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Pop up schools for asylum seekers in Mexico

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Pop up schools for asylum seekers in Mexico

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In Matamoros, Mexico there is a pop-up school for asylum seekers trying to enter the United Sates. The school before the global pandemic was teaching children there basic things like reading, writing and math.

The article Goes on to mainly explain how well the online part of the school is doing now that corona has stopped all of there in person classes with the kids. Now people from anyway can teach these kids via zoom and has unlocked many people to meet the kids.

This connects to our border system and allowing people into the country because it shows what people must do when we take too long to let them in. It also connects to refugees and mobility because its about the people who are trying to enter America and flee any economic or violent situation, they are in.

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MATAMOROS, Mexico - It started out simply: a pop-up school on a sidewalk to teach reading, writing, math and art to Central American children living in a camp of asylum-seekers stuck at America's doorstep.

Like countless schools, the sidewalk school, as it became known, had to go to virtual learning because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of being hampered by the change, though, it has blossomed, hiring about 20 teachers - all asylum-seekers themselves - to give classes via Zoom to Central American children in not only the camp, but at various shelters and apartments in other parts of Mexico.

To be able to switch to distance learning, the teachers and students were outfitted with more than 200 Amazon tablets by The Sidewalk School for Children Asylum Seekers. The organization was founded by Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, who lives across the border in Brownsville, Texas, and has been crossing to help the asylum-seekers by providing them food and books.

Rangel-Samponaro, 44, said that to buy the tablets, she used her own money and raised funds, including through a GoFundMe campaign. She said she felt obliged to do something for the asylum-seekers because the U.S. government had upended their lives.

"This is a U.S. problem," she said. "We created this. We're the ones that continue to let this go on. This falls on American citizens."

A Trump administration policy forced asylum-seekers to wait south of the border as their cases proceed through U.S. courts, leaving thousands of Central American families living in tents or at Mexican shelters. Previously, asylum-seekers were allowed to remain in the United States with relatives or other sponsors while their cases proceeded.

Many have spent more than a year with their lives in limbo, and the wait has only grown longer with the Trump administration suspending immigration court hearings for asylum-seekers during the pandemic.

The classes have offered children not only the chance to catch up on studies that were interrupted when their families fled violence in their homelands, but also a distraction from the long days of boredom.

On a recent Friday morning, Gabriela Fajardo held a Zoom class while sitting on an overturned bucket in a hallway of a small apartment building full of asylum-seekers who have found enough work to be able to afford to move out of the camp in Matamoros. Interacting with her on her screen were several Central American children living in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, about 830 miles to the west along the Texas border.

"Remember, hello is hola," she said in Spanish to a student named Jeremy, enunciating her words carefully as she leaned into her tablet set on a wooden table. "Good morning is buenos dias. You have to speak in English over there or no one is going to understand you in Spanish except your mother."

"That's why I'm sharing with you the little I know," said the 26-year-old Honduran woman, who is stuck in Mexico like her students.

The boy gave an enthusiastic response: "OK, then in English! I have to speak in English," though he was still speaking in Spanish.

Fajardo let out a big laugh and proceeded with the lesson.

Fajardo, a primary school teacher, fled from her village with her son after they received threats because her brother is a police officer. She has already spent a year and four months in Mexico as her case slowly proceeds through the U.S. courts.

Being able to teach - her life's passion - has given her a sense of purpose. She said it makes her angry to see children miss out on their education.

"I've noticed children who are older and know nothing," she said. "A child needs to start learning from the age of 6 to read and do math."

Fajardo left her country so that her son could have a better life.

But as they wait in this crime-ridden border city, she is grateful to be able to provide an education to so many other children whose futures are also uncertain.

"I was taught in college that the reason to get an education is to be able to educate others," Fajardo said. "That's what inspires me."
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Despite pandemic, a pop-up school for U.S. asylum-seekers is seeing success

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MATAMOROS, Mexico - It started out simply: a pop-up school on a sidewalk to teach reading, writing, math and art to Central American children living in a camp of asylum-seekers stuck at America's doorstep. Like countless schools, the sidewalk school, as it became known, had to go to virtual learning because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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This article talks about how refugees have problems around the world and gives some nonspecific examples of different migrant groups from a plethora of different countries.

Basically, what the article does is it shows how refugees and certain aspects of mobility are related and how that affects other countries. A difficult topic that is brought up is that usually when refugees leave their countries on their own to escape any religious persecution or violence, go to another country that has its own issues, and when that is realized they leave again. This second move is called secondary movement and happens when the new area is not viable to live in either. Secondary movement can create many other issues including hurting the mobility strategies bring into question and hurt the refugee regime itself, people should listen to the refugee regime and make a decision with that and not go off on their own.

This article connects to the idea of geographic mobility because it talks about the moving pattern of refugees when displaced. This also talks about refugees as a whole and what they tend to do that hurts the system that is trying to help them.

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Asylum and migration are currently considered as separate policy areas. Refugees are seen as lacking agency, mostly not doing but being done to' they are forcibly displaced and in need of protection. Migrants are seen as voluntarily migrating and not in need of protection. While both regimes are based on states' borders, the regime addressing voluntary migrants centres on controlling and preventing migration between states, rather than on defining and protecting their rights. Within refugee policies, mobility is considered incompatible with solutions to displacement. In fact, all three durable solutions imply settlement, either in the country of origin (repatriation), or in the neighbouring countries (local integration), or in a third country (resettlement).

However mobility and transnational networks often constitute effective livelihood strategies. For instance, mobility patterns of Afghans and Somalis, both considered among the largest and protracted refugee populations, intensified following outbreaks of conflict. Both populations have extensive diasporas and have developed extended transnational networks with multidirectional and/or cyclical mobility patterns. From this viewpoint, mobility could be considered as a solution by itself.

Secondary movements are one of the key issues discussed in policy documents on protracted refugee situations (PRS). The notion refers to refugees moving independently from their first host country to a third country. PRS are seen as particular susceptible to secondary movements, which are prompted by the lack of durable solutions. In addition, secondary movements are seen as strictly of concern to the refugee regime - a matter of asylum rather than of migration policy areas.

The notion of secondary movements acknowledges that as a matter of fact refugees do move outside the three solutions framework. It envisages a degree of agency, as movement is not aimed exclusively at searching for protection in a 'country of destination'. While refugees' trajectories are still seen as linear and as having a direction (secondary movements are often referred to as 'onward movements'), at the same time secondary movements are considered as an exceptional phenomenon, prompted by the protracted hopelessness peculiar to PRS.
Secondary movements as a problem
In UNHCR policy papers, secondary movements are presented as a problem to be addressed and as a phenomenon to be reduced and prevented. The main reason is that they are usually irregular. Irregular movements undermine "the right of States to control who can enter and remain in their territory" [1] and entail disorderly and unpredictable flows, both considered undesirable for states.

In Southern countries refugees have often no opportunities for legal mobility and this lack of legal opportunities diverts the flows to irregular channels, meaning that in many cases secondary movements are irregular almost by definition, as a result of existing policies. Therefore, in practice, preventing irregular secondary movements means preventing any movement.

The strategy of Northern countries aiming at containment of refugees regionally, ensuring orderly and limited arrivals exclusively through resettlement, reflects the very same attitude which secondary movements clearly undermine. Thus, refugees are not supposed to move again after finding a refuge from persecution or war. When they move, the exception to the migration regime restricting cross-border movements that has been made for them doesn't hold anymore; they are caught in the same mechanisms that control and prevent international migration. As UNHCR acknowledges, this has deplorable effects particularly in the case of persons who lack protection in their country of origin, as they risk being returned there.

According to UNHCR, a related consequence of secondary movements is the fostering of human smuggling and trafficking, seen as absolutely negative for refugees, because of the human rights violations they are exposed to. While smuggling and trafficking might indeed entail serious human rights violations, it should be recognised that existing policies, by preventing migration, encourage smuggling and trafficking which are often the only means available to individuals wanting to move.

