World Refugee Day 2022 : Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety

 

Today is World Refugee Day, and sadly the number of displaced people worldwide is at an all-time high.No one is born a refugee, but everyone can forcedly become displaced from their home for many different reasons: war, poverty, famine, violence and natural disasters are among them. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, “The international community is failing to prevent violence, persecution and human rights violations, which continue to drive people from their homes. In addition, the effects of climate change are exacerbating existing vulnerabilities in many areas.”

World Refugee Day has been marked on 20 June, ever since the UN General Assembly, on 4 December 2000, adopted resolution 55/76 where it noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of  Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June.

The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in over 100 countries, involving government officials, aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves.

World Refugee Day celebrates the sacrifice and courage of millions of people who were forced by conflict, persecution or natural disasters to leave their homes and countries to safeguard their families and ensure their survival and  focuses on the right to seek safety, including safe borders, not forcing anyone back if doing so would jeopardize their life or freedom and the right to non-discriminatory, humane treatment. It is worth acknowledging their plight, the causes that contribute to this human migration and tragedy, and the response of the world community.

Refugees leave everything behind, including their livelihoods and professions, and begin a new life in new places, sometimes as close as a few kilometres across the border, where their homeland remains on the horizon, a stark reminder of a home they may never see again.

World Refugee Day 2022 Theme is : “Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety.”   

Whoever they are, people forced to flee should be treated with dignity. Anyone can seek protection, regardless of who they are or what they believe. It is non-negotiable: seeking safety is a human right.

Wherever they come from, people forced to flee should be welcomed. Refugees come from all over the globe. To get out of harm’s way, they might take a plane, a boat, or travel on foot. What remains universal is the right to seek safety.

Whenever people are forced to flee, they have a right to be protected. Whatever the threat.whether it be  war, violence, persecution, everyone deserves protection. Everyone has a right to be safe.

World Refugee Day is a chance to recognise and celebrate the strength and resilience of refugees and people seeking asylum in rebuilding their lives and the incredible contribution they make to our communities and an occasion to build empathy and understanding for their plight.

It also  underscores the precious right to seek asylum, a fundamental human right, which is clearly needed in our world today. With  discrimination of asylum seekers in the UK and elsewhere, we need this message more than ever. .

This World Refugee Day as a result of an increase in conflicts and the impacts of climate change in the past decade, globally the refugee population has more than doubled, meaning the refugee crisis is getting worse. According to the UNHCR, an unprecedented 100 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes.This is an increase of 20 million over the past two years alone, among them are more than 26.4 million refugees, which is the  largest number in known history, where there’s this many people that have been forcibly displaced.

As if that figure wasn’t worrying enough, almost 40 per cent of that figure are children, of whom 21 million are classified as starving. And in some parts of the world, this is leading to unimaginable situations such as children going without food for days or even weeks and mothers having to decide which of their children will eat and which won’t.

The United Nations also says the number of countries affected by conflict is double what it was a decade ago. An obvious driver of the increase is the conflict in Ukraine, from where seven million people have fled. However, the biggest contributor to the number of displaced people continues to be Syria, where a staggering 30 million are displaced inside the country and another five million abroad. In Afghanistan, more than six million people are forcibly displaced.

And there is a very complex crisis in the Sahel region in Africa – a wide band of countries including Burkina Faso, Somalia and Sudan that are mostly in conflict and are experiencing years of heatwaves, droughts and crop failures that sees children and families not forgetting severe flooding in Bangladesh, India and South Africa.and the ongoing crisis of Yemen,

Ongoing conflict and the impact of COVID-19  is forcing more and more people to flee their homes, and together with the crisis of climate change, which is fuelled  by rich countries  is reinforcing underlying vulnerabilities. Alongside the trauma of the journey itself, of fleeing violence and conflict, after undertaking dangerous perilous journeys there is also the trauma of trying to settle in a new place. The scale of a refugee crisis like this can be difficult to comprehend unless one has experienced it firsthand. 

Days like World Refugee Day can at least help raise awareness about the suffering so many people face around the world and help shine a light on the right, needs and dreams of refugees, helping to mobilize political will and resources so refugees can not only survive ut also thrive. While it is importnt to protect and improve the lives of refugees every single day, international days like World Refugee Day help focus gloal attention on the plight of thosefleeing conflict or persecution. Many activities held on World Refugee Day create opportunities to support refugees. 

