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Thursday, 20 June 2013

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Plight of the UPROOTED

Today is World Refugee Day:

What if you were ever forced to leave everything behind and flee in search of safety, in order to survive? Torn between two decisions, would you choose to runaway or would you stay put, risking your life?

Where would you go, what would you take with you? So many questions. You cannot simply comprehend the situation without being in the position yourself. It would take no longer than a single minute for everything to change. To be a refugee, struggling to stay alive.

For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks. The most widespread of them all is the Africa Refugee Day which falls on June 20 every year. However, on December 4, 2000 the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) agreed to have the World Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on June 20 from 2001. This year, the world is focusing on the impact of conflict on the families through the theme of "1 Family Torn Apart by War is Too Many."

"Refugees are largely emerging in Africa. Comparatively, there aren't many refugees in Asia," said Professor Indralal De Silva, Senior Professor of Demography, University of Colombo, Senior Fellow - National Center for Advanced Studies (NCAD). "Refugees emerge due to reasons such as civil war, climatic changes or food shortages," he said further. These refugees are supported by the United Nations and the developed countries in the world.

"Some refugees in Africa got killed due to shortage of food, malaria and dengue.These African refugees were forced to have unprotected sex. Along with the refugee movement, the spreading of HIV/AIDS increased."

"But Sri Lankan refugees were in a better position." According to Prof. De Silva, some Sri Lankan Tamil refugees have gone to countries like Canada, India and Australia. One major factor that makes Sri Lankan refugees different from others is that "they were well educated. They were able to receive vocational training and to involve in businesses". Those who went from Sri Lanka to advanced countries know how to work and earn for themselves.

"Some refugees who had gone to India during the war have come back to Sri Lanka and resettled in the North. These refugees are not in a very good position. They are mostly older, less educated and female," he said.

Statistics

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) website, there are over 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world and of those UNHCR provides lifesaving assistance and protection to 34 million of them. This year, the UNHCR continues its award winning "1" campaign, asking us to take 1 minute to support a family forced to flee by raising funds at the UNHCR website.


Professor INDRALAL DE SILVA,
Senior Professor of Demography, University of
Colombo, Senior Fellow - National Center for
Advanced Studies (NCAD).

"Undocumented migrants are recognized as refugees by humanitarian countries," pointed out Prof. De Silva. "There have been instances when countries like Australia accepted this kind of refugees as their immigration law had facilities for them. There can be several root causes for this. Insecurity in homelands, economic inequalities, low employment opportunities, color barrier etc."

Physical security

What is missing? Why are so many forced to flee? The government of a country normally guarantees the basic human rights and physical security of its citizens. But when people become refugees, the safety net becomes insecure.

Refugees are often in a vulnerable situation. They are leaving their homeland and if other countries don't let them in or do not protect and help them once they are in, then they may find themselves in an intolerable situation where their basic rights, security and in some cases their lives are in danger.

"The basic human rights of the people should be safeguarded," he said. "Every country needs to treat every ethnic group equally in an unbiased manner. The development of a country should be a balanced one where everyone, including the minority groups gets to experience the benefits."

The economic status, employment opportunities of the people need to be taken care of. "The country may be a developing one, but the citizens should be promoted to respect their country. If every citizen does not get the benefits of development they might run away from their homeland "even as a refugee" he said.

To flee from home, your emotions in a mixture of terror and hope, not knowing what to expect but running away from what is behind you. To be empathetic toward such a situation, one does not need many words. Everyone deserves their place in this world.

A safe, sufficient place to call home. There shouldn't be any reason why some of us have it while others don't. At the end of the road there should be an oasis where the terror, the fear is gone and only hope and relief taking its place.

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