UNHCR also sees secondary movements as "destabilising ... structured international efforts to provide solutions to refugees"[2] - that is, refugees' mobility strategies perturb the refugee regime itself. Refugees are not supposed to search on their own for solutions other than the three proposed by the refugee regime - even though it is acknowledged that these solutions have reached an impasse. In order to apply the three solutions and assist refugees, clear responsibilities on defined territories have to be established, meaning that protection and assistance can be given only to people that 'stay'. Refugees are not supposed to move except when repatriating or being resettled.

Lack of protection is considered by UNHCR as the main cause of secondary movements. This calls into question the capacity of host countries to protect refugees. Within the debate on PRS, UNHCR affirms that livelihoods as well as personal security should be an integrated aspect of protection.

Absence of education and employment, or the failure of the state to protect from extreme poverty, are associated with protection in host countries, whereas a person leaving their own country for the same reasons would be considered as a voluntary migrant.

Considering the importance attributed by UNHCR to fostering refugees' self-reliance, it is paradoxical that mobility - one of the most widespread livelihood strategies, which in addition does not require any donor resources - is presented as a problem, and all the more so because the effectiveness of mobility as a livelihood strategy is indirectly recognised. The absence of self-reliance is listed among the main causes of secondary movements. Urban refugees who have escaped from camps are often presented as a positive example of refugees who have succeeded in achieving self-reliance; remittances sent by family members who have succeeded in moving to another part of the world are acknowledged to contribute to livelihoods in Somali camps in Kenya. How did Somalis arrive in other parts of the world? Most probably, through the same irregular secondary movements that the refugee regime wants to prevent.

Instead of considering mobility as an asset to enhance self-reliance, the focus is rather on enhancing self-reliance to prevent mobility. In a world structured on the geopolitical order of sovereign nation states, the interests of the states take precedence over these considerations. However, international mobility and its effectiveness for people should cause us to reflect whether and how mobility could be enhanced as a livelihood strategy, rather than be considered as a problem.
RSD and migration
One has to be recognised as a refugee by the authorities of the refugee regime through refugee status determination (RSD) or, in exceptional cases, prima facie recognition, in order to be entitled to international protection. Through RSD, the theoretical distinction between refugee and voluntary migrant assumes concrete meaning in reality. But there are no universally accepted criteria and procedures so that falling into the refugee or the migrant category is to some degree therefore arbitrary.

Moreover, due the co-existence of international and national legal systems, legal status is not always clearly defined. For example, the one million documented Afghans in Iran are not strictly refugees according to Iranian law. Alongside them there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan commonly labelled as labour migrants who have no rights whatsoever.

More broadly, policy papers on PRS indicate lack of refugee identification as a cause of secondary movements: lack of documents provokes vulnerability and vulnerability induces onward movements. From a sedentary perspective it is important to carry out registration and identification as early as possible in the refugees' movement.

However, early registration and identification may hinder mobility strategies. While it is accepted for persons in need of protection to leave their country illegally, as soon as they have been intercepted and recognised as refugees, they are not legitimated to move illegally anymore, although no opportunities for legal mobility are available. From this viewpoint, becoming visible to refugee authorities makes it impossible to reach other destinations legally, whatever the reasons: to apply for asylum in a country with higher standards of protection, to reach an attractive labour market, or to reunite with family. In fact, often individuals strive to postpone identification and remain invisible as long as possible, going so far as to destroy identification documents.

Migration and asylum are, as we see, intertwined, even though states and international stakeholders strive to keep the two policy areas separated. Most states are unwilling to foster multilateral discussions on migration in order to safeguard their rights to control immigration flows, and are disposed to make an exception only with regard to a specific category of migrants, notably refugees. The fact remains that the two areas are closely interconnected.
Giulia Scalettaris (giulia.scale@libero.it) is a PhD student at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris.

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Asylum and migration are currently considered as separate policy areas. Refugees are seen as lacking agency, mostly not doing but being done to' they are forcibly displaced and in need of protection. Migrants are seen as voluntarily migrating and not in need of protection.

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This article is about the United States and their immigration detention system.

America detained over 500,000 people in a system of jails and detention centers. Immigration and customs enforcement also know as ICE oversees overseeing this all. They are known for their appalling record of abuse, denying medical assistance and many people have died under the care of ICE. They deny people lawyers and split family up and sperate children and parents at the border. This is terrible and we as a society should not allow this system to continue hurting people trying to fine safety or a better life.

This connects to Immigration detention that we learned about and is a real example of what is going on in the united states today.

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The United States government maintains the world's largest immigration detention system

Immigration detention is the unjust and inhumane practice of incarcerating immigrants while they await a determination of their immigration status or potential deportation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, the United States government detained over 500,000 people in a sprawling system of over 200 jails across the country run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE has an appalling record of abuse. Many Americans are shocked to learn that in ICE detention centers people are deprived of their liberty, denied access to lawyers, separated from their families and loved ones, and are subject to severe medical neglect. Since 2003 over 200 people have died in ICE custody.

ICE contracts with both local governments and private prison companies, such as the GEO Group, Inc. and CoreCivic, to operate the majority of its vast network of facilities. This includes dedicated immigration detention centers as well as local and state jails, a model that creates a perverse financial incentive to keep people incarcerated. Private prison companies profit and local governments make money to pad their shrinking budgets through lucrative federal contracts.

Immigrants in detention can be undocumented or documented immigrants, including people whose immigration status is not current, is expired or is under review. The U.S. locks up survivors of torture, people seeking asylum, visa holders, people who have been granted the permanent right to live in the U.S., people who have lived here for years and may have American citizen spouses and children, individuals with mental health and medical conditions and other vulnerable groups including pregnant women and families with children - even babies.
It doesn't have to be this way.
Simply put, people navigating their immigration case should be able to do so with their loved ones and in community, not behind bars in immigration detention. The majority of people in detention has been living in the U.S. for years, have families here, and are established members of their communities. People seeking asylum often have strong community ties with loved ones waiting to welcome them to the United States. And for those that need support, they can access it through community-based groups that offer services to help people navigate their immigration proceedings.

Detention in Numbers (Fiscal Year 2019)

Average daily population (ADP) in detention

50,165

Number of people detained for the year

510,854

Average cost per day

$126.52 for adult detention
$318.79 for family detention

Detention budget

$3.2 billion

Number of facilities

215

Percent of people held in facilities operated by private companies

81 percent

Number of deaths since 2003

214

History of Immigration Detention in the United States

The United States is the world's leading incarcerator with over two million people in prisons and jails across the country. As the U.S. expanded prisons in the 1980s and 1990s, the detention of immigrants, once a little known practice, began to take shape.

In the early 1980s several thousand Cuban and Haitian refugees arriving on Florida's shores each year were swept into newly opened detention facilities. Immigration policy began to emulate the criminal justice system in the late '80s when, during the height of the War on Drugs, Congress amended the Immigration and Naturalization Act to require the mandatory detention of immigrants with certain criminal convictions. This meant that their detention was automatic and compulsory, without a hearing or any consideration of their circumstances.

The 1990s brought on a paradigm shift in immigration policy, leading to detention being a primary means of immigration enforcement. In 1996, the U.S. enacted legislation that dramatically expanded the use of detention. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) increased the scope of who could be subject to mandatory detention. The 1996 laws also rendered any non-U.S. citizen, including legal permanent residents, vulnerable to detention and deportation.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Immigration and Naturalization Service or INS was divided into U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). It also moved from the Department of Justice to the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Immigration was now a national security issue and nowhere was this clearer than in ICE's strategic plan for 2003-2012, Operation Endgame, which stated its purpose to, "promote the public safety and national security by ensuring the departure from the United States of all removable aliens through the fair and effective enforcement of the nation's immigration laws."

