P.A.Chacko S.J.
The Migrant and Refugee crisis is worsening day by day. According to UNHCR, there are at least 89.3 million people around the world forced to flee their homes. Among them are nearly 27.1 million refugees, around half of whom are under the age of 18. There are also millions of stateless people, who have been denied a nationality or could not have access to basic rights such as education, health care, employment and freedom of movement. One in every 88 people on earth has been forced to flee.
There are Push and Pull factors that case this crisis. Studies point out three such Push and Pull factors. One: Socio-political factors: Such as persecution because of one’s ethnicity, religion, race, politics or culture can push people to leave their country. The pull factor is that people move to nearest safer counties or countries having liberal and humanitarian approaches to migrants and refugees.
Two. Demographic and economic factors: Push factors include labour standards, unemployment and the worsening health of a country’s economy. Pull factors include higher wages, better employment opportunities, a higher standard of living and educational opportunities. Three: Environmental factors: Natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes or climate change. As for environmental migrants, estimates vary from 25 million to one billion by the year 2050.
UNHCR’s Global Trends Report, published in June 2022 reveals the following: 89.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced at the end of 2021 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. Among them 27.1 million were refugees, 21.3 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate, 5.8 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate, 53.2 million internally displaced people, and 4.6 million asylum seekers. 83% are hosted in low- and middle-income countries and 72% are hosted in neighbouring countries. 69% originated from just five countries
Eritrea’s more than 10% of the population, over 492,000, now live as refugees due to social and political instability and violence. In Central African Republic the refugees numbered over 713,000 at the end of 2021. In Somalia, at the end of 2020, there were an estimated 790,000. A 25-year armed conflict exacerbated the problem. Many Somali refugees have found Ethiopia, Kenya, and even Yemen to be safer alternatives. From Sudan, as of December 2021, over 805,000 Sudanese fled due to protracted violence or climate change-induced drought and famine.
The Democratic Republic of Congo recorded over 864,000 Congolese refugees in 2021. This is in addition to over 4.5 million Congolese displaced within their own country due to violence in the Kasai, Tanganyika, Ituri, and Kivu regions. The Rohingya crisis revealed that since August 25, 2017, over 1.1 million Rohingya refugees have fled the ongoing violence in Myanmar. Many of the stateless Rohingya have wound up in what is known as the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
In South Sudan, since December 2013, due to conflicts nearly 4 million people fled from their homes. 1 in 10, that is 2.6 million, refugees are Afghan by birth in Afghanistan. More than 88% of Afghan refugees are hosted in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. The Ukraine crisis has made Ukraine the second-largest country of origin for the global refugee population. As of April 25, 2022, over 5.2 million Ukrainians fled the country.
As far as Syria is concerned, over 25% of the total global refugee population are part of the global diaspora in the wake of the 10-year Syrian crisis. As of 2021, 6.7 million Syrians sought refuge, primarily in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey. Syrians displaced within their own country number over 6.6 million, driven from their homes and forced to resettle; 2.98 million remain in hard-to-reach and besieged areas.
Such humanitarian crisis is mindboggling. In one way of speaking, it is ‘man’s inhumanity to man.’ Wars, internal conflicts, authoritarian and fundamentalist governments, poverty etc. are decidedly man-made. Even natural calamities such as floods, drought, famine, etc. are, in great part, caused by our avaricious onslaught on nature and natural resources.
In a humanitarian way His Holiness, Pope Francis addresses the world to step in to redress the crisis situation of migrants and refugees at our door steps. The Pope has proposed the theme for the 108th World Day of migrants and Refugees(WDMR) 2022, as “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees.”
The Pope quotes Isaiah’s prophecy to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ”Your gates shall always be open; day and night they shall not be shut, so that nations shall bring you their wealth.” ( Is. 60.11.) “The presence of migrants and refugees represents a great challenge, but, at the same time, an immense opportunity for cultural and spiritual growth for everyone. Thanks to them, we have the chance to know better our world and its beautiful diversity,” says the Pope. He goes on to say, “We can grow in our common humanity and build together an ever greater sense of togetherness. Openness to one another creates spaces of fruitful exchange between different visions and traditions, and opens minds to new horizons. It also leads to a discovery of the richness present in other religions and forms of spirituality unfamiliar to us, and this helps us to deepen our own convictions.”
The Pope calls upon all men and women of the world that we may “…build the future today! For, the future begins today and it begins with each of us. We cannot leave to future generations the burden of responsibility for decisions that need to be made now, so that God’s plan for the world may be realized and his Kingdom of justice, fraternity and peace may come.”
The Pope ends his exhortation with a short payer: “Let us pray: Lord, make us builders of your Kingdom, together with migrants and refugees and with all who dwell on the peripheries.”