WORLD REFUGEE DAY - June 20, 2021
“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the stranger, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Dt. 10:17-19.
World Refugee Day, what does that title bring to your mind? The many Syrian refugees who made it to Canada in the last 7 years or so, or the endless stream of Rohingiya that fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh? Do you know that there are more than 79.5 million refugees and displaced people worldwide?
The UNHCR – the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – established by the General Assembly of the UN in 1951 and ratified by 145 states, works in 135 states trying to help stateless people and refugees displaced by violence, conflict, and persecution. Climate change also brings about more and more refugees but no legal path for their safety has yet been established.
The latest wave of refugees has come from the city of Goma, Province of North Kivu, and its surrounding area, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an area already plagued by many problems. There, on June 1st the Nyiragongo volcano erupted, causing some 450,000 people to flee. The UNHCR is preparing places for some of these refugees in neighbouring Rwanda at the Busamana Congolese refugee site.
Let us also not forget the over 72,000 Palestinians from the Gaza strip displaced by the Israeli-Palestinian hostility last month. That probably brings the total number of displaced persons and refugees to 80 million.
Half of the world’s refugees are children. In 2019, more than two-thirds of all refugees came from just five countries: Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Myanmar. Currently, Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees, 3.6 million and Colombia is hosting 1.8 million Venezuelans. In 2019 only half a per cent of the world’s refugees were resettled and last year, because of Covid-19, the number was most likely much less. Over the past decade, just over one million refugees were resettled, compared to 3.9 million refugees who returned to their countries. As always 85% of refugees are being hosted in developing countries. What does that picture tell us?
“Wealthier countries aren’t doing nearly enough to share the cost of protecting people who have left everything behind. Appeals for humanitarian assistance for refugees are consistently – and often severely – underfunded.” (A.I.) “Many wealthier states continue to prioritize policies that will deter people from seeking asylum and finding ways to stop people coming altogether”. (A.I.) This, in turn, leads to desperate refugees having to take greater risks, such as handing themselves over to traffickers, getting into unseaworthy vessels, etc.
Manyovu Transit Camp
Canadians have tried to do their best, especially through sponsoring many Syrian refugees. That is to be applauded but it is only a drop in the bucket! For example, 2 years ago, a Karen sponsored refugee family, that had been living in refugee camps for 20 years, – all their children were born in refugee camps – came to St. Michael’s R.C. Parish. What an endless time of languishing and hoping, hoping and hoping…Thankfully, they are settling in more and more!
Have you ever noticed how some of the Psalms speak of what refugees go through every day? Pray these Psalms for them to keep up their courage.
How does the lack of money given to UNHCR show in the everyday life of refugees? From personal sponsoring experience with four young adult refugees, regarded as a family, I can tell you how small and extremely simple their food ration is: for one month they receive: 40 kg of cornflower, 12 kg of beans, 1 litre of vegetable oil and 0.4 gr. of salt. That is it for food for one month for a 4-member adult family! They also receive 1 small piece of soap each for 2 months! No feminine hygiene products are provided.
We all know that the UN can only do what its member states agree to. It seems even worse with UNHCR: UNHCR depends on the goodwill of the country in which it is operating. For example, to get refugee identity papers corrected can take forever if the country you landed in, is not favourably disposed to refugees or to a certain nationality, and who can blame them if they are carrying a much heavier weight than countries that have greater means to support refugees?
We are getting to the root of the problem. As A.I. puts it: “In short, the world urgently needs a new, global plan based on genuine international cooperation and a meaningful sharing of responsibilities.” Doesn’t that echo Pope Francis’ encyclicals of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti?
We need to use our power as citizens in lobbying for worthwhile humanitarian causes and bring them to the fore in election periods. We need to be aware of what our federal budget is used for and what Canadian foreign policies can help stem the flow of refugees. And next, are regulations set in place to prevent human rights and environmental abuses, for example in Canadian mining companies operating globally - being observed, controlled, and enforced if not?
We need to support refugee agencies financially, if able. The Covid-19 recession is expected to push 115 million people into extreme poverty. During this month of June there is a chance for UNHCR and/or Development and Peace and probably A.I. as well, to win $ 20,000.00 if you donate to one of these organizations on the Canada Helps platform. Or again, try to be ready to help with government or privately sponsored refugees, as this last part of 2021 could well overwhelm supportive agencies if, to make up for the sponsorships postponed or delayed because of Covid-19, too many refugees arrive all at once. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by your newfound friends!
And in the spirit of anti-racism, if you can, give a refugee a job, no matter from what country they come! Their hard work will please you and will quickly make up for any early language barriers you may have to struggle with.
Through your companionship with refugees or your work for refugees on whatever level, may you experience Christ’s promise:
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing….
Lord, and when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” Mt. 25: 34-35; 38, 40.
-Sister Maria van Leeuwen, C.S.J.
[Basic statistics and information based on UNHCR-Canada, Amnesty International, Development and Peace, plus personal experience.]
June 20 is World Refugee Day. See how you can get involved in refugee support with this toolkit from the UN Refugee Agency. #WorldRefugeeDay
https://www.unhcr.org/609553414/world-refugee-day-2021-toolkit-pdf