Looking For A Middle Ground

June 20 is observed each year as World Refugee Day, dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees and celebrating their resilience and courage, throughout the world. A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution was or violence. They are displaced person forced to cross international boundaries. The decision to celebrate June 20 as World Refugee Day was first decided on December 4, 2000, but how far have we reached in these 19 years.

The number of refugees has doubled since the declaration of observing World Refugee Day. According to UNHCR, there are 65.3 million forcibly displaced people around the world. Out of all the refugees, 51% are under the age of 18. The world’s largest refugee camp is located in Kenya which is home to more than 329,000 people. More than half of the world’s refugees are from just three countries – Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia. 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries.

I would like to quote Nadia Hashimi’s words,

Refugees didn’t just escape a place. They had to escape a thousand memories until they’d put enough time and distance between them and their misery to wake to a better day.

The image of Alan Kurdi was in headlines worldwide after he drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. The three-year-old was in the boat that was trying to escape Syria and reach Canada. Sometimes the images that are captured are so powerful that one can’t ignore what it is showing.

No one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land.

Refugees are dumped into camps that are infected with rats. They are less dangerous than refugee’s native home but the living condition is horrible. The poorest countries house the most refugees and immigrants while the richer nations are usually unwelcoming.

Refugees are not the enemy. Nor they are the terrorist. They are the first victims of terrorists. The refugee crisis is no less than a “human Catastrophe”.No one leaves home unless living there is no less than skating on thin ice. All they need is recognition, validation and a safe home. The most disturbing thing about their journey is that they don’t even know when, where and how it is going to end. The only constant in the journey is the waiting, the waiting to return to the lost home.