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联合国(United Nations)一项新的研究得出结论：对于接受难民的社区来说，难民是能够推动经济发展的动力而非经济发展的负担。

世界粮食计划署(World Food Programme)与加州大学戴维斯分校(University of California Davis)的研究人员合作进行的一项研究表明，如果给予难民以现金补贴而非食物配给的话，效果会更好。该研究小组对生活在卢旺达三个不同难民营的刚果难民进行了研究。

这项研究报告的主笔爱德华·泰勒(J. Edward Taylor)说：“我们的研究发现，无论难民接受何种类型的食物援助，接收难民的当地社区经济都会从中受益。但显而易见的是，以现金形式为难民提供食品援助能够为难民营附近的人们带来更大的经济增长”。

泰勒是加州大学戴维斯分校的农业学教授，他说，研究小组发现，这为周围社区带来的实际收入高于难民所接受的人道主义援助，“而且如果难民得到现金的话，这种援助的影响可以增加近一倍”。

当难民按月领取口粮配给时，他们经常会卖掉其中的一部分（以低于市场成本的价格），然后用所得现金去购买蔬菜以及其他新鲜蔬果。

提高难民的购买力

埃内斯托·冈萨雷斯(Ernesto Gonzalez)是该项研究的执笔人之一，他在世界粮食计划署的内罗毕(Nairobi)地区办公室从事现金援助方面的研究。他说：“当难民得到现金时，这不仅会在他们的饮食安排方面给他们以更多的控制和选择，同时也增加了他们的购买力，因而也就提高了他们为当地经济做贡献的能力。”

然而，世界粮食计划署警告说，在那些没有正规市场或食物资源匮乏的难民营地区，仍然需要提供口粮配给。

卢旺达在全国各地的五个难民营中接纳了超过15万难民。

但是，随着欧洲在接纳和安置涌向该地区的人数空前的难民时举步维艰，上述研究结果关系到一个更加广泛的国际社会。

根据联合国难民事务高级专员公署(UNHCR)的统计，2015年全球有6530万人背井离乡 ―― 比上一年增加了10％，而且其中半数是儿童。

Refugees can boost surrounding communities

Refugees can be an economic boost, not burden, to the communities that host them, a new study by the United Nations concludes.

The benefit is bigger if refugees are given cash stipends instead of food rations, according to a joint project by the World Food Programme and researchers at the University of California Davis. The team studied Congolese refugees living in three different camps in Rwanda.

“Our research found that local communities see very real economic benefits from hosting refugee camps, regardless of the type of food assistance refugees received, but it was clear that cash-based food assistance for refugees translates into a larger boost for the people who live near the camps,” said the study’s lead author, J. Edward Taylor.

Taylor, a professor of agriculture at UC Davis, said the team found that real income generated for the surrounding community was larger than the humanitarian assistance received by the refugee, “and if the refugee is receiving cash, the impact of that assistance can nearly double.”

When refugees receive monthly food rations, they often sell part of it (at rates lower than market cost) and use the cash to buy vegetables and other fresh products.

Increasing refugees’ purchasing power

“When refugees receive cash instead, it not only gives them more control and choice over what they eat, but also increases their purchasing power, and therefore increases the strength of their contribution to the local economy,” said Ernesto Gonzalez, a co-author of the study who works on cash-related assistance in the World Food Programme’s regional bureau in Nairobi.

The World Food Programme does warn, however, that food rations are still needed in camps without functioning markets or where food resources are scarce.

Rwanda hosts more than 150,000 refugees in five camps across the country.

But the findings are relevant to a much broader global community, as Europe struggles to accommodate and integrate unprecedented numbers of refugees reaching its shores.

A record 65.3 million people worldwide were displaced from their homes in 2015, according to the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR — a 10 percent increase over the preceding year. Half of them are children.

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