World Refugee Problem: The Next Big Challenge

Strange are the ways of the world - it needed the body of a child named Aylan Kurdi, drowned at the tender age of just three years, found on the beaches of Turkey, to shake the consciousness of humanity - to draw attention to the ever growing and enormous problem of refugees in the world. Alvin Toffler had written years ago in his best seller ‘Future Shock’ that unless a conscious effort was made to reduce the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, neither would a peaceful environment for the living exist nor would it be possible  to save the world from chaos and destruction.

It is a natural phenomenon that everyone is not endowed with similar capabilities and this is what makes everyone different, adding variety to the way the world exists. However this needs to be respected and recognized as such, without any conflict or indifference to each other. When taken together, this has given shape to various Nation States and continents on this planet that have assumed identities in a way beyond our imagination.  Yet what remained common were the inter-dependencies, the ‘Global Village’, what is better known in the Indian civilization as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.

Delving deeper into these connotations, the refugee problem amplifies a very narrow world view of ‘Self Growth’ with an aim of domination of one over the other. The effect of regime changes and the power vacuum left behind as a result, political and sectarian repression have contributed to this phenomenon. Concentration of enormous wealth in only some parts of the globe is only a tip of the iceberg that represents a spectrum of issues that have propelled the present problem into limelight. Refugees have been pouring into various nations from disturbed parts of the world, mainly from countries like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North-east Africa. The International Organization for Migration had calculated these figures for Europe alone at 2,19,000; whereas this figure has already crossed 3,50,000.[i]

The biggest driver of the present crisis by far is Syria. Four million people, nearly a fifth of the Syrian population, have fled the country since the war began in 2011. It is not hard to understand why Syrians are fleeing - Bashar-al-Assad’s regime has targeted  civilians ruthlessly including with chemical weapons and barrel bombs; ISIS has subjected Syrians to murder, torture, crucifixion, sexual slavery and other appalling atrocities; and other groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra have tortured and killed Syrians too. But it is not Syria  alone. Older, longer-running conflicts too have displaced people, for instance 1.1 million refugees from Somalia and 2.59 million from Afghanistan .[ii]

What is the solution to this problem? Well, there are as many solutions to any problem as the number of stake holders to an issue. To start with one must resist temptation to effect a change according to one’s own perceptions. ‘So be it’ should be the core of existence. The United Nations Organization must play a bigger role in this large humanitarian problem staring at the world in the present century. It should not be left to a group of nations to exploit the situation of disaster and impoverishment to their own advantage. The ‘Global Village’ has an obligation towards such displaced people and it must come forward to help their cause with compassion and not view them as a burden.

A report has also appeared in certain sections of the press that some rich individuals have come forward to buy an island to settle all such refugees? There cannot be more bizarre a solution; which sounds very close to the days when criminals used to be taken to isolated islands and left to fend for themselves. These refugees are the result of mayhem back home and now they are looking for places which are well-governed and peaceful. They are victims of a situation that is not their creation to say the least. So they need to be treated with care.

Apprehensions have also been expressed, very correctly, as regards the security challenges that are likely to surface in times to come as a result of the absorption of such migrants in the main stream of various nations. In fact, in the present context some nations are wary of the possibility of ISIS rank and file finding their way into other nations; to propagate their thought processes beyond their present areas of influence. In some cases it could well be that these refugees, few generations down the line, could get fired up by their own nationalism in order to demand that their home land be carved out in the country of their refuge. While there may be some truth in the expression of such insecurities for which answers need to be found, this must not come in the way of solving the current humanitarian crisis. In any case, while the present refugee problem may be a direct fallout of the West-Asian turmoil, when considered in the larger context of the problems of migrants across the globe, it assumes a very disproportionate dimensions that has the potential to destabilize certain regions. An analogous example could be the North-Eastern region of India.

Therefore the need of the hour is, not to find answers to these issues with surge of emotions but with a long-term perspective of serving the humanity; for that is the only way of showing the evolution of the present civilization to future generations.