Unfortunately, Nigeria has also contributed to the devastating figure. According to the UNHCR report, as of May 2014, the total number of the displaced people in the country stood for 650,000, with 95,000 of them seeking asylum in the neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger. Is it possible to even imagine those enormous hardships the refugees all over the world (including Nigeria) are going through every day?
The turmoil of today’s world: leading writers respond to the refugee crisis
The Global Refugee Crisis, Region by Region
The right to seek protection or asylum in a rather peaceful and secure place, as well as in a holy place, is almost as old as the mankind itself. Though the practice has begun since time immemorial, the act was first codified in law in 600 AD in the ancient Greek and primeval Egyptian civilizations. The similar laws were implemented throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.
The related concept of political exiles also has a long history. Such was the case of François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), who sought asylum in England from France because of his frequent religious arguments for tolerance and freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and aristo-monarchical authority, and supported constitutional monarchy that protects people’s rights.
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia became a new system of political order in Central Europe based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states. It was a friendly and accommodating principle that made a citizen of one nation a virtual citizen of another sovereign state without any immigration procedures. Unfortunately, this policy didn’t last for too long. In the late 18th century, nationalism gained sufficient acceptance in Europe. Since that, the people were required to prove their identity before crossing a border. Consequently, refugees, who often did not have any documentÑ‹ proving their identity, could not seek asylum from tyrannies in their native countries.
The events unfolding in the world at different times gave birth to the new humanity theories. The World War II is a perfect example. It led to the creation of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to provide aid to the areas liberated from the Axis powers, including parts of Europe and China. By the end of the war, Europe had more than 40 million refugees. The UNRRA was involved in returning over seven million refugees, then commonly referred to as Displaced Persons or DPs. Immediately after the World War II, on April 20, 1946, the International Refugee Organization (IRO) was found. It assumed the functions of the UNRRA. Later it was followed by the formation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency, mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself, assist in their local integration or resettlement to a third country and arrange, organize and supervise their voluntary repatriation.
Syrian dimension
By 2014, Syria has appeared at the centre of the global refugee crisis, and discussions about its resolution dominated various world fora. As of February 2015, Turkey hosted 1.7 million Syrian refugees – more than any other country.It strikes the mind, why the world that hosted and rehabilitated 40 million refugees after the World War II, now considers the Syrian refugees as the “modern plague” that cannot be assisted. It poses a very big challenge to the UN Refugee Agency that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981. Its weak response to the sufferings of the Syrians in the hands of the terrorists, as well as the hypocritical powers mindlessly playing with millions of innocent lives like chess pawns, cannot but agitate any sane mind.
The entire world heaved a sigh of relief when the Israeli aggression towards the Palestinians receded, with the belief that never again shall we experience anything similar to the disasters like the II World War and Israeli carnage.
No doubt, the Israeli conflict has so far led to more than three million Palestinian refugees in different parts of the world, however, the pathetic situation in Syria seems to be the gargantuan tragedy.
An intriguing paradox
Syria is indeed a paradox – a nation at war with itself, physically and morally tormenting its own people. Like chess players, the super powers are currently displaying uncanny arrogance and utter disrespect to human lives by using innocent Syrian children, women and defenseless men as pawns. The complex crisis involves not only terrorism and recalcitrance of Assad, but also political intrigues – hence the current world’s disposition to the refugee crisis. Since the start of the imbroglio, none of the major game players has been to Syria sincerely for the sake of the Syrians. Each was eager to achieve a peculiar selfish goal.No doubt, Russia, America and Israel have aggravated the problem in Syria and rudely perpetrated many evils that perfectly fit into the theories of terrorism, just as other “servant states” like the depraved Saudi Arabia, France and England are being used as the tools for human destructions.
The pariah state of refugees
According to the findings, hundreds of thousands of Syrians, who have
fled the war to the Gulf States and Western nations, have become poorly
paid labourers. While few professionals among them have built lucrative
careers, most of them work as low-paid labourers who simply gave up
their rights to get menial jobs, and they could be forcefully deported
with no notice. Though regarded as “refugees”, they are neither
accorded support that come with legal refugee or asylum status, nor
offered a path to future citizenship benefits.New role of the UNHCR
So, nothing has changed after all as the UN has failed to live up to its very essence. The UN defines refugees as individuals who are outside their country of nationality or habitual residence because of fear of persecution, or unwilling to avail of the protection of that country, or to return there, for fear of persecution.Eventually, the only thing that has changed is the integrity of the UN that is being swallowed up by double standards and selfish interests of the evil forces. Another thing that has changed is the inclination of the people in the world. Many people had not not feel any concern for the Syrian refugees until the picture of the drowned Syrian boy went viral on the social media.
20 Striking Examples Of Humane Attitude From The Current Refugee Crisis
An appeal
It is high time people in the world came to their sanity. When it happened in Poland, the world, including some countries in Western Europe, felt unconcerned. When it occurred in Bosnia, the rest of the world stood akimbo. When it took place in Rwanda, the people of the globe kept criminal silence. When Israel slaughtered Palestinians, the world simply stood disgraced. When the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Anti-balaka terrorists maimed, raped and enslaved their victims in Congo and Central African Republic, the world felt unperturbed. As the UN and the world powers callously look away when the Syrians are being locally massacred, displaced and enslaved on the foreign soil, it is instructive to warn, particularly the beneficiaries of the present blood bath, that what goes around shall surely come around.The so-called Western apologists, who clothe themselves with the garment of human rights activists, especially in Africa and Asia, should wake up to their responsibility. Merely excusing their refusal to act in the face of crimes against humanity committed on a daily basis in Syria is unacceptable. It amounts to unwholesome pandering to the concocted theory and propaganda of the Western powers.
What is going on in Syria is simply a deliberate violation of humanity. It is so because some greedy homo sapiens, who have arrogated leadership of humanity to themselves, value their inordinate ambition above the same humans they claim to be leading.