Under the Obama administration, the implementation of the detention bed quota and the expansion of deportation programs such as 287(g), Secure Communities and the Criminal Alien Program, funneled thousands of immigrants into detention centers. In 2014, we saw even more detention expansion when the White House responded to an influx of Central American refugee families with the resurgence of family detention.

The Trump administration has further expanded these parts of the deportation dragnet - increasing the number of 287(g) agreements and other forms of entanglement with local law enforcement and the criminal legal system - while also ramping up community raids and eliminating the policies that deprioritized detention and deportation for some immigrants under the previous administration.

The drastic expansion of mandatory detention combined with a skyrocketing detention budget has created a sprawling and unaccountable system of mass detention. As a result, the number of individuals detained has grown dramatically. The average daily population of detained immigrants increased from approximately 5,000 in 1994, to 19,000 in 2001, and to over 50,000 in 2019.

After three decades of expansion, the detention system now captures and holds as many as 500,000 immigrants each year.

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The United States government maintains the world's largest immigration detention system Immigration detention is the unjust and inhumane practice of incarcerating immigrants while they await a determination of their immigration status or potential deportation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, the United States government detained over 500,000 people in a sprawling system of over 200 jails across the country run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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This article talks about what is happening recently in the United Kingdom with refugees arriving.

It dives into how the powers controlling the right in England have used peoples fears to go for a power grab. Fear tactics have made most British people afraid of migrants coming across the water on small boats and entering their country, but in reality that only accounts for .59% of the actual migrants into the country. France alone has tripled the number of refugees the U.K. has taken on but still feels it is necessary to scare its own people for power. Some powers that be are trying to scare people into thinking these refugee crossings are the start of an invasion and they look like an embarrassment to the world.

This connects to the idea of moral panics that we learned about in class. A very interesting point the author makes is “Moral panics are manufactured outrages: they have to be made, nurtured, and repeated ad nauseum” and that makes you think about how the media and politicians have used fear tactics to scare people into supporting them. 

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Opinion: The UK's moral panic over migrants isn't being treated as a crisis, but as a political opportunity

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By conjuring the spectre of a national crisis, the right have created the ideal conditions for a reactionary power grab, writes Ash Sarkar.

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Covid-19 is hurting refugees and no one is talking about it. 

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Covid-19 is hurting refugees and no one is talking about it. 

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This article talks about what is going on in the world for migrants as a whole during the corona virus pandemic. Refugees in camps are getting sick from covid-19 and these camps around the world are becoming their own hotspots because of how close everyone is together. Millions of children are stranded in foreign countries and separated from their family because of border restrictions and travel bans. Governments around the world are trying to deal with other issues related to covid-19 like overflowed hospitals and the economy taking a dive during march and April, but are failing to see the lack of resources and supplies that are being given to these refugees and people who are still being displaced by violence especially in south Sudan and Syria. 
This touches of aspects of borders between countries, especially today with everyone’s borders closing because of the global pandemic. And it also talks about refugees and the mobility of those refugees around the world. 

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With COVID-19 cases rising again in many countries, the spotlight has been on the race for the vaccine, and how world leaders and front-line workers are handling this deadly pandemic. This leaves little to no attention for the vulnerable groups who are indirectly affected as a result of COVID. According to a report published by discussing migrant and displaced children in the age of COVID-19, statistics show both the direct and indirect challenges migrants are facing due to the pandemic. This report states that in 2019, around 33 million children were living outside their country of birth, many of these being displaced migrants. An estimated 3.7 million children are living in refugee camps, many of which are COVID hotspots. The pandemic presents numerous obstacles particularly for migrants and children and according to a statement from UNICEF some include "socioeconomic challenges, weakened health systems, disrupted health services, job and loss income, interrupted access to school and travel restrictions."

Migrants are of particular concern during this pandemic because of their already vulnerable situations. Many countries are unable to provide adequate shelter and care for those in camps or refugees living in communities. According to UNICEF, COVID-19 is also conflicting with public child protection services and many unaccompanied migrant children have been forced to live in the streets or overcrowded camps. The findings in the report also noted that children living on the streets "may face the added risk of being detained by immigration authorities, potentially exposing them to violence, abuse or exploitation."

As countries continue to restrict travel and close borders, many families are separated, leaving many migrant children stranded in foreign countries. Travel restrictions have also led to a decline in supplies and valuable humanitarian resources as countries are unable to assist migrants with basic necessities because of movement and border restrictions. As UNICEF notes, "UN agencies were forced to suspend resettlement procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cutting off a 'vital lifeline for particularly vulnerable refugees', leaving 'millions of refugees with an uncertain path ahead.'" Where does this then leave displaced children and migrants? If countries and governments are struggling to manage the pandemic, where is there room to care for these refugees?

Countries are running out of resources and those in camps are suffering severely because of this. Restrictions and lockdowns have forced many individuals away from their families or unable to leave violent or poor economic conditions. Refugees who have settled into communities have lost their jobs or have not been able to access proper health care during this pandemic. Many migrants are struggling financially which prevents them from getting tested or paying for medical bills and in some cases, countries are simply not allowing undocumented migrants to access health care services.

Governments around the world have failed to consider the effects of the pandemic on these particularly vulnerable groups. According to UNICEF, the UNHCR has "called on states to respect international human rights and refugee protection standards." This includes quarantine and health checks and ensuring proper public health measures. This must be extended to those who may not have citizenship or status in host countries and as a result, are not entitled to proper health care. Countries must do better at caring for those individuals who have come to their country in seek of a better life or are displaced for various reasons, many including violence and conflict.

States must be held responsible for their treatment of vulnerable migrants during COVID-19. Children are left alone on the street and camps and many have faced human rights abuses, violence, and exploitation. Activists must demand that appropriate measures are put in place to combat the social and health concerns that many migrants have raised since the start of the pandemic.

Everyone has the right to access health care and be protected under the law, but countries often disregard this when it comes to those without status or citizenship. Countries like Portugal are working towards combating this issue, UNICEF stating they have begun granting residency permits to migrants and asylum seeks with pending applications. This has allowed for migrants to access health care and social services, like housing. This has helped protect vulnerable individuals who have no way of accessing the resources or support needed during the pandemic. Other countries should also be adding policies that help contribute to easier access to healthcare, which is a right that should be guaranteed to all.

As many countries struggle to care for their citizens during these trying times, government funding should be put aside to care for migrants and those without status. NGOs, human rights groups, and activists must put pressure on governments to pay attention to the treatment of vulnerable groups in their country. Governments are getting away with abusing the rights that should be protected and granted when allowing migrants and refugees into their countries. This has led to violence, exploitation, abuse and COVID outbreaks in numerous camps.

The growing concern of violence against migrants and children during this pandemic is also something that the government should be attempting to combat. Policies must be set in place to ensure the safety and well-being of children both in camps, schools, and community settings. Countries must take into consideration basic rights and necessities when creating new policies that will attempt to combat the vulnerability and impact that COVID has taken on migrants, particularly on children. Money should be put towards shelter, food, testing, healthcare, and ensuring a safe environment for all. Social and public policies need to be put in place and countries need to advocate for the fair treatment of all during these trying times. Vulnerable migrants need support, but most of all they need to be recognized and cared for during difficult times such as the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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How Migrants are Suffering During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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With COVID-19 cases rising again in many countries, the spotlight has been on the race for the vaccine, and how world leaders and front-line workers are handling this deadly pandemic. This leaves little to no attention for the vulnerable groups who are indirectly affected as a result of COVID.

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World war 2 during the late 1930’s and well into the 1940’s saw a huge spike in refugees and people fleeing countries for safer places. Germany invaded France and Poland, along with countless other countries creating a huge amount of displaced people. At the end of the war it was Germany that had been invaded and most of its people displaced from constant fighting. 

