Monday, November 10, 2008

A Closer Look On Refugees as a Global Issue...

1 comment

Today, I have just realized how lucky I am... that despite of all the problems this world tries to offer me, still I am lucky. I have my country... I have my home... and above all, I have my family.

And today, a tear from my eyes again fell...

... Today, over 10,000 bloggers from around the world will unite to raise our voices on behalf of more than 40 million voiceless refugees. To ask the world to face the atrocities so many human beings must endure and to join hearts and minds to help bring forward information, understanding and action.

But who really are they? Who are these voiceless refugees?

The way I see it, refugees are victims or sufferers of torture...

Accordingly, a refugee is someone with a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion, who is outside of his or her country of nationality and unable or unwilling to return. Refugees are forced from their countries by war, civil conflict, political strife or gross human rights abuses.

The issue on Refugees is a major global challenge which faces all nations in modern times. Since earliest recorded times there have been instances of large numbers of displaced peoples forced to move from their homelands. In the modern world, thanks to telecommunications, we hear of these events immediately as they occur and we feel the urge to respond. However, there is often a great difference between what we believe we should feel and what we actually feel.

On the theoretical level we feel sympathy for these sufferers. They are the underdog. Pictures of distressed women and children evoke in us an instant sense of outrage and a longing to help. On the other hand the reality is not so romantic. Some people see asylum seekers as out to get their jobs. They often have different customs to us. They quickly become ghettoized in the host country. Their color or their language sets them apart. More than food and shelter, the most difficult challenge to be tackled is that of the harmonization of relations between refugees and the host population.

This is a huge global problem and can only be tackled as such, on the macro level, by governments and governmental agencies. However, as with so many large problems, the efficacy of the solution depends on the quality of work done at local level. Merely providing aid is not enough. The issue must also be managed properly and sensitively by the people most closely involved with refugees.

As an individual or a group and as a person, we could make a difference. All we need is to get involved. And like what a certain blogger have told me, "Educate yourself. See what you can do to help. It’s a small world and it’s getting smaller and it is no time to be living in a bubble."

Remember that this global issue, is not just my issue, is not just your issue, is not just his/her issue, and is not just their issue... it is our issue.


1 COMMENTS:

Fransiska Ike said...

The solution's pretty simple, stop the friggin' wars. People are constantly forced to be Refugees because of wars.

Wars have wasted too many lives in the past...

When can this world have its peace?