Refugees Definitions and Statistics:
More than one billion people are on the move globally. This is about one in 8 of the global population. There are different categories of people who are forced to leave their homes and homelands. People who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution due to political or religious reasons, have crossed an international border to find safety in another country.[1] They seek political asylum elsewhere. There are people who are forced to leave their homes but who remain within their countries borders. They are the internally displaced persons (IDPs). Though they are also referred to as refugees, they do not fall within the legal definition of refugees.[2] Among the millions who were forced to flee, many return home after traumatic time in exile. They are known as the Returnees.[3] There is still another category of people: These are the people who move from one place to another with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location. They are labelled as Migrants. They are external migrants when they go out of their countries or they are internal migrants when they move about within a single country. Migration is mostly seen as the most direct route out of poverty.[4]
According to the statistics available as of 16Jun2022, at least 89.3 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes. This would imply that one in every 88 people on earth has been forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 27.1 million refugees with 4.6 million asylum seekers. There were 59.1 million internally displaced people across the world at the end of 2021: 53.2 million as a result of conflict and violence, and 5.9 million as a result of disasters.[5] There are also millions of stateless people, who have been denied a nationality and lack access to basic rights such as education, health care, employment, and freedom of movement.[6] There are an estimated 281 million international migrants in the world in 2020, which is 3.6% of the global population.[7]
Status:
Nearly 80% of refugees are in their neighboring countries of origin. More than two-thirds of all refugees worldwide are from just five countries, with Syrian refugees accounting for almost one-third of the world’s refugee population, followed by Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia. In Somalia, the violent conflict forcing people to flee their homes has lasted for almost 30 years. More than 90% of global resettlement needs are not met. In 2019, UNHCR estimated that 1.4 million refugees were in need of resettlement. However, only 92,400 resettlement places were provided by 25 states in 2018. Half the refugees population worldwide are children and youth below the age of 18; and more than 110,000 are separated from their families. In 2018, 27,600 unaccompanied and separated children sought asylum in countries around the world. Forced displacement has severe consequences for children’s educational opportunities, and currently 4 million children are out of school.[8] Do they have a future or a hope of a decent life of dignity and safety?
Solutions:
In the book of Deuteronomy we read that God ‘loves the foreigner residing among you’ and so ‘you are to love those who are foreigners’ (Deut 10:18f). The first step in addressing the issue of refugee status is to understand the root causes of displacement. Pope Francis, addressing International Federation of Catholic Universities (04Nov2017), said that we have to study the root causes with the aim of identifying viable solutions.[9] War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence seem to be leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries. In general, a refugee has a well-founded fear or possibility of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social or religious group. Most likely, they may not be able to return home or they are afraid to do so.[10] The refugees and the others affected need both humanitarian as well as empowering helps. So many organizations, especially the NGOs, join hands with UNHCR to do their best.
I would like to indicate the efforts taken by the Jesuits all over the world:
i. JRS: Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), founded in 1980, has the mission to accompany, serve, and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced people, that they may heal, learn, and determine their own future. JRS is active in over 50 countries engaged in emergency assistance, health care, livelihood, reconciliation, and psychological support and is involved in advocacy and human rights works.[11]
ii. Fe y Alegria: Fe Y Alegria, founded in 1955, offer primary and secondary as well as vocational training to the poorest sectors of society and is active in about 19 countries, mostly in Latin American continent.
iii. JWL: Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL), founded in 2010, offers three types of effective academic programs: Global English Language program, Professional program; and Academic Diploma program in Liberal Studies offered in collaboration with universities in the USA, Asia, Europe, and Africa. The outcome of such education could be demonstrated with a couple of examples from among the refugees who are the beneficiaries of JWL education:
- Charles, who fled Democratic Republic of Congo after his father was assassinated, said: The only thing my father left me with was this advice before he died – ‘I don’t have anything to give you, but I ask you to continue with your education. Education will be your mother and father when I am no longer there.’ Charles was in Dzaleka Camp (Malawi) and as a student with JWL diligently followed the advice of his father;
- Gustav, after successfully completing the JWL diploma program in Kakuma refugee camp (Kenya) pursued his higher studies in media at Sogang University, Seoul;
- Lorena, a displaced child from the south of Bolivar, and her mother found a new home in Altos de Cazuca in Bogota (Colombia). Lorena asserted: We were displaced, but now here we have a house. So we are not displaced anymore! She could be fully integrated with education.[12]
Once the immediate needs of refugees and migrants are addressed, it is also important to work on long-term solutions. There is need for development and stability of refugees’ home countries through economic aid and investment. In addition, there should be resettlement of refugees in other countries. This can be done through traditional resettlement programs, as well as through the creation of special economic zones and other initiatives that allow refugees to live and work in a host country.
Integration: local, national, and international
There is need for integration at the local, national, and international levels. In March 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, as a symbol of hope for all refugees in the world in order to raise global awareness of the scale of the migrant crisis in Europe. In September 2017, the IOC established the Olympic Refugee Foundation to continue supporting refugees in the long term.[13]
We could think of a few action plans. In our educational institutions and social action centers we could work on empowering the refugees and those at the margins by:
- Offering education, with a blended model (with online teacher and onsite tutors) to those who are normally unable to have access to higher education;
- Collaborating to create global, virtual, immersive learning environments through which skill based education can be delivered in a manner that is scalable, sustainable, and transferable;
- Promoting human dignity and gender equality through specific curricula focused on women and children;
- Designing higher education courses in the context of those at the margins, and producing them effectively in order to transform the society; and
- Making effective and innovative use of virtual learning environments and tools of technology that support learning, such as tablets, e-readers, and mobile phones.[14]
Conclusion:
I would like to conclude with the words of Stephen Hawking in his book – Brief Answers to the Big Questions:
Let us fight for every woman and every man (and every child) to have the opportunity to live healthy, secure lives, full of opportunity and love. We are all time travellers, journeying together into the future. But let us work together to make that future a place we want to visit (together). Be brave, be curious, be determined, overcome the odds. It can be done[15] (and it should be done).
There is need for a holistic approach to effectively address the issue of refugee status. I am sure our discernment in common would help us find the ways and means and pave the path of hope for the affected.
Francis P Xavier SJ
21Jan2023
[1] https://www.unhcr.org/what-is-a-refugee.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internally_displaced_person
[3] https://www.unhcr.org/returnees.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migration
[5] https://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2022/#:~:text=NRC%2C%20February%202021-,People%20living%20in%20displacement,as%20a%20result%20of%20disasters.
[6] https://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance.html
[7] https://worldmigrationreport.iom.int/wmr-2020-interactive/
[8] https://reliefweb.int/report/world/10-facts-about-refugees?gclid=Cj0KCQiAn4SeBhCwARIsANeF9DIBHi4pgvLq9cZY8bFecRp7PHEe4rA3Vrk8tHEsGpq_xXPLmLSqjCYaAroBEALw_wcB
[9] F.P. Xavier, Jesuit Education, ATC, Bengaluru, 2020, p.63.
[10] https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/what-is-a-refugee/#:~:text=A%20refugee%20has%20a%20well,of%20refugees%20fleeing%20their%20countries.
[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_Refugee_Service
[12] F.P. Xavier, Jesuit Education, ATC, Bengaluru, 2020, p.63.
[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_Olympic_Team_at_the_Olympics
[14] F.P. Xavier, Jesuit Education, ATC, Bengaluru, 2020, p.62.
[15] S. Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, John Murray, London, 2018, p.22.