This is a series of two articles where you can read about what it means to be a refugee. In this first article you can read about how one becomes a refugee and which organizations are ready to help. In the next article you can read about what happens to refugees once they have left their countries and are trying to find new homes.
Within the international system there are many people who can no longer stay in their home country for several different reasons. These people have different circumstances and as such, are treated differently by the international community. According to the UN, a refugee, which is a very specific category, is a person who: “…owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted [mistreated] for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself [use]of the protection of that country.” What that means is that a refugee is a person who is, and has reason to be, scared to be in his home country. Although refugees are hard to count, as they are often coming out of very chaotic countries, and are often hiding from their governments, it is believed that there are approximately 19.5 million refugees all over the world.
In recent years, situations such as civil wars or conflicts in Syria, Iraq, North Sudan, South Sudan and the Congo have led to more people leaving their own countries as they do not feel safe under the protection of their governments. Because of the countries and regions refugees come from, and because they have often been through months or even years of conflicts before they flee their country, refugees are often very poor. This means that people often flee with nothing but the clothes they are wearing and what they can carry in a suitcase or a backpack. Imagine if you has to pack a backpack with all the things you would like to bring with you if you had to leave fast and don’t know when you can settle down again. What do you think you would bring? It is certainly not a lot and there is room for no luxury.
The United Nations, which is an international organization that is meant to maintain good relations and peace in the world, has its own agency dedicated specifically to refugees and other people of concern, such as people who have had to leave the city they live in, but have not crossed an international border (such people are called Internally Displaced Persons, or IDPs). This agency is called the united Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The UNHCR is one of the United Nation’s biggest organizations. Since it was created in 1951 to help the millions of refugees that the second world war had created, the UNHCR has helped tens of millions of refugees to ensure that they are as healthy and protected as possible.
Image 1: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2010/dec/07/skype-refugees-unhcr
Image 2 : http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/australia-to-take-in-500-syrian-refugees/story-fn9hm1gu-1226732292398
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