World Refugee Day
Today is World Refugee Day, a day to call attention to the plight of millions of refugees worldwide, those who have been forced to flee their homelands due to ecological disasters, conflict or fear of persecution. Some will be short term refugees. For others it has become a long term situation, with generations being born in camps and little hope being given for a better way of life. They face extreme poverty, hunger, lack of sanitation, illness, rape and murder. It is not a way of life, it is a holding pattern where each day is simply a struggle to survive against great odds.
The current number of refugees in the world is 43.7 million worldwide, the highest number in 15 years. Only 1% of these are resettled elsewhere. While the United States, Australia and Canada accept the highest number of displaced asylum seekers (80,000, 15,000 and 11,000 respectively) these numbers are obviously staggeringly low for the problem they mean to address. Also a factor is that so many conflicts world-wide are on-going. In 2010 only 200,000 refugees were able to return to their homes. This leaves far too many unaccounted for.
Ironically it is the poorest nations who are shouldering the burden of refugees. Pakistan, Iran and Syria have the largest refugee populations. Due to the current economic crisis, and religious and cultural differences developed countries have at best turned a blind eye to the problem and at worst are actively endorsing an anti-refugee immigration stance.
In 1951 the UN Refugee Agency was established to address the situation and to provide resources and assistance to those affected. They provide emergency and long term assistance to refugee camps and work to protect the rights of the people living within those camps. They assist with relocation and return home programs. And they work tirelessly to bring the world's attention to this largely ignored tragedy. We all feel sorrow and often donate when a disaster or new conflict is first in the eyes of the world and is covered relentlessly by the media. However when the media glare is gone these people are still left needing and we too quickly allow ourselves to forget about their plight.
What can we do to resolve this problem? We can donate to organizations set up to help. We can urge our governments to not only accept more refugees but to work to better conditions inside the camps and act responsibly to those left behind after military interventions. We can, if only for one day, stop to consider the lives destroyed by natural disasters and war and to reflect on their situation.
Refugees are people who had lives, families, communities and jobs. They are mothers and fathers, children, sisters and brothers. They are us, had we not had the extreme good fortune to be born in first-world countries largely free of strife. To fail them is to fail ourselves, to fail all of humanity.
In honour of World Refugee Day 2011 CBC journalists have prepared an interactive web documentary giving a look inside Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, one of the oldest in the world, where people have been living for 60 years, for generations. It is a sobering and enlightening view of the realities of living as a refugee.
The current number of refugees in the world is 43.7 million worldwide, the highest number in 15 years. Only 1% of these are resettled elsewhere. While the United States, Australia and Canada accept the highest number of displaced asylum seekers (80,000, 15,000 and 11,000 respectively) these numbers are obviously staggeringly low for the problem they mean to address. Also a factor is that so many conflicts world-wide are on-going. In 2010 only 200,000 refugees were able to return to their homes. This leaves far too many unaccounted for.
Ironically it is the poorest nations who are shouldering the burden of refugees. Pakistan, Iran and Syria have the largest refugee populations. Due to the current economic crisis, and religious and cultural differences developed countries have at best turned a blind eye to the problem and at worst are actively endorsing an anti-refugee immigration stance.
In 1951 the UN Refugee Agency was established to address the situation and to provide resources and assistance to those affected. They provide emergency and long term assistance to refugee camps and work to protect the rights of the people living within those camps. They assist with relocation and return home programs. And they work tirelessly to bring the world's attention to this largely ignored tragedy. We all feel sorrow and often donate when a disaster or new conflict is first in the eyes of the world and is covered relentlessly by the media. However when the media glare is gone these people are still left needing and we too quickly allow ourselves to forget about their plight.
What can we do to resolve this problem? We can donate to organizations set up to help. We can urge our governments to not only accept more refugees but to work to better conditions inside the camps and act responsibly to those left behind after military interventions. We can, if only for one day, stop to consider the lives destroyed by natural disasters and war and to reflect on their situation.
Refugees are people who had lives, families, communities and jobs. They are mothers and fathers, children, sisters and brothers. They are us, had we not had the extreme good fortune to be born in first-world countries largely free of strife. To fail them is to fail ourselves, to fail all of humanity.
In honour of World Refugee Day 2011 CBC journalists have prepared an interactive web documentary giving a look inside Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, one of the oldest in the world, where people have been living for 60 years, for generations. It is a sobering and enlightening view of the realities of living as a refugee.