The response of neighbouring countries to the flood of refugees from Ukraine has been heartening, but   more often, refugees from other regions are demonised and shut out with no access to medical care, no right to work, and no social safety nets. Instead of offering them the protection that they need, basic human universal human rights, which is seeking asylum, instead they’re actually penalised for it. We should not be detaining or deporting people for seeking sanctuary. Being a refugee is not a crime.

Together, we should be creating an outpouring of compassion and show individual refugees that they are welcome here. but the persecution of refugees continues, whipped up by forces of racism spreading fear and misinformation. The EU Referendum campaign recently sadly contributed to this, unleashing some of the most heinious manifestations of racism we have seen in generations. Those on the far right across Europe are also eager to further scapegoat immigrants.
As continuing tragedy unfolds, some of the countries most able to help are shutting their gates to people seeking asylum. Borders are closing, pushbacks are increasing, and hostility is rising. Avenues for legitimate escape are fading away. 

Since the beginnings of civilization, we have treated refugees as deserving of our protection. Whatever our differences, we have to recognise our fundamental human obligation to shelter those fleeing from war and persecution. It is time to stop hiding behind misleading words. Richer nations must acknowledge refugees for the victims they are, fleeing from wars they were unable to prevent or stop. History has shown us that doing the right thing for victims of war and persecution engenders goodwill and prosperity for generations. And it fosters stability in the long run.

Meanwhile there is outrage as Priti Patel’s Home Office is planning to electronically tag asylum-seekers arriving in the UK, as though they were criminals (or people accused of criminality) rather than refugees from persecution.  The decision has been likened to “victim blaming”  although the Home Office itself is twisting language to claim the trial will examine whether electronic monitoring can help maintain regular contact with migrants and help to progress their claims. 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/19/outrage-over-scheme-to-electronically-tag-refugees-arriving-in-the-uk

Despite the current rhetoric of the UK government, the UK hosts fewer refugees and has fewer applications for asylum than most European countries including France, Italy and Germany. In the year up to March 2022, 55,146 applications for asylum were made in the UK, compared to 90,000 in France. The number of people seeking asylum in the UK has risen steadily since 2010, but the UK ranks 14^th in Europe for the number of applications for asylum in 2021. Small numbers of people are resettled in the UK through resettlement schemes such as the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme or via sponsorship, e.g. 'Homes for Ukraine' . The only way to claim asylum is to be on UK soil and thus, for most refugees the only way to get here is to take irregular routes such as crossing the English Channel in small boats or climbing on the back of lorries (which have decreased significantly because of a combination of factors including the pandemic and Brexit).  Most people arriving by irregular methods are recognised as refugees, so it is disingenuous for Priti Patel to describe these people as ‘illegal migrants’.  Under the Refugee Convention (which the UK ratified in 1951), it is not illegal to leave your country of origin and travel to another country to seek sanctuary.  The Refugee Convention does not state that a person must claim asylum in the first ‘safe’ country, and the host country must not penalise a person for entering the country illegally (Article 31) nor return someone or send them to a country where their life or freedom would be at risk or there is a real risk of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment (Article 33 Refugee Convention and Article 3 European Convention of Human Rights).

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which the UK and Rwanda signed in April 2022 is part of the government’s  ongoing hostile environment agenda. But the inhumane controversial deal with Rwanda, worth an initial £120 million, has drawn widespread criticism from national NGOs, human rights organisations, UNHCR, trade unions, Church Leaders and politicians from all colours of the political spectrum, considered by many to be unspeakably cruel.

The Tory government has tried to justify the deal saying that it will deter irregular entry to the UK and will break the ‘business model’ of smugglers and traffickers. But the government has not produced any evidence that sending people 4,000 miles away will work.  The Australian model of offshoring asylum processing did not work and the camps in Papua New Guinea were eventually closed, costing AUS $6 Billion. The Home Office’s top civil servant, Matthew Rycroft has said that it will not have the desired deterrent effect.

Under the MoU, the UK will ‘relocate’ people on a one-way ticket to Rwanda for processing claims, and if recognised as refugees, they will stay in Rwanda and will not be allowed to return to the UK.  The deal is unlawful because it undermines key international obligations on refugee protection and violates fundamental human rights (UNHCR). There is evidence of widespread human rights abuse in Rwanda but the UK government argue that Rwanda is a safe third country which respects human rights and has a functioning asylum system.

