affected by displacement-as a country of origin, a country of asylum, or both.
There have been some signs of progress. Since the mid-1980's nearly 31,000 asylum seekers have repatriated to El Salvador. In 1994, approximately 6,000 asylum seekers left Mexico to return to Guatemala, but another 50,000 Guatemalan refugees still remain in Mexico.4
In the past fifteen years, Central America and the Caribbean have experienced numerous refugee and migration emergencies which demonstrate the on-going need for a comprehensive and enduring regional emergency refuge arrangement.
- Beginning in 1980, over one million Salvadorans fled to neighboring countries on account of armed conflict; another estimated 200,000-500,000 were internally displaced by the civil war and the 1986 earthquake
- Between 1981 and 1983, one million Guatemalans sought refuge from civil war, many fleeing to Mexico and Belize
- Following the Sandinistas's military takeover in 1979, over 25,000 Nicaraguans crossed into Honduras and Costa Rica
-In 1980, some 125,000 Cubans came to the U.S. in small boats from the Port of Mariel near Havana
-In the decade between 1981 and 1991, 433 boats were intercepted and 23,551 Haitians were returned to Haiti by the U.S.
- In 1994, 37,139 Cubans attempting to flee to the U.S. were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard
- From 1991 to 1994, following the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 68,500 Haitians fled their country in small boats; another 30,000 Haitians found refuge, sometimes under onerous circumstances, in the Dominican Republic; upwards of 300,000 persons were internally displaced in Haiti
- In 1995, volcanic activity forced the government of Montserrat to evacuate its capital, Plymouth, and the southern half of the island, where 11,000 people live. Approximately 4,000 persons left the island
- In September, 1995 Hurricanes Luis and Marilyn left thousands homeless across the Caribbean. Seventy percent of Antigua's buildings were damaged, 80 percent of the homes on St. Thomas were damaged or destroyed. St. Thomas was also left without power, water, electricity, or port facilities.
