With every rotation of the Earth and every second the sun rises or sets here or there, millions of displaced people are ground down with their sad stories.
An article published by Amnesty International on its website tells the story of Omar, a 12-year-old Syrian refugee stranded in Sweden while his family tried to flee from Syria. The article highlights the challenges of refugee family reunification and the importance of this right. The story underscores the emotional and bureaucratic difficulties faced by refugee families and criticizes policies that delay reunification, emphasizing its vital role in helping refugees integrate and improve their mental health.
Definitions:
The United Nations classifies forcibly displaced persons into five categories: refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), stateless persons, and returnees.
Refugees are individuals forced to leave their country to protect their freedoms or save their lives because they do not receive protection from their own government, which is often the source of the threat and persecution. Suppose they are not allowed to enter other countries and are not granted protection and assistance upon entry. In that case, they are condemned to death or an intolerable life without means of livelihood or any rights.
Asylum seekers are individuals who claim to be refugees, but their request has not yet been evaluated or definitively decided. National asylum systems determine who among asylum seekers deserves international protection. Those who are proven through appropriate procedures not to be refugees or not in need of any other form of international protection can be returned to their home countries. The terms asylum seeker and refugee are often confused.
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are individuals or groups forced or compelled to flee their homes or habitual residences without crossing internationally recognized borders to avoid the effects of armed conflict, widespread violence, human rights violations, natural disasters, or human-made disasters. IDPs retain all their rights as citizens, including the right to protection under human rights and international humanitarian law. They are often incorrectly referred to as “refugees.”
Stateless persons are individuals who are not recognized as citizens by any country. Although stateless persons may sometimes be refugees, there is a distinction between the two categories. Statelessness can arise from various reasons, including discrimination against minorities in nationality laws and failure to include all resident populations.
Returnees are former refugees who have voluntarily and safely decided to return to their homes after being forced to leave. These individuals require ongoing support for reintegration and ensuring an environment that helps them rebuild their lives in their original homeland.
In an interview conducted by Qawl Fasel magazine with Amr El-Sharkawy, who went to Finland in 2017 as a practical trainee to fulfil one of the requirements for obtaining a master’s degree in Regional Integration and Cohesion, he met several asylum seekers in the country. He said, “The immense difficulties asylum seekers face include delays in obtaining the right to asylum and permanent residency, where their movement is restricted to designated areas, and they are not allowed to work until they officially receive asylum status.”
The researcher added that this delay is due to “stringent procedures for verifying the credibility of the asylum seeker’s case, in addition to administrative bureaucracy.”
The researcher also highlighted the psychological aspect experienced by asylum seekers, noting that the feeling of being in limbo for a long period gradually diminishes their enthusiasm and desire for self-development, leading them into a state of hibernation with no ambition, plans, or hopes.
Statistics
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) published a report in 2023 indicating that the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide reached 117.3 million due to persecution, conflicts, and public order disturbances. The report focused on five major countries producing asylum seekers: Afghanistan (6.4 million), Syria (6.4 million), Venezuela (6.1 million), Ukraine (6.0 million), and South Sudan (2.3 million).
Overall, the report highlighted that 43.4 million of the displaced individuals are classified as refugees, with 31.6 million under the UNHCR’s mandate, and 5.8 million in need of international protection. Additionally, the report noted that there are 6 million Palestinian refugees under the mandate of UNRWA.
United Nations Convention
The 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol state that “a refugee is someone who is outside their country of nationality or habitual residence due to a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and is unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country due to such fear.”
UNHCR has provided protection and assistance to millions of refugees, finding permanent solutions for many. Global migration patterns have become more complex in the modern era, encompassing millions of economic migrants. However, there is a fundamental difference between refugees and migrants, even if they use the same means of travel, and they should be treated differently under modern international law.
Economic migrants choose to leave their homes to improve their future and that of their families, while refugees are forced to leave to save their lives or freedom, often due to persecution by their own governments.
The rights enshrined in the convention include “protection from expulsion except by a judicial decision with the right to appeal, immunity from penalties for illegal entry or presence, the right to work, housing, education, public relief and assistance, the right to practice religion, access to courts, freedom of movement within the country, and the right to identity papers and travel documents.”
Some rights apply to all refugees, such as protection from forcible return (non-refoulement), and their rights increase the longer they stay in the host country.
The Global Compact on Refugees is divided into four sections: an introduction summarizing the compact and its guiding principles and objectives; a comprehensive refugee response framework agreed upon by member states; a program of action outlining concrete measures to achieve the compact’s objectives and areas needing support, from reception and admission to meeting needs, supporting communities, and providing solutions; and arrangements for follow-up and review.
The compact aims to enhance the international response to large refugee movements and ongoing refugee situations, share responsibility and burdens among countries, support refugees’ self-reliance, and expand access to solutions in third countries. It is based on principles of international cooperation and solidarity, ensuring that the needs of refugees and host communities are effectively and sustainably met.
Artistic and literary works
An article titled “Narratives of Empathy: Has ‘Refugee Cinema’ Balanced Politics and Humanity?” on the Future Center for Research and Studies website explores the concept of “refugee cinema” and how refugee films often address complex political issues while highlighting the human stories and struggles of displaced individuals.