The article dives into exactly where the Jewish population of Germany and the countries it invaded fled too and why. Many countries where scared to take on this large amount of people in the beginning of the war and in America they wanted nothing to do with European problems and refugees. 

This connects to our class because it shows how poorly people treated refugees even in times of great need. And because it shows the themes of mobility that we talked about, with people moving to Palestine and from Germany to the U.S.

 My great grandmother was Jewish and was born and raised in Germany, she fled the country after her parents and family where killed by the Nazis and lived the rest of her life in America. 

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After Germany annexed Austria in March 1938 and particularly after the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 9-10, 1938, nations in western Europe and the Americas feared an influx of refugees. About 85,000 Jewish refugees (out of 120,000 Jewish emigrants) reached the United States between March 1938 and September 1939, but this level of immigration was far below the number seeking refuge. In late 1938, 125,000 applicants lined up outside US consulates hoping to obtain 27,000 visas under the existing immigration quota. By June 1939, the number of applicants had increased to over 300,000. Most visa applicants were unsuccessful. At the Evian Conference in July 1938, only the Dominican Republic stated that it was prepared to admit significant numbers of refugees, although Bolivia would admit around 30,000 Jewish immigrants between 1938 and 1941.

In a highly publicized event in May-June 1939, the United States refused to admit over 900 Jewish refugees who had sailed from Hamburg, Germany, on the St. Louis. The St. Louis appeared off the coast of Florida shortly after Cuban authorities cancelled the refugees' transit visas and denied entry to most of the passengers, who were still waiting to receive visas to enter the United States. Denied permission to land in the United States, the ship was forced to return to Europe. The governments of Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium each agreed to accept some of the passengers as refugees. Of the 908 St. Louis passengers who returned to Europe, 254 (nearly 28 percent) are known to have died in the Holocaust. 288 passengers found refuge in Britain. Of the 620 who returned to the continent, 366 (just over 59 percent) are known to have survived the war.

Palestine

Over 60,000 German Jews immigrated to Palestine during the 1930s, most under the terms of the Haavara (Transfer) Agreement. This agreement between Germany and the Jewish authorities in Palestine facilitated Jewish emigration to Palestine. The main obstacle to emigration of Jews from Germany was German legislation banning the export of foreign currency. According to the agreement, Jewish assets in Germany would be disposed of in an orderly manner and the resulting capital transferred to Palestine through the export of German products. The British White Paper in May 1939, a policy statement approved by the British Parliament, contained measures that severely limited Jewish entry into Palestine.

Shanghai

As the number of hospitable destinations dwindled, tens of thousands of German, Austrian, and Polish Jews emigrated to Shanghai, one destination that did not require a visa. Shanghai's International Settlements quarter, effectively under Japanese control, admitted 17,000 Jews.

United States and Great Britain

During the second half of 1941, even as unconfirmed reports of the mass murder perpetrated by the Nazis filtered to the West, the US Department of State placed even stricter limits on immigration based on national security concerns. Despite British restrictions, limited numbers of Jews entered Palestine during the war through "illegal" immigration (Aliyah Bet). Great Britain itself limited its own intake of immigrants in 1938-1939, though the British government did permit the entry of some 10,000 Jewish children in a special Kindertransport (Children's Transport) program. At the Bermuda Conference in April 1943, the Allies offered no concrete proposals for rescue.

Switzerland and Spain

Switzerland took in approximately 30,000 Jews, but turned back about the same number at the border. About 100,000 Jews reached the Iberian Peninsula. Spain took in a limited number of refugees and then speedily sent them on to the Portuguese port of Lisbon. From there, thousands managed to sail to the United States in 1940-1941, although thousands more were unable to obtain US entry visas.

After World War II

After the war, hundreds of thousands of survivors found shelter as displaced persons in camps administered by the western Allies in Germany, Austria, and Italy. In the US, immigration restrictions were still in effect, although the Truman Directive of 1945, which authorized priority to be given within the quota system to displaced persons, permitted 16,000 Jewish DPs to enter the United States.

I had to wait three long years. There were quotas. There were always quotas.
-Charlene Schiff

Immigration to Palestine ( Aliyah) remained severely limited until the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948. Thousands of Jewish displaced persons sought to enter Palestine illegally: between 1945 and 1948, the British authorities interned many of these would-be immigrants to Palestine in detention camps on Cyprus.

With the establishment of Israel in May 1948, Jewish refugees began streaming into that new sovereign state. Some 140,000 Holocaust survivors entered Israel during the next few years. The United States admitted 400,000 displaced persons between 1945 and 1952. Approximately 96,000 (roughly 24 percent) of them were Jews who had survived the Holocaust.

The search for refuge frames both the years before the Holocaust and its aftermath.

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After Germany annexed Austria in March 1938 and particularly after the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 9-10, 1938, nations in western Europe and the Americas feared an influx of refugees. About 85,000 Jewish refugees (out of 120,000 Jewish emigrants) reached the United States between March 1938 and September 1939, but this level of immigration was far below the number seeking refuge.

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In Syria we see people constantly being displaced and refugees fleeing the country

The Syrian civil war that has been going on inside the country since 2011 has caused one of the largest humanitarian crisis’s of our time. Almost a decade into the conflict and we see 70 percent of Syrian people living in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 a day. Nearly 12 million Syrians still today need humanitarian aid. The Syrian government has been slowly getting their territory back since 2015 but this stops any humanitarian aid in those areas where the war is still raging on.

The Syrian refugee crisis is a perfect example of what we learned in class for reasons why people would be displaced and go to other countries. Not only is there an economic aspect of it already, but the violence is too much, and it has forced everyone in those areas to flee or die.

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Refugees and uprooted people have almost doubled in the last decade. 

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Refugees and uprooted people have almost doubled in the last decade. 

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The video talks about 4 different stories in all different countries that give an understanding of what are different reasons people are uprooted and forced to flee their native country and become a refugee seeking asylum somewhere else. 

Around 1% of the world population is currently uprooted and it has never gotten to this point before in history. In the past decade, statistics have shown that the number of uprooted people in the world has almost doubled, from 41.1 million in 2010 to 79.5 million as of 2019. 26 million of these people are currently refugees. 150,000 refugees where children without any family and completely alone. 

This in my mind is related to global mobility and refugees because we know these people are displaced for any number of reasons, but the natural movement of people away from these areas and into other countries is exactly why places like the United States have a humongous population of many different kinds of people. Many Irish people where forced to leave their country and come to America because of the lack of food during the Irish potato famine. 

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We are witnessing a changed reality in that forced displacement nowadays is not only vastly more widespread but is simply no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon.

Global Trends is published every year to analyze the changes in UNHCR's populations of concern and deepen public understanding of ongoing crises. UNHCR counts and tracks the numbers of refugees, internally displaced people, people who have returned to their countries or areas of origin, asylum-seekers, stateless people and other populations of concern to UNHCR. These data are kept up to date and analyzed in terms of various criteria, such as where people are, their age and whether they are male or female. This process is extremely important in order to meet the needs of refugees and other populations of concern across the world and the data help organizations and States to plan their humanitarian response.

2019 IN REVIEW

79.5 MILLION
FORCIBLY DISPLACED WORLDWIDE

at the end of 2019 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order.

26.0 million refugees

20.4 million refugees under UNHCR's mandate

5.6 million Palestine refugees under UNRWA's mandate

45.7 million internally displaced people¹

4.2 million asylum-seekers

3.6 million Venezuelans displaced abroad

An estimated 30 - 34 million of the 79.5 million forcibly displaced persons were children below
18 years of age.

Developing countries hosted 85 per cent of the world's refugees and Venezuelans displaced abroad.
The Least Developed Countries provided asylum to 27 per cent of the total.

