World Refugee Day should be an observance of communities that have opened their hearts and cities to those in need.<\/p>\n
While I have often expressed my thoughts about the Syrian, Palestinian and Iraqi refugees in\u00a0Lebanon, even including the burdens carried by\u00a0Jordan\u00a0and\u00a0Palestine, it is only a starting point for recognizing the awful global conditions of refugees, internally displaced peoples, undocumented migrants and stateless people that live in all corners of the globe.<\/p>\n
You have heard the numbers and they are all horrific, no matter how you rationalize them. For example,\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0published\u00a0a list of the 34,361 people\u00a0known to have died trying to reach Europe since the early 1990s. Ironically, according to\u00a0Vox, \u201cThe UN\u00a0defines a refugee\u00a0as \u2018someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence.\u2019 As of May, an estimated\u00a025.4 million refugees\u00a0around the globe have fled their homes to escape violence and persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet World Refugee Day on June 20 is not for mourning, as Vox notes, \u201cIt\u2019s a day that the United Nations created to celebrate the\u00a0resilience and courage\u00a0of refugees and their contributions to society.\u201d That is small comfort to the tens of millions of refugees, many fleeing persecution because of ethnic, religion, tribal or other confrontations over identity.<\/p>\n
More facts from the same\u00a0story:<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the end of last year, according to a recent\u00a0UNHCR report, there were 68.5 million forcibly displaced people in the world, including 25.4 million refugees. The number also includes about 40 million internally displaced people \u2014 people who were forced to leave their homes but are still in their home countries \u2014 and 3.1 million asylum seekers, or people who have applied for refugee status but are waiting for approval.<\/p>\n
2017 was the\u00a0sixth consecutive year\u00a0that the number of forcibly displaced people in the world surpassed peak World War II levels, and this year\u2019s reports indicate that that number is probably going to keep going up.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The majority of refugees right now are from Syria, where\u00a06.3 million people\u00a0have fled their country to escape the ongoing conflict there. European countries have also taken in asylum seekers from several other countries, like\u00a0Iraq and Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, how is it possible to celebrate resilience and courage when refugees face separation from their families, may be interred in inhospitable facilities, and deprived of basic services and support? It is more an observance of the survival instincts of the human condition, both for the refugees and for their host communities when they open their homes and share their resources with strangers.<\/p>\n
So while the Lebanese, Turks, Jordanians, Malays, Colombians, Ugandans, Pakistanis and others are bearing the burdens of those less fortunate, the US and Europe \u2014 most recently Italy \u2014 are responding by shutting down their borders. Here\u2019s a snapshot worth pondering:<\/p>\n
\u201cLast September, the US\u00a0dropped the refugee cap, which is the maximum number of refugees from anywhere to the US to just 45,000 people, the lowest number in years. And even though Syrians are the largest group of people fleeing conflict right now, from January to April of this year the US reportedly only accepted\u00a011 Syrian refugees.\u201d<\/p>\n
World Refugee Day should be an observance of communities like Rochester, Minnesota, Portland, Maine and Oakland, California, which have opened their hearts and cities to refugees and are benefiting from having inclusive and empowering populations driving sustainable economic growth.<\/p>\n
So, let\u2019s salute those host communities, international and local agencies, and refugees in Lebanon and elsewhere who are facing the challenges of remaking their lives under very difficult conditions. And let\u2019s continue to encourage the US and the international donor community to expand their humanitarian assistance to those in need.<\/p>\n