World Refugee Day

[PMC]

World Refugee Day brings bad news. For the first time since World War II, the total number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people worldwide has surpassed 50 million.

The UNHCR reports a jump of six million, compared to 2012, to 51.2. The war in Syria contributed the most to this.

The UN refugee agency’s High Commissioner, Antonio Guterres, said: “There is a general sense of impunity. Conflicts emerge, dramatic violations of human rights appear and the international community has lost much of its capacity to prevent conflicts and solve them (in a timely way).”

Afghans are the most numerous (2.5 million) among the world’s refugees, then Syrians (2.4 million) and Somalis (1.1 million) Together; they account for more than half of the global total.

Lebanon is host to by far the greatest proportion of refugees in relation to its population: 178 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, followed by Jordan (88), Chad (34), and Mauritania (24).

Guterres said: “The solution is political. There is only one way to stop displacement: it’s to stop conflicts; it's making rouge states accountable; it is to find peace. And that capacity is what is lacking in today’s world.”

This also means failing to manage hunger crises in entire regions. Most of the more than 220,000 people who have fled the conflict in the Central African Republic into neighbouring countries — Chad, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo — are women and children. Many of the children are malnourished.

Refugee and mother Izungu Laris said: “We don’t have food here. There used to be enough, but there are more people now, and there’s very little food. We want food.”

The world’s refugees are outnumbered by far by internally displaced people. They are forced to flee their homes, but stay inside their own countries. The UN reckons there are 33 million of them.

All this fleeing inevitably puts a strain on resources. It can destabilise a host country and bring internal conflict. Throughout the Syrian crisis, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have kept their borders open. There are now one million Syrian refugees in Turkey — all needing to be sheltered and fed.

Copyright © 2014 euronews

[NP99]

If the UN grew a set, it might be a start in the right direction...

[cgm]

This can be a difficult conversation and quickly descends to politics rather than being focused on people. I hate politics really.

Difficult to word this in a careful way so that no-one misunderstands what I mean. Having travelled a small amount, one thing I do know is that I really appreciate being born and raised here in Australia. Australia is a top place and we are very fortunate as Australians not to be in either categories mentioned above - displaced or refugee. I know some people have different and difficult things to struggle with (and I'm not trying to say that's not real), but for most of us our problems are not really that big. There are options and people around here in Aus who care and can help. A lot of these other people don't get those options.

[NP99]

Agree mate, I've travelled a lot and always appreciate I was fortunate to be born and raised here.

[Drewboyaus]

Agreed. x2 on the above comments, I too have travelled quite extensively and have lived in a few different places around the world. I always appreciate my good fortune to have been born here. The OP certainly gives some perspective when it comes to those who seek asylum in our fine country
While hoping to avoid being political, the above article that PMC has posted also highlights how relatively few refugees and asylum seekers Australia receive by comparison with other countries......many of those significantly less able to bear the financial burden of that than we are.
Sometimes you need to be thankful for what you have and not worry about what the "other bloke" May or may not be up to.....

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[NP99]

One of the best guys living here. His book was a great read.
..............

Anh Do and his family fled to Australia as refugees in 1980.[2] In his 2010 autobiography, The Happiest Refugee, Do tells of how his family, survived five days in a leaky fishing boat nine and a half metres long and two metres wide. During the trip his family and the rest of the passengers were attacked by two different bands of pirates. The first group stole one out of the two engines and the second group of pirates stole the second engine, which had been broken but repaired by Anh's father using a piece of rubber from a thong. It was reported that as the second band of pirates left one of them, threw a gallon of water onboard which kept all but one of the refugees alive, until they were finally rescued by a German Merchant ship.[3] The boat was packed with 40 Vietnamese refugees fleeing across the Indian Ocean. “We were crammed in like sardines,” he said.[4] The Happiest Refugee has won many awards, including the 2011 Australian Book of the Year, Biography of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, as well as the Indie Book of the Year Award 2011, Non-fiction Indie Book of the Year 2011, and it was shortlisted for the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award.[5]

[Avo]

One of the best guys living here. His book was a great read.
..............

Anh Do and his family fled to Australia as refugees in 1980.[2] In his 2010 autobiography, The Happiest Refugee, Do tells of how his family, survived five days in a leaky fishing boat nine and a half metres long and two metres wide. During the trip his family and the rest of the passengers were attacked by two different bands of pirates. The first group stole one out of the two engines and the second group of pirates stole the second engine, which had been broken but repaired by Anh's father using a piece of rubber from a thong. It was reported that as the second band of pirates left one of them, threw a gallon of water onboard which kept all but one of the refugees alive, until they were finally rescued by a German Merchant ship.[3] The boat was packed with 40 Vietnamese refugees fleeing across the Indian Ocean. “We were crammed in like sardines,” he said.[4] The Happiest Refugee has won many awards, including the 2011 Australian Book of the Year, Biography of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, as well as the Indie Book of the Year Award 2011, Non-fiction Indie Book of the Year 2011, and it was shortlisted for the 2011 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award.[5]

It's just a shame there not all like him..

[Hodge]

I'm not afraid to admit I arrived here 20 years ago due to a conflict in Europe. Not on a boat though, and kind of as a refugee, as we weren't desperate to leave, but life ahead back there showed no promise. Since my uncle lived here we chose to give this country a shot... And I'm bloody happy to say we made a good choice and I haven't looked back since. Nor do I intend to go back there ever again...
Others choose to go overseas for holidays, like Bali, Thailand, USA etc... I'm much more than happy to stay on this firm ground personally. So much of this country to see and do, why the hell would you go anywhere else? I've seen more of Aus than most people that I know who were born here have, and a lot of times, ever will. And I don't intend to stop. I'm pretty certain that I cannot be thankful enough to be given an opportunity to start a new life here back then...

One thing is true though...
A lot of people though have no idea how good they have it here and how lucky we are, amongst all the other s*** thats happening all over the world today. That goes for a lot of people foreign to Aus, and a lot of people who were born and bred here.

[Avo]

Maybe I could have worded what I said differently,Sorry to those I may have offended...We are lucky here we just don't hear to much of the ones that have made the effort and are making this a better place for themselves and us as a country..when all this boat people crap was a political storm I googled boat people in Italy.They received 1600 people on 2 boats in 1 day..I often wondered about why we make such a big deal of it all.

[Drewboyaus]

Maybe I could have worded what I said differently,Sorry to those I may have offended...We are lucky here we just don't hear to much of the ones that have made the effort and are making this a better place for themselves and us as a country..when all this boat people crap was a political storm I googled boat people in Italy.They received 1600 people on 2 boats in 1 day..I often wondered about why we make such a big deal of it all.

I was going to say that the vast majority are just like him. Hard working folks in search of an opportunity to help themselves and their children have a better life......
As far as why such a big deal gets made of the arrival of our pitiful number of boat people.....that would be getting political and I don't want to be moderated! LOL

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