Relative to their national populations, the island of Aruba hosted the largest number of Venezuelans displaced abroad (1 in 6) while Lebanon ² hosted the largest number of refugees (1 in 7)

Almost 80 million people are forcibly displaced

At least 100 million people were forced to flee their homes during the last 10 years, seeking refuge either within or outside the borders of their country. Forced displacement and statelessness remained high on the international agenda in recent years and continued to generate dramatic headlines in every part of the world.
As we approach two important anniversary years in 2021, the 70 th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 60 th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, it is clear these legal instruments have never been more relevant.

Several major crises contributed to the massive displacement over the past decade, and the numbers include people who were displaced multiple times. These crises included but are not limited to the ones listed here:

the outbreak of the Syrian conflict early in the decade, which continues today

South Sudan's displacement crisis, which followed its independence

the conflict in Ukraine

the arrival of refugees and migrants in Europe by sea

the massive flow of stateless refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh

the outflow of Venezuelans across Latin America and the Caribbean

the crisis in Africa's Sahel region, where conflict and climate change are endangering many communities

renewed conflict and security concerns in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Somalia

conflict in the Central African Republic

internal displacement in Ethiopia

renewed outbreaks of fighting and violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

the large humanitarian and displacement crisis in Yemen.

Tens of millions of people were able to return to their places of residence or find other solutions, such as voluntary repatriation or resettlement to third countries, but many more were not and joined the numbers of displaced from previous decades. By the end of 2019, the number of people forcibly displaced due to war, conflict, persecution, human rights violations and events seriously disturbing public order had grown to 79.5 million, the highest number on record according to available data. ³ The number of displaced people was nearly double the 2010 number of 41 million (see Figure 1 ) and an increase from the 2018 number of 70.8 million. The most recent annual increase is due to both new displacement and the inclusion in this year's report of 3.6 million Venezuelans displaced abroad who face protection risks, irrespective of their status - a category that was not included in the broader global forced displacement total in previous versions of the Global Trends report.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria), the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Venezuela) and Yemen represent just a few of the many hotspots in 2019 driving people to seek refuge and safety within their country or flee abroad to seek protection.

The proportion of the world's population who were displaced continued to rise. One per cent of the world's population - or 1 in 97 people - is now forcibly displaced. This compares with 1:159 in 2010 and 1:174 in 2005 as the increase in the world's forcibly displaced population continued to outpace global population growth. ⁵

During 2019, an estimated 11.0 million people were newly displaced. While 2.4 million sought protection outside their country, ⁶ 8.6 million were newly displaced within the borders of their countries. ⁷ Many displaced populations failed to find long-lasting solutions for rebuilding their lives. Only 317,200 refugees were able to return to their country of origin, and only 107,800 were resettled to third countries. Some 5.3 million internally displaced people returned to their place of residence during the year, including 2.1 million in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ⁸ and 1.3 million in Ethiopia. In many cases, however, refugees and IDPs returned under adverse circumstances in which the sustainability of returns could not be assured.

At the end of 2019, Syrians continued to be by far the largest forcibly displaced population worldwide (13.2 million, including 6.6 million refugees and more than six million internally displaced people). When considering only international displacement situations, Syrians also topped the list with 6.7 million persons, followed by Venezuelans with 4.5 million. Afghanistan and South Sudan had 3.0 and 2.2 million, respectively (see Figure 2 ). ⁹

Turkey hosted the highest number of people displaced across borders, 3.9 million, most of whom were Syrian refugees (92%). Colombia followed, hosting nearly 1.8 million displaced Venezuelans. Germany hosted the third largest number, almost 1.5 million, with Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers constituting the largest groups (42%). Pakistan and Uganda hosted the 4 th and 5 th largest number, with about 1.4 million each (see Figure 3 ).

During crises and displacement, children, adolescents and youth are at risk of exploitation and abuse, especially when they are unaccompanied or separated from their families (these children are referred to as UASC). In 2019, UASC lodged around 25,000 new asylum applications. In addition, 153,300 unaccompanied and separated children were reported among the refugee population at the end of 2019. Both figures, however, are significant underestimates due to the limited number of countries reporting data.

Note:

The main focus of this report is the analysis of statistical trends and changes in global displacement from January to December 2019 among populations for whom UNHCR has been entrusted with a responsibility by the international community. ¹⁰ The data presented are based on information received as of 15 May 2020 unless otherwise indicated.

The figures in this report are based on data reported by governments, non-governmental organizations and UNHCR. Numbers are rounded to the closest hundred or thousand. As some adjustments may appear later in the year in the Refugee Population Statistics online database, ¹¹ figures contained in this report should be considered as provisional and subject to change. Unless otherwise specified, the report does not refer to events occurring after 31 December 2019.

Venezuela Situation

By the end of 2019, some 4.5 million Venezuelans had left their country, travelling mainly to other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the largest exodus in the region's recent history and one of the biggest displacement crises in the world. More than 900,000 Venezuelans have sought asylum in the last three years, including 430,000 in 2019 alone. Some countries in the region, such as Brazil, have taken steps to apply the extended refugee definition under the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees and national legislation, while other countries have gradually scaled up their capacity to process asylum claims and are developing simplified or accelerated refugee status determination case processing modalities. In addition, Latin American countries granted over 2.4 million residence permits and other forms of legal stay to Venezuelans by the end of 2019, which allow them to access some basic services. New visa requirements in many States along the Andean Corridor have left those on the move facing increased protection risks. Furthermore, the number of Venezuelans in an irregular situation continues to increase. At the end of 2019, over 50 per cent of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Colombia were in an irregular situation. Based on reports received by UNHCR and its partners, as well as reliable information in the public domain from a wide range of sources about the situation in Venezuela, protection-sensitive arrangements are required, in particular protection against forced returns and access to basic services, and are thus promoted for all Venezuelans displaced abroad - irrespective of their status - to reinforce the protection dimension and consistent responses across the region. ¹²

With the objective of ensuring an accountable, coherent, coordinated and protection-sensitive operational response for refugees and migrants from Venezuela across the region, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) lead the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform (R4V). ¹³ In 2019, through its Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP), partners' activities benefited over 1.6 million people in 16 countries. For the 2020 Response Plan, ¹⁴ 151 partners throughout the region aim to support 4.1 million people, including vulnerable host community members, including through targeted COVID-19 response activities. The Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform is complemented by eight UNHCR and IOM co-led national and sub-regional platforms in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru (at national levels) and in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and Southern Cone (at sub-regional levels).

Can we predict forced displacement for the next 10 years?

It is very difficult to predict global forced displacement, or its impact on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Such predictions typically rely on historical population trends and anticipate future events, which is sometimes impossible. Based on the displacement trajectory in the 1990s and 2000s, few people could have foreseen the rapidly growing number of displaced people we have seen over the last decade.

From the mid-1990s until around 2010, the number of displaced people remained relatively stable because even though new displacement continued, at the same time many displaced people eventually repatriated, built permanent homes in their host communities or resettled in third countries. In the aftermath of the early Balkan wars and the Rwandan genocide, for example, global displacement figures remained well below 40 million, and as low as 34 million in 1997, according to estimates. Between 2000 and 2009, the numbers of displaced generally ranged between 37 and 42 million.

A sign of solidarity

On 10 September 2019, the Government of Rwanda signed an agreement with the African Union (AU) and UNHCR to provide urgent and lifesaving assistance to African refugees and asylum-seekers currently being held in detention centers in Libya. This agreement followed a generous offer from Rwanda to host up to 30,000 vulnerable people at risk and stranded in Libya. Under the memorandum of understanding, UNHCR in partnership with the Government of Rwanda and the AU has established an Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM), to facilitate the relocation of up to 500 people of concern at any given time from the conflict zones in Libya to safety in Rwanda, while continuing to seek durable solutions options in and outside the country. The ETM in Rwanda complements the Emergency Evacuation Transit Mechanism established in Niger in 2017.