Yet as recently as January 2021, the UK government did not consider Rwanda a ‘safe third country’ and condemned its human rights record highlighting the use of extrajudicial killings by state police, arbitrary detention, torture of people who oppose the government and the continued persecution of the LGBTI community. 

The Home Office Country Policy and Information (CPIN) Report on Rwanda reveals that asylum claims can take years and points to a high rejection rate of individual asylum claims (with little access to legal support and interpreters), especially from people claiming persecution on grounds of sexuality or GBV.  There is nothing either in the MoU to stop Rwanda sending ‘relocated persons’ to another country where their lives might be at risk.

At the start of June, around 100 people received ‘removal notices’ and were told they would be flown to Rwanda on 14 June 2022.  A Judicial Review application was made on 10 June with an emergency injunction to remove individuals from the flight. By 10pm on the 14 June, no one was left on the flight to Rwanda, due to withdrawal of removal notices, an interim measure thankfully granted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and injunctions granted by the Court of Appeal late last Tuesday evening.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2022/06/massive-victory-as-first-rwanda.html

Although the individuals on this flight have interim relief from removal, the government are not deterred and Priti Patel has announced that the next group of asylum seekers are receiving their notices and another flight is being arranged as she continues to believe that the policy if lawful. But, crucially, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have not yet decided whether the Rwandan policy is lawful and will only consider that question at the substantive (full) judicial review hearing in July 2022.

In the UK, Refugee Week is a wide-ranging programme of events that celebrate the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary and most importantly show our solidarity. Founded in 1998 and held every year around World Refugee Day. it is a growing global movement . The 2022 theme for Refugee Week and World Refugee Week is ‘Healing.’ 

Proposals by charities such as the Refugee Council and Safe Passage, which include humanitarian visas, family reunion routes, sponsorship or expanded resettlement schemes would ensure people do not have to resort to smuggling networks to undertake dangerous journeys, and would break the ‘business model’ of smuggling and start the journey to healing. 

World Refugee Day and Refugee Week belongs to all our brothers and sisters in humankind who have been forced out of their lands and homes.Today and tomorrow we must continue to stand up for refugees and it is our duty to ensure that they have access to essential basic services and are treated with respect and dignity.If policies that promote the health of refugees and all people on the move are put in place, refugees and migrants can contribute to the full and flourishing life of a country and to supporting the economy, culture and a diverse society.

I hope that on World Refugee Day, people can spend a moment to acknowledge  other humans' facing displacement and suffering, and find a way to accompany others in their community who find themselves away from home.We need to build bridges not more obstacles and borders. Refugees have suffered unimaginable loss, and yet they are filled with the strength to triumph over adversity. The refugee crisis is a human crisis. Their story is our story. We are all human,and together, we can build a better world. 

We all have an important role in ensuring that refugees have the support they need and it's crucial that we start addressing the global issues that force desperate  people to seek refuge in the first place. When we work together, we can help even more people feel safe from conflict, stay healthy and forge ahead to a better, stronger future.

Instead of being detained, vilified and denied, refugees when seeking.safe harbour and sanctuary, should be given a warm welcome. Asylum not barbed wire. Protection not bombs.Dignity not criminalisation. Given respite,instead of grief and pain. 

 However, on the 28th June, the UK's interpretation of the definition of a refugee and the rights to which every person who is a refugee is entitled will significantly change from that required by the Refugee Convention. It means the UK will no longer respect its shared obligations under international law. This is dangerously undermining what our country, not only agreed to, but helped draft and negotiate in 1951. These changes are lawless and reckless. Its consequences directly contradict our values of shared humanity and compassion and have been rightly rejected by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, leading lawyers, and former senior judges in the UK. Wherever we come from, we all have the right to be safe. But Priti Patel and the government don't think so.

Now more than ever, we need to stop our Government's cruel treatment of refugees and people seeking safety, and help create a system that protects refugees, instead of punishing them. Refugee Rights are human rights. Migrant Rights are human rights. Asylum seekers' rights are human rights. All displaced peoples' rights are human rights.Personally I believe that people should be able to move around the globe just like capital can. No borders are necessary.