What is in a definition?
The term refugee entered into international law following a refugee conference in Geneva in 1951 in relation to 50 million refugees created following WW-II. This definition agreed upon by 26 countries defined refugee as a person who has a ‘well-founded fear of being prosecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion and, who on account of that fear is unwilling to return to their country of origin’.
While the criteria mentioned in the 1951 convention still holds true there are now new conditions such as extreme poverty, unprovoked wars, displacement due to massive natural disasters and lack of opportunities in their own countries which pushes people to seek asylum in another country – to become a refugee. But they are called economic migrants. All in all, the definition of refugee, basically seeking asylum, is being challenged but it is unlikely to be reviewed.
Current refugees
Palestinians are possibly the best-known refugee created due to apartheid political system and blatant racial discrimination. Other religiously persecuted minorities include Hindu minority in Pakistan and in Indian Kashmir, Rohyinga minority in Myanmar, etc. In recent times there are millions of helpless people displaced by wars in the Middle East such as Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, etc. They are not fleeing their countries because of prosecution but because of the destruction of their country and economy to bring ‘democracy’.
Other than these persecuted groups, the largest majority of people fleeing their countries seeking asylum elsewhere are largely from the continent of Africa mostly due to economic reasons.
According to UNHCR at the end of 2022 there are 108 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, of whom 62.5 million were internally displaced and 35.3 million were refugees. 52% of the refugees were from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. These people had to leave their country not because of fear of prosecution or religion or race or nationality or belonging to any social group. The traditional definition of refugee does not apply to this group of people. They had to flee because of an unprovoked attack on their countries which forced them to seek asylum in another country. Ukrainian refugees were welcomed with open arms in several EU countries and Canada while there were not many open doors for Syrians and Afghans. It was just Turkey, Iran, Germany, Colombia and Pakistan which received Syrians and Afghans.
Of the 108 million forcibly displaced 43.3 million were children, with 1.9 million being born in various camps - born as refugees, hence stateless by birth.
Why do we have refugees?
Everyone knows the answer(s) to this question but no one acknowledges it. Why? Most global statesmen make a song and dance around the issue of refugees but shy away from solving the root cause of the problem. With the spread of democracy, human rights and equality, supposedly with equal opportunities for everyone no country is expected to have any problem of opportunities. Why do we still have refugees, prosecuted as well as the “economic migrants”? There are two main intertwined issues.
Most countries are blessed with natural resources yet, their economy is at the bottom of the rung. The more natural resources you have the poorer you are, a paradox. Take for example Democratic Republic of Congo. This country could have been the richest country in Africa with all the natural resources under its soils. But it is still among the poorest in Africa. DRC is 76 times the size of the country which colonised and exploited it for decades. Following the departure of the coloniser the government was still under the grip of Western powers for decades monopolising its resources. The UN even lost one of its honest diplomats who believed in humanity, Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld trying to solve the crisis in DRC.
Despite being rich in natural resources these countries do not have the required technology to refine the ores to export finished product(s). Instead, natural resources are simply extracted and exported under long term contracts with multinational companies. This is the long-standing practice in all resource countries. Local people work in these mines in slave-like conditions while the Western countries and global statesmen preach labour rights and human rights to these countries.
The recent news from Niger is a mirror image of DRC. It is the seventh largest uranium producing country in the world but it has no technology to refine the ore. It simply exports the ore to the industrialised countries. It has had a series of ‘democratically elected’ puppet heads of state and the government. There is no reason for people to wonder why there was a coup d’état in Niger and very visible resentments against the West. You might like to watch the 2010 movie ‘Fair game’ partly based on uranium in Niger. This situation is true in several other African countries.
In many resource-rich and geopolitically important countries, who becomes the head of state and what kind of government is to be installed is usually decided in far-away capitals. Of course, to bring democracy and to promote human rights is always on the top of agenda. The top layer of bureaucrats enjoys the riches of their natural resources, fully protected by the rich countries while the majority continue to suffer, ready to flee the country.
What are the alternatives for the poor citizens in these countries? They become refugees! But they are labelled as economic migrants. If there was a fair trade and fair deal there is no reason for people from these countries to become refugees.
There is yet another category of refugee created by the environmental catastrophe - drought, floods, extreme temperatures. Large plots of lands have become uncultivable due to drought. To add insult to injury, the spread of GMO for cash crops which requires a variety of pesticides and herbicides have killed soil fertility in low-income countries. In addition, millions of cultivable lands have been brought by rich countries to grow biofuel. This is done in collaboration with corrupt governments in low-income countries.
Where will people go to make a living? Become a refugee!
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