The last decade, however, brought a major shift. More people sought refuge, but those who had been displaced had fewer options for rebuilding their lives. As wars and conflicts dragged on, fewer refugees and internally displaced people were able to return home, countries accepted a limited number of refugees for resettlement and host countries struggled to integrate displaced populations. For instance, only 3.9 million refugees were able to return to their country of origin between 2010 and 2019. This compares to almost 10 million refugees who returned home during the previous decade and more than 15 million two decades prior (see Figure 4). With more people becoming displaced and fewer being able to return, an increasing number find themselves in protracted and long-lasting displacement situations. The world has clearly shifted from a decade of solutions to a decade of new and protracted displacement.

Climate change and natural disasters can exacerbate threats that force people to flee within their country or across international borders. The interplay between climate, conflict, hunger, poverty and persecution creates increasingly complex emergencies. For example, food insecurity may become a major driver of conflicts and displacement. An international alliance of the United Nations, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to address the root causes of extreme hunger reported that conflict, weather extremes and economic turbulence contributed to several disturbing trends. The group reported that at the end of 2019, 135 million people across 55 countries and territories experienced acute food insecurity. ¹⁵ In addition, 75 million children had stunted growth and 17 million suffered from wasting. These findings represented the highest level of acute food insecurity and malnutrition documented since the group's first report in 2017. Eighty per cent of the world's displaced populations were residing in these 55 countries or territories.

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates how unexpected events can affect forced displacement predictions. Although the novel coronavirus had just emerged in late 2019, the subsequent pandemic has had, and at the time of this writing continues to have, an unprecedented global social and economic impact, also affecting asylum systems. For instance, the number of asylum applications registered in the European Union in March 2020 dropped by 43 per cent compared to February as asylum systems slowed or came to a halt with countries closing borders or implementing strict border restrictions in response to COVID-19.In other parts of the world, refugee registration, an essential protection activity at the core of refugee statistics, ¹⁶ ¹⁷ also dropped significantly despite efforts by some countries to resort to remote registration and documentation. As a result, global refugee and asylum statistics may under-represent the true magnitude of the number of people seeking international protection during the pandemic. This could increase the uncertainty for predicting global forced displacement in the future.

Whatever the predictions are for future global displacement, we must reverse the current trend and massively expand pathways for the forcibly displaced to rebuild their lives - whether in their home countries, in third countries or in their host communities. In 2019, UNHCR and its partners launched the Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways. ¹⁸ The strategy foresees resettlement of one million refugees and admission of two million refugees through complementary pathways such as family reunification or labour mobility schemes by 2028. For it to succeed, States need to offer more avenues to solutions for refugees in line with the objective of greater shared responsibility set out in the Global Compact on Refugees.

Demography of global forced displacement

Demographic data is crucial to understand the impact of displacement on different population groups. It is also essential to guide effective and efficient policy responses and programmatic interventions that address the needs of vulnerable groups. Sex- and age-disaggregated information is unfortunately not always available for all forcibly displaced populations. Statistical models or estimations can be used to fill these data gaps.

Based on a combination of different data sources (e.g. registration, surveys) and statistical models, UNHCR estimates that between 30 - 34 million of the 79.5 million forcibly displaced people are children (between 38 - 43 per cent). The three age pyramids present the demographic profile of the different populations. ¹⁹

Browse the data in UNHCR's Refugee Population Statistics Database

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UNHCR - Global Trends 2019: Forced Displacement in 2019

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We are witnessing a changed reality in that forced displacement nowadays is not only vastly more widespread but is simply no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon. Global Trends is published every year to analyze the changes in UNHCR's populations of concern and deepen public understanding of ongoing crises.

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Eritrean refugees cut off from aid in Ethiopia. 

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Eritrean refugees cut off from aid in Ethiopia. 

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Eritrean refugees in Tigray camps around Mikelle have been cut off from support after the Federal Ethiopian forces have moved into the city.

96,000 Eritrean refugees sheltered in 4 camps have been cut off from supplies and there is no end in sight because the rebels are still fighting back. These people are in refugee camps from a neighboring country and have been provided with some levels of food and water and supplies to help them in their time of need, but now that more conflict has made it to their doorstep its causing more of an issue for them because they will most likely be displaced again.

This is related to refugees and what we have learned in class because it shows the issues that refugees can face after fleeing their country, they could be displaced a second time if they do not leave the area completely, especially in some parts of Africa because most refugees are in Africa.

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ADDIS ABABA

Ethiopian federal forces captured the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle at the weekend, but a vow by the rebel regional government to fight on means there's no end in sight to the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

Among those most at risk are 96,000 Eritrean refugees sheltering in four camps in Tigray, cut off from desperately needed relief supplies.

"We are surrounded by war, and we can't move," one Eritrean refugee told The New Humanitarian from Mai-Aini camp.

Unlike most places in the region - where communications have been blacked out by the Ethiopian government - Mai-Aini, located in southern Tigray, has at least some mobile phone coverage.

The refugee told TNH there was little food or fuel to run the camp's water pumps, and added that fleeing further away from the conflict zone had become even harder due to vehicles being banned on the roads and the banks being shut.

"Even if our families send us money, we cannot get it as the banks are closed," said a second Eritrean refugee, again speaking from Mai-Aini by phone.

The conflict, which pits the region's powerful ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), against a federal government determined to halt a defiant rebellion, has cut humanitarian access to both refugees and war-affected Tigrayans. It has also forced close to 45,000 people - mostly Ethiopian Tigrayans - to flee into neighbouring Sudan.

Ethiopia has been a longstanding home to around 178,000 Eritrean refugees fleeing political persecution, economic hardship, and compulsory military service at home.

An added threat to the refugees in Tigray is the direct involvement in the conflict of neighbouring Eritrea - the TPLF's arch-enemy - on the side of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the federal government.

The refugees are regarded as "traitors" by the hardline government of Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, and there have been accounts of refugees being abducted by the Eritrean army and taken back across the border.

"We have heard the same worrying reports, but the difficulty of communication with the region means it's very hard to verify any information," Babar Baloch, a spokesperson for the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, told TNH.

Rockets fired from Tigray hit the Eritrean capital, Asmara, on Sunday. It was the third recent rocket attack, but the TPLF only claimed responsibility for the first strike two weeks ago.

The TPLF has also allowed Eritrean opposition groups to operate from its territory. In March, armed Eritrean dissidents and "uniformed Tigrayans" reportedly entered the Hitsats camp in Tigray and coerced Eritrean refugees to chant: " Down with Isaias! Down with Abiy! "

Rations running out

Getting aid to the region is still extremely difficult due to the ongoing fighting. UNHCR delivered two months of rations to the camps in Tigray in October, but expects those supplies to be exhausted in the next few days.

"Food stocks for refugees are critically low," UNHCR's representative in Ethiopia, Ann Encontre, told TNH. "Other services such as water and health will be heavily affected if staff cannot access the camps."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement on Sunday that some 1,000 Eritrean refugees had arrived in Mekelle looking for food and help - but relief supplies are extremely limited even in the regional capital.

"It is hard for us to meet these needs now after weeks of disrupted supply chains into Mekelle," ICRC spokesperson Crystal Wells told TNH.

Abiy has said he intends to open a humanitarian corridor to distribute basic supplies to those in need in Tigray, but it is unclear if the pipeline will extend as far north as the refugee camps - and whether it will be free of political control.

"The humanitarian community has been asking for unhindered access to the refugees in the four camps, and also others displaced," UNHCR's Baloch said. "The call still stands."

One group of Eritrean refugees who had arrived in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, told TNH last week of their harrowing escape from Adi Harush - another camp in Tigray - to Adi Arkay, the nearest town in the neighbouring Amhara region.

"We saw dead bodies, and we were really scared," said Darwit, describing his seven-hour journey on foot, and asking that his full name not be used for security reasons. "We met TPLF soldiers on the way, and they forced us to give them everything we had, including our money."

