I-HEART | Refugees & Displaced People

Refugees & Displaced People

Imagine… one day having to leave your home… and having nowhere to go.

Refugees are those of us who have left our homes or countries because of persecution or a “well founded” fear of persecution and are unable to return. We’re persecuted for many reasons – race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or holding a particular political opinion. And, in case you weren’t sure, an “asylum-seeker” is someone seeking to be recognised as a refugee and entitlement to international protection.

Whether internally displaced or in a foreign land, refugees often lack housing, food, water, community support, medical care and hygiene facilities - experiencing unsafe travel, family separation and ongoing mental trauma…

In 2006, the global refugee population increased by 1.2 million persons (+14%) to 9.9 million, the highest level in 4 years. That’s 9.9 million of us scattered across our planet.

There are a further 24.5 million of us internally displaced in our own countries but unable to return home.

In Columbia over the past 15 years around 3 million people have been internally displaced due to violence. 75% of these are women and children.

At the end of 2006, 2.1 million Afghans were displaced across 70 different asylum countries.

By September 2007, 2.2 million Iraqis were internally displaced, and a further 2 million were refugees in neighbouring countries... up to 1.4 in Syria alone…

In Chad, 180,000 people are internally displaced and 20,000 have sought asylum in Sudan.

In addition to this group of almost 10 million displaced people, Palestinians are recognised by the UN to constitute the largest refugee population in the world, numbering 4.5 million. That’s more people than the entire population of Singapore. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has been set up to exclusively assist the unique situation that Palestinians face. They primarily live in Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The insecurity of being displaced practically = homelessness, poverty, as well as limited or no access to education, food or safe drinking water. Displaced women and children are at higher risk of being kidnapped by human traffickers for the international sex trade. Children are vulnerable to being forcibly recruited as child soldiers by military organisations and by gangs who kidnap and sell children as slaves into the child labor market.

So what can we do to help those of us that had to leave our homes and family histories…?

What kind of relief can we contribute to ease this difficult and dangerous transition…?