Imagine you wake up tomorrow and you are forced to leave your home and your country. You can only take what you can carry, or stuff into a suitcase or bags. If you're lucky, you may get to pack your possessions, some clothes, bedding, and food, into a small car. If you're unlucky, you leave with only the clothes on your back.
You are afraid for your life. You don't know what the future holds. You may be cold and hungry, and you will soon be tired. You will assuredly face exhaustion, and hopelessness may become your constant companion.
This is a fact of life for millions of men, women, and children around the world. And it's time for it to end.
According to Wikipedia, refugees are a subgroup of the broader category of displaced persons. Environmental refugees are people displaced by environmental problems such as drought, floods, earthquake, or severe weather. These displaced people are not included in the definition of "refugee" under international law.
According to international refugee law, a refugee is someone who seeks refuge in a foreign country because of war and violence, or out of fear of persecution "on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group," to use the terminology from U.S. law.
The lead international agency coordinating refugee protection is the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR counted 8,400,000 refugees worldwide at the beginning of 2006. The major exception was the 4,300,000 Palestinian refugees under the authority of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This group is the only one to be granted refugee status to the descendants of refugees according to the above definition.
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants estimates there are over 34,000,000 refugees displaced by war, including internally displaced persons like the Palistinians who remain within the same national borders. The majority of refugees who leave their country seek asylum in countries neighboring their country of nationality.
The durable solutions to refugee populations, as defined by UNHCR and governments, are voluntary repatriation to the country of origin, local integration into the country of asylum, and resettlement to a third country.
As of December 31, 2005, the largest source countries of refugees are the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, and Sudan. The country with the largest number is Sudan, with over 5 million. According to UNHCR estimates, over 4.7 million Iraqis have been displaced since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with 2.7 million within Iraq and 2 million in neighbouring countries. At least 60,000 Iraqis are losing their homes and becoming refugees every month.
With awareness comes outrage. Outrage brings activism. Activism brings change.
It's time each of us opens are eyes and takes a good, hard look at the refugee problem in our world. It's time to be outeaged and it's time to demand change. It's time to create change.
