Refugee Crisis

What global issue are you most passionate about solving? Wow!, what a question! 

The complexity of it starts on the sole meaning of the word “global” which is something relating to the whole world, entirely or comprehensive.

This word, immediately leads you to understand that what's being asked does not represent  a minor conflict with a simple resolution. The fact that our world faces issues on a daily basis is not kept as a secret from anyone.

To give you an idea of global issues, we could discuss, perhaps, the economic instability, taking as an example, the hyperinflation of the Venezuelan coin, or we could talk about Hunger, mainly in countries like the Central African Republic or Yemen which show incredibly high percentages of malnourishment. There is also thirst all over the globe, with around one billion people without access to safe drinking water.

Right now, poverty is affecting approximately 36% of the world's population. You should consider the Corona virus, the pandemic that everyone is panicking about and which has by now reached 122 countries. Civil wars leading to refugee crises like the ongoing one in the Syrian Arab Republic, which is also a global matter which urges to be addressed and assessed. The list of global issues goes on and on, it seems to be a never ending line up of problems with no viable or short-term resolutions.

I don't mean to make everyone feel like there are no hopes for any of these previously mentioned problematics. Not to be dramatic or anything but it feels quite impossible to pick just one issue out of my handful of options. Which one is more important? which one deserves to be discussed first? I’ve come to the conclusion that there is just no fair answers to these questions.

I’m Natalia Del Castillo, currently going through Junior year at the American School in the coastal city of Barranquilla, Colombia. I happen to be a 16 year old with a big task that requires me to answer a very difficult question. I could spend hours talking about how each and everyone of the current global issues affect our world but I'd like to discuss mainly the global refugee crisis. I believe this dilemma sums up many others, as it involves economic aspects, as well as people’s lack of access to basic needs, which works as a pathway for worldwide diseases, due to the massive numbers of immigrants. 

According to CARE organization, every minute, 24 people around the world are forced to flee their homes. That’s 34,000 people a day who leave everything behind in the hope of finding safety and a better tomorrow. Refugees are people who abandon all they were familiar with, they basically suffer the loss of a whole life back in their country, running for their lives and scared for their future.

As stated by Mercy Corps Organization “This is the reality for 5.6 million Syrians who have fled to neighboring countries for safety from the war that has ravaged their nation for more than seven years”. Currently, 1.4 million Syrians live in Jordan, while another 1.5 million have settled in Lebanon. Both countries have historically struggled with water shortages and  mismanagement of water resources proving once more that refugees do not even have access to the vital liquid. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, already has proposed several programs to meet refugee’s basic needs, but the lack of proper viable and short term solutions.

Refugees not only face lack of basic needs but also they

have to cope with xenophobia, racism, religious discrimination and many other factors that make them a segregated piece of society. A report made by the UN denounces the abuses faced by migrants and refugees as soon as they enter Libya, such as “unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention and unlawful deprivation of liberty, rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, slavery and forced labour, extortion and exploitation by both State and non-State actors.”

Libya is not the only country in which such things happen considering there are almost 69 million refugees who have fled war, violence or persecution from different nations spread all over the world and they can be very vulnerable because although each state has the responsibility to guarantee and protect the human rights of its civilians, a refugee does not have protection from their own state and it is often their own government that is persecuting them. The global refugee crisis is present in every and each country of the globe making it; therefore, a worldwide matter.

As it was established before, there is still no sign of possible solutions whatsoever, but this doesn’t mean that with time, numbers can not decrease. There is no such thing as “impossible” in a world composed of over 7 billion people, powerful minds are amongst us and they are able to attain everything they set themselves to do in order to overcome every situation. 

Thank you.

By Natalia Del Castillo, Step 10