Last week, after Darwit's group had left Adi Harush, at least two refugees were killed and four injured when Amhara militia, allied to the Ethiopian government, overran TPLF soldiers based there.

A changed situation

Long before the current crisis, the camps in Tigray's arid north were overcrowded and short of food and water - even though there are a significant number of unaccompanied minors among the refugees.

Then, as the fighting got underway in early November, all aid workers were pulled out.

"All the United Nations staff [were] withdrawn and many underaged refugees were alone without knowing what to do," said a young man from Darwit's group, now sheltering in a cramped flat in the Mebrat Hail suburb of Addis Ababa.

Eritrean refugee arrivals spiked in 2018 following a peace agreement between both countries that restored relations after a border war from 1998 to 2000, and which earned Abiy a Nobel Peace Prize.

But the border crossings that opened with fanfare have since shut, and Eritreans are no longer granted automatic prima facie refugee status.

For Eritrean refugees living in Addis Ababa, life is becoming increasingly uncertain as a result of the alliance between Abiy and Afwerki.

Speaking the same Tigrinya language as people from Tigray, some of whom have been purged from the civil service and the military as a fallout of the conflict, means the Eritreans often encounter an added layer of suspicion.

"There are checkpoints asking for ID, and in the last three days it has been very difficult to get money from banks," said another Eritrean refugee, who asked not to be named.

"I don't have a refugee ID, only a fake Tigrinyan ID card, and I'm afraid," he added.

Eritrean dissidents, who for the past decade have been involved in opposition politics from Addis Ababa, now fear arrest and deportation.

"If the war continues, no one will be safe," said one activist, who told TNH he was now limiting his movements around the city to avoid the police.

"For a lot of refugees in Addis Ababa, the only way to survive is to go to Kenya, Uganda, or Juba [South Sudan]," he added.
This story was reported from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, by a journalist whose name is being withheld for security reasons. Additional reporting by Sara Creta in Palermo, Italy, and by Obi Anyadike in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia cut off from aid

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ADDIS ABABA Ethiopian federal forces captured the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle at the weekend, but a vow by the rebel regional government to fight on means there's no end in sight to the unfolding humanitarian crisis. Among those most at risk are 96,000 Eritrean refugees sheltering in four camps in Tigray, cut off from desperately needed relief supplies.

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This is happening in Europe, most specifically people leaving places like Tunisia and Libya and coming across the Mediterranean to Italy and Malta. Also, people arriving in southeastern Europe from mostly Syria.

The article is about how the pandemic has worsened the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe. Poor countries experiencing bad economies and high unemployment went off the brink during the pandemic and many people are fleeing these countries to Europe so that they can get food and provide for their families.

We talked briefly about how refugees and alike are treated poorly, and this is not different. Countries like Italy that experience high numbers have blocked boats coming into ports and forced others to stay on their ships for the mandatory quarantine period. This led to a lack of food and water, along with people dying of health issues and being detained for almost 8 weeks.

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europe's refugee crisis is worsening during the pandemic. the reaction has been brutal - cnn

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Europe's migrant crisis is worsening during the pandemic. The reaction has been brutal

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In a year of tragedies, Europe's shores are seeing some of the most horrifying scenes: bodies washing up on beaches as desperate families make hazardous journeys in search of a safe home.

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This refugee crisis is happening in Afghanistan and pushes all these people into Iran, Pakistan, and Europe.

During 2017 the United Nations estimated about 1,100 people per day where displaced and many of the people who where displaced where moved more than once. The article also talks about how the Mercy Corp is trying to help the refugees in the country by helping farmers grow better crops, improving economic opportunities for youth and helping women and girls get opportunities for education and work.

This is related to class because it shows an example of what a refugee crisis looks like if there are millions of refugees from a war-torn area.

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The refugee crisis is a human crisis: Behind the statistics are people filled with unique life experiences and dreams for the future. They are mothers longing to return home, fathers yearning to work again, children searching for a childhood.

We are witnessing a massive shift of humanity unlike any seen before. Today nearly 80 million people around the world are displaced from their homes.

What does it look like for that many people to be displaced?

It would be like over half the population of Russia going homeless. Or everyone in the U.K. fleeing and leaving an empty nation behind them. It would be like every last person in the states of California, New York and Pennsylvania having to leave the lives and communities they built, so they and their families could be safe.

More than a third of the world's displaced population --- some 26 million people --- have been forced to flee their own countries entirely, leaving familiar lands behind and becoming refugees. Refugees are defined as people forced to leave their countries because of persecution, war or violence.

Over half of those refugees come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.

Elsewhere around the world, people are also being displaced at staggering rates, but are categorized by a status other than "refugee" --- like many of the 3.6 million Venezuelans living outside of their home country.

With your support, Mercy Corps is responding to these crises with emergency assistance to help refugees meet their urgent needs around the world. Our refugee response reaches people in more than 20 countries with support like cash, food, water, shelter, youth centers and life skills training.

All refugees have suffered unimaginable loss, whether they are displaced in their own country or seeking safety overseas. Yet they are filled with potential and the strength to triumph over adversity. Their story is our story, because we are all human --- and together, we can build a better world.

Read on to learn more about where the refugee crisis is hitting the hardest, and how you can help.

1. Syria: 6.6 million refugees

The Syria crisis has accelerated more dramatically than any crisis on earth, and Syrians continue to be the largest forcibly displaced population in the world. After war erupted in March 2011, it took two years for 1 million people to be displaced. Another million were displaced within six months. Now nine years on, more than half of the pre-war population has been internally displaced or forced to seek safety in neighboring countries. That's more than 13.2 million people on the run, including more than 6.6 million people who have escaped across the borders.

In 2019, Mercy Corps provided assistance to 1.48 million people all across Syria with urgently needed food, water, blankets and other essential supplies.
Get the quick facts about the Syria crisis ▸
We're also working to reach the millions of Syrian refugees now living in other countries. In a colorful classroom in Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp, 12-year-old Joury paints a picture of a garden. It's a place she remembers from Syria, with tall trees that linger in her memory from visits there with her grandmother.

Joury fled Syria with her family eight years ago. There is no way to know if she will be able to go home again. At a Mercy Corps youth center in Za'atari, art helps young refugees like her cope with their stress and enjoy being kids again.

"In Syria I wanted to be an artist, but I didn't know how to draw," she says. "I learned how to draw at Mercy Corps [youth center program]."

"When I am thinking of anything, I just like to draw it. I feel comfortable when I draw."

2. Afghanistan: 2.7 million refugees

Years of unemployment, insecurity and political instability have led to a massive migration from Afghanistan. More than 2.5 million people are estimated to be living in new and prolonged displacement, while more than 2.7 million people have been forced to leave the country to Iran, Pakistan or Europe.

The United Nations estimates that an average 1,100 people a day --- mostly women and children --- were forcibly displaced by violence in 2017. As of 2018, over half of people displaced by conflict in Afghanistan have been displaced at least twice, compared to just 7 percent five years before.
Get the quick facts about the Afghanistan crisis ▸
Mercy Corps is working to build a stronger future within Afghanistan by training farmers to grow better crops, improving economic opportunities for youth, teaching new mothers healthy nutrition practices, and helping women and girls find better access to financial services and job opportunities.

We're also helping Afghan refugees while they live away from home. Shakila, 31, fled Afghanistan with her husband and three children, seeking a better life. Now they wait in Greece for a future they're not sure will ever arrive.

Mercy Corps is providing Shakila with a cash card to buy essentials for her family, while her daughter, Sonia, is in an art workshop at a Mercy Corps youth center.

"I worry about my children," Shakila says. "They need an education but here they just pass the days without anything. My daughter is depressed. She always stays inside the tent."

"I'm a little older; I don't need anything. I just need my kids to go to school and have an education and change their future for good things to come."

3. South Sudan: 2.2 million refugees

The situation in South Sudan is dire, and the largest refugee crisis in Africa. More than 4 million people have been uprooted from their homes since the start of a brutal civil war in 2013, including about 2.2 million people who have been forced to cross into neighboring countries, the majority of them women and children.

Ongoing warfare, flooding and drought continue to worsen what is already a dangerous humanitarian crisis. There are massive needs for clean water, health care, sanitation, food, shelter, and protection across the country, and millions of people now require urgent support to survive.
Get the quick facts about the crisis in South Sudan ▸
Angelina feels that struggle deeply. She fled conflict in her village twice looking for a safe place for her family. The last time she fled, her home was burned behind them.

For five days she walked through deep water, floating her children on a plastic tarp until they found refuge on Nyoat Island, where they rely on food assistance and water lilies to survive. Her children leave by canoe every morning at 4 a.m. to go to a local school Mercy Corps supports.

"I set up here because I am tired of running from enemies," she says. "I decided to come here for two reasons: for fear --- I feel safe here --- and because I can get water lilies for my kids."

"I have hope [to find work] but I don't know what kind of work. If there is an opportunity given and I can provide for my kids, then I will be happy. Even if I have some small seeds, then I can plant a vegetable garden and sell them and get some money."

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4. Myanmar: 1.0 million refugees

Since violence broke out in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State in August 2017, more than 742,000 Rohingya have fled to Cox's Bazar in southeast Bangladesh. Before the crisis began, Bangladesh was already grappling with its own humanitarian challenges, and hosting some 212,000 Rohingya who had escaped Myanmar during earlier periods of violence and persecution.

The speed and scale of the influx over the course of a three-month period in 2017 has placed tremendous strain on host communities and Bangladesh as a whole, making it one of the world's largest and worst refugee crises.

Today, there are some 932,000 Rohingya seeking refuge in Bangladesh and at least 1.3 million people --- Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi host communities --- who rely on humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. More than half of them are children. These populations live in desperately overcrowded camps and communities, highly vulnerable to oncoming monsoon and cyclone seasons.
Learn more about the Rohingya crisis in Bangladesh ▸
5. Somalia: 0.9 million refugees

More than two decades of ongoing conflict and natural hazards such as prolonged drought and flooding have driven nearly 1 million Somalis to live in destitute refugee camps in the Horn of Africa and Yemen, while some 2.6 million people remain displaced within the country.

Almost half of the country is in need of assistance, and some 2.5 million people are unable to meet daily food needs, including over 300,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition.

Mercy Corps has been working in Somalia since 2005, improving access to food and water, rehabilitating waterways, supporting local markets and providing education and civic opportunities for youth. We are also providing livelihood opportunities, such as cash for work, to increase farm production and enhance the ability of communities to handle shocks like drought.
Famine and food security: What's at stake ▸
That support --- and a long-term peaceful solution --- is critical for people like 22-year-old Hadija. Two seasons of failed rains forced her to leave her village with her two children. Now she waits in a refugee camp, one of 160,000 people in her region whose life has been put on hold.

"In the village we lived from our animals, but they died from the drought," she says. "The hunger brought us here. Unless things change, we have no hope of going back. We are depending on what relatives and friends give us.

"Tonight we have nothing to eat for my children and myself. We have no hope back at home, we just hope for people who wish us well to take care of us now."

How you can help

In more than 40 countries, Mercy Corps partners to put bold solutions into action --- helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. With your support, we are helping millions of people meet their urgent needs and build a stronger tomorrow.

You play an important role in ensuring that refugees have the support they need. When we work together, we can help even more people feel safe from conflict, stay healthy and forge ahead to a better, stronger future.

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The world's 5 biggest refugee crises - Afghanistan

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The refugee crisis is a human crisis: Behind the statistics are people filled with unique life experiences and dreams for the future. They are mothers longing to return home, fathers yearning to work again, children searching for a childhood. We are witnessing a massive shift of humanity unlike any seen before.

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A good understanding of how many refugees are displaced on our planet

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A good understanding of how many refugees are displaced on our planet

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This article talks about multiple different stories of people being displaced and not a specific place, more like our planet.

The article shows what we can do as people, and it shows what governments could do for refugees. It also talks about what refugees are and how they come about in our world, mostly because of natural disaster, persecution, and war. It also defines what refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers are. It states that 70.8 million people have been forcibly displaced by conflict, persecution, or natural disasters. There are almost 26 million refugees currently on the planet, and 84% of them are being hosted by developing countries.

This is related to our class because we learned about what refugees are and how them being displaced is difficult and how often it happens. It relates to my topic because it gives a great overview of what refugees are and shows how we could support them.

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Most people in the world have had the experience of leaving the place where they grew up. Maybe they will only move as far as the next village or city. But for some people, they will need to leave their country entirely - sometimes for a short time, but sometimes forever.
Every day, all over the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life.
There are many reasons why people around the globe seek to rebuild their lives in a different country. Some people leave home to get a job or an education. Others are forced to flee persecution or human rights violations such as torture. Millions flee from armed conflicts or other crises or violence. Some no longer feel safe and might have been targeted just because of who they are or what they do or believe - for example, for their ethnicity, religion, sexuality or political opinions.

These journeys, which all start with the hope for a better future, can also be full of danger and fear. Some people risk falling prey to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Some are detained by the authorities as soon as they arrive in a new country. Once they're settling in and start building a new life, many face daily racism, xenophobia and discrimination.

Some people end up feeling alone and isolated because they have lost the support networks that most of us take for granted - our communities, colleagues, relatives and friends.

WHY DO PEOPLE LEAVE THEIR COUNTRIES?

There are many reasons why it might be too difficult or dangerous for people to stay in their own countries. For example, children, woman and men flee from violence, war, hunger, extreme poverty, because of their sexual or gender orientation, or from the consequences of climate change or other natural disasters. Often people will face a combination of these difficult circumstances.

People who leave their countries are not always fleeing danger. They might believe they have a better chance of finding work in another country because they have the education or capital to seek opportunities elsewhere. Others might want to join relatives or friends who are already living abroad. Or they might seek to start or finish their education in another country. There are lots of different reasons for people to start a journey to build a life in a new country.

DEFINITIONS: WHAT EXACTLY IS A REFUGEE, AN ASYLUM SEEKER AND A MIGRANT?

The terms "refugee", "asylum seeker" and "migrant" are used to describe people who are on the move, who have left their countries and have crossed borders.

The terms "migrant" and "refugee" are often used interchangeably but it is important to distinguish between them as there is a legal difference.

Who is a refugee?

A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there. The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers. Refugees have a right to international protection.

Who is an asylum seeker?

An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn't yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.

Who is a migrant?

There is no internationally accepted legal definition of a migrant. Like most agencies and organizations, we at Amnesty International understand migrants to be people staying outside their country of origin, who are not asylum seekers or refugees.

Some migrants leave their country because they want to work, study or join family, for example. Others feel they must leave because of poverty, political unrest, gang violence, natural disasters or other serious circumstances that exist there.

Lots of people don't fit the legal definition of a refugee but could nevertheless be in danger if they went home.

It is important to understand that, just because migrants do not flee persecution, they are still entitled to have all their human rights protected and respected, regardless of the status they have in the country they moved to. Governments must protect all migrants from racist and xenophobic violence, exploitation and forced labour. Migrants should never be detained or forced to return to their countries without a legitimate reason.

WHAT IS AMNESTY'S POSITION ON MIGRANTS, REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS?

We campaign for a world where human rights can be enjoyed by everyone, no matter what situation they are in. Amnesty has championed the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants for decades.

We campaign to make sure governments honour their shared responsibility to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants. We condemn any policies and practices that undermine the rights of people on the move.

The people are not the problem
There are about 35 million refugees globally. Many people feel overwhelmed by the numbers and see people moving across borders as a global crisis. We at Amnesty International disagree that it is a crisis of numbers. The people are not the problem. Rather, the causes