What can we do to bring home the reality of the situation faced by refugees?
"Imagine you are at school or at work. Suddenly, a conflict erupts, you are unable to return home, and you are told to go immediately to another country with neither your passport nor a change of clothes. You are separated from your friends and family and begin a wretched life in a refugee camp far from your own home. At first you think you might be able to make it home after one month, but it seems to be taking forever. While in the camp, you get married and have children. Even so, there is little change in your circumstances. Before you realize it, over ten years have gone by. There is nothing you can do to improve your situation, except to wait for the day you are able to return to your home in your own country."
Mr. Hajime Kishimori, Deputy Representative, UNHCR Representation in Japan uses stories like this to encourage people to imagine what it is like to be a refugee. In fact, there are over 20 million people around the world today who are experiencing this very situation.
One such place is the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya near the border with Sudan. The camp was set up in 1992 to assist refugees fleeing the civil war in Sudan. Fifteen years later, some 80,000 people, including Sudanese, Somalis, and Ethiopians, are still living together in the camp. Even now, there are no prospects of closing the camp, where the UNHCR continues to offer protection as well tents, supplies, and education, and the WFP continues to distribute food. In addition, NGOs from around the world work together with the UN as partners to provide a range of support activities, including vocational training and education. There are many other places where refugees have been living for a long time, such as along the border between Thailand and Myanmar, and in eastern Nepal.
Children in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. Many children were born in the camp and so have never seen their homeland, Sudan.
Photo: UNHCR
The shifting refugee problem
In 1951, the United Nations (UN), which was established at the end of the Second World War, approved its Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. As of today, 145 countries are signatories to the convention.
Initially, the refugee problem concerned protecting people who fled communist countries in the East to wealthy European countries in the West. In the '60s and '70s, the problem spread to include not only Europe, but also Africa and Asia. In the '80s, as the Cold War intensified, there was an increase in the number of regional conflicts fought as proxy wars between the United States and the Soviet Union, who did not wish to fight each other directly. As a result, refugees began to appear in places such as Afghanistan, Africa, and Central and South America. In the '90s, as the Cold War drew to a close, there were expectations that the refugee problem would be resolved, but in reality the number of refugees increased. Because the nature of warfare has changed, with civil wars involving conflicts between different ethnic and religious groups replacing conflicts between nation states, the number of internally displaced people, people who are forced to leave their homes but are not technically refugees because they have not crossed an international border, has risen. Furthermore, people who are repatriated at the end of such a conflict often require ongoing support because, for example, their safety may not be able to be guaranteed because they may no longer have a home to return to. As these examples suggest, refugee problems today tend to be more complicated and drawn out.
Resettlement of refugees
In fact, becoming a "refugee" is extremely difficult. Even if someone is able to escape a conflict and reach another country, in order to be officially recognized as a "refugee" they need to submit an application and go through a screening process. In some cases it takes several years before their refugee status is recognized. If their refugee status is not recognized, they may be forced to return to their own country, which may still be dangerous. While they wait to be recognized as refugees, there is no security in their daily lives. A number of NPOs provide support to such people who require protection while their lives hang in the balance.
While there are some countries such as the US, the UK, and Canada that recognize thousand of refugees each year, there are others such as Japan whose screening processes are strict and that recognize only dozens annually. Click on "Refugee resettlements" below the Earthrium globe at left.