The article discusses the importance of raising global awareness about refugee issues, particularly for Syrians and Sudanese, and how films have spotlighted the humanitarian challenges faced by refugees and displaced persons, going beyond typical political rhetoric.
It also reflects on the impact of films in changing global public perceptions of refugees, fostering empathy and solidarity.
Additionally, the article reviews specific films from various international festivals that addressed refugee issues, such as “Capernaum” and “The Swimmers,” and how these films transcended geographical and cultural boundaries to reach a wide global audience.
The article also touches on the challenges faced by host countries when making films about refugee issues, including economic and social pressures and the balance between assisting refugees and addressing the needs of host country citizens.
Finally, the article highlights the new crisis in Sudan and its impact on displaced persons and refugees, focusing on how cinema can draw global attention to this new humanitarian crisis.
In an article on Al Jazeera’s website, Arif Hamza noted that the phenomenon of asylum has given literature a special momentum. After the emergence of migration literature, exile literature, prison literature, and feminist literature, we now have asylum literature, “which raises a serious question: doesn’t asylum literature belong to exile literature and, to some extent, migration literature?” Closely related is another genre known as “Palestinian diaspora and exile literature.”
Sana Aoun, a Syrian writer living in Norway, has written a new short story collection that has reached the long list for the Almultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story in Kuwait. The collection, “Where the Compass Points,” was published by Almutawassit in 2018 and includes ten short stories that highlight Syrian life at the moment of farewell. Through popular characters and the voices of objects, the stories express loss and fear, using writing as a reversed compass.
Visual artists have also engaged with the theme of asylum. Paintings like James McBey’s “A Refugee Camp: Armenian Refugees in Port Said” (1917) depicted this issue early on. The painting shows the Port Said coast, with two men and another figure in the water in the foreground, a ship docked on the shore behind them, a group of Armenian refugees gathered on the ground next to a tent or building, a boat with a white sail in the water, and a bustling dock in the distance.
Suffering of refugees
In an article on the Daraj website, Charbel Khoury recounts the story of an Afghan teenager who lived and worked in Turkey for a year. He struggled to obtain an identity card or Turkish documents while fearing deportation to Afghanistan. After saving some money, he decided to go to Greece for a better life, believing the government would support him since he was underage.
His journey took dangerous turns as he tried to reach Greece several times, only to return to Turkey each time.
Khoury also highlights the traffickers who exploit refugees in Turkey and Greece, offering help in exchange for money, then stripping them of their independence and freedom, subjecting them to various forms of abuse. Despite international laws prohibiting human trafficking practices, they continue to persist and increase.
The Bonyan Organization noted on its website the common needs of refugees, such as widespread malnutrition in refugee camps, exposing children to diseases due to weakened immunity. Children need supplements and nutrients for a healthy life. Refugees also lack cooking tools, essential hygiene materials to protect against diseases, proper clothing and shoes for changing weather, and school supplies for children to support their mental health and ensure a better future.
The organization also pointed out that during winter, refugees suffer from dampness and water leakage inside their tents, which threatens their lives. They urgently need winter supplies such as insulated tents and heaters to combat the cold, as well as in-kind and financial donations that make a significant difference in their lives and provide them with dignity.
According to the UNHCR website, the number of UNHCR staff reached 20,739, with 91% in field offices. In 2022, the agency operated on a budget of $10.714 billion, relying heavily on voluntary donations to fund ongoing operations and emergencies.
If this amount were distributed in cash to the 117.3 million forcibly displaced persons, the average per capita share would be about $80 per year, not accounting for staff salaries, operating expenses, and infrastructure costs, which consume a considerable portion of this already limited amount.
The Returnees from Refuge
A study titled “Marginalized Voices: What Syrian Refugees Need to Return Home,” conducted by researchers Maha Yahya, Jean Kassir, and Khalil Hariri, found that as the Syrian regime regained control over several areas, calls for refugees to return home intensified. However, the refugees demand guarantees that have long been neglected.
The Carnegie Middle East Center listened to the concerns of refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. It revealed that they do not wish to return without a political transition that ensures their safety, security, and justice.
Syrian refugees feel trapped between the host countries and Syria, perceiving a Syrian peace agreement as unattainable. They demand safety and security guarantees and do not trust the political actors in Syria.
The study indicates that the large influx of refugees in Lebanon and Jordan has put immense pressure on state institutions, exacerbating economic, financial, and infrastructure problems. It has also limited economic opportunities, leading to intense competition between refugees and host communities for unskilled jobs and services, thus fueling sectarian, demographic, and security concerns.
Notably, the issue of refugees in recent decades has surfaced in Western media debates, with some supporting the opening of doors for humanitarian reasons. In contrast, others fear for the economic interests and cultural identity of Western societies in the face of a “flood” of refugees.
This is all for domestic electoral purposes. In the midst of this political clamour, any objective critique of the West’s role in supporting dictatorships and exploiting resources in parts of the world that consequently explode, driving people to flee horrific living conditions, is lost. In such a context, crossing tumultuous seas in rickety boats becomes the lesser of two evils.
