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Refugees – As long as there is no peace and justice, no rule of law, there will be refugees.

Rule of Law Resource Center Staff
6/23/2008 4:46:29 PM

Refugees – As long as there is no peace and justice, no rule of law, there will be refugees.

A recent report recent report shows that refugee numbers are growing. It says 11.4 million people were forced to leave their countries in 2007, compared to 9.9 million in 2006. Another 26 million were displaced from their homes within their own countries, up from 24.2 million the year before.

"After a five year decline in the number of refugees between 2001 and 2005, we have now seen two years of increases, and that's a concern" said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told the Associated Press. "We are now faced with a complex mix of global challenges that could threaten even more forced displacement in the future." Guterres said environmental degradation and rising food prices was generating instability in many places.

This level of economic collapse fosters the conditions in which further human rights abuses can occur. A knock-on situation develops wherein the displaced, trying to improve there lot and resettle, may for instance fall prey to human traffickers of various types.

Short of the worldwide outbreak of peace and respect for the rule of law, should a more holistic approach be taken to caring for refugees? Are the world’s responses just so many inadequate band-aids that leave those forced from their homes to remain at risk?

Ramesh
9/15/2008 12:21:39 PM

The Refugee Convention envisages a collective conscience of the nations to come forward and mitigate refugee crises. Apart from growing economic disparities, the most compelling cause of refugee crisis is internal and externally abetted violence in many parts of the world.Unless nations find a way to control violence and promote peaceful means to resolve issues, refugee numbers will continue to grow.The rise of extra-regional and extra-national groups that do not submit to morality/ethics/international law is a matter for serious concern. These entities receive economic and military assistance from sources that must be dried-up inorder to ensure spiralling violence does not accentuate the refugee risks.

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