Newswise — "As the United Nations observes World Refugee Day on June 20, possibly the biggest concern facing refugees around the globe is the practice of warehousing " confining persons displaced from their home countries in camps or segregated settlements," says Judith Owens-Manley, co-author of "Bosnian Refugees in America: New communities, new cultures," and director for community research in the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.
In a report released June 15, the U.S. Committee on Refugees found that nearly 8 million refugees have had no basic human rights to work for a living or to move freely within a community for more than five years. Owens-Manley says "It is unacceptable that refugees are not given the means to live productive normal lives while awaiting more permanent solutions to their trauma and displacement.
"During the 1990s Bosnian refugees experienced relatively short waiting periods in refugee camps or countries of first asylum, and even so, still experienced renewed trauma, loss and persecution during that time," said Owens-Manley. "For refugees waiting around the world, hope and possibility cease to exist, and governments have it within their means to ensure access to these basic human rights."
Judith Owens-Manley, the director for community research in the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College, is the board president of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees. A licensed clinical social worker, Owens-Manley earned a Ph.D. and M.S. W. in social welfare from the State University at Albany. She has co-authored a book with Reed Coughlan (Empire State College) telling the story of 100 Bosnian families in Utica, N.Y., titled "Bosnian Refugees in America: New communities, new cultures," due out in August, 2005, from Springer Publishers, Inc.
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