JICA head lauds RP refugee efforts

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) president Dr. Sadako Ogata paid tribute to the Philippine effort with regards to the refugee problem, especially Vietnamese refugees, saying that the country "received the refugees not just with open arms but with warm hearts."

Ogata spoke at the dinner reception marking the 25th anniversary of the Community and Family Services International held at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City Tuesday night. CFSI is an NGO that works with displaced persons in the Philippines and throughout Southeast Asia.

Ogata, who was the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991 to 2000, also noted that the UNHCR office in the country is "practically closed," since the Vietnamese refugees have all been resettled, either back in Vietnam or in other host countries, another indication of the success of Philippine efforts in that regard.

When the wave of Vietnamese refugees — known as "boat people" since most of them left war-torn Vietnam in small fishing boats — reached a peak in the late 1970s following the end of the war, a refugee processing center was set up in Morong, Bataan and another one later in Palawan. CFSI volunteers worked extensively with the refugees at the Bataan center, offering them counseling and other psychological and social support.

Ogata noted, however, that the refugee problem in Asia is not yet over, with the increasing numbers of displaced people in Indonesia, Myanmar and even the southern Philippines caused by conflicts in those regions.

The 1997 Magsaysay Awardee for International Understanding visited Mindanao last Monday, noting "very serious poverty there" but pledged that JICA would increase funding and expand its work in Mindanao as a complement to the peace process.

She held a closed door meeting with members of the central committee of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Sultan Kudarat, and expressed optimism that a final peace accord between the Philippine government and the MILF will be forged.

A leading figure in the global humanitarian and development arenas, the 79-year-old Ogata once served as dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo and headed the Japanese mission to the United Nations, and also was chair of the executive board of the United Nations Children’s Fund or UNICEF.

Among her recent publications are "The Turbulent Decade: Confronting the Refugee Crisis of the 1990s" published in 2005, and "The United Nations: In the Next Fifty Years" published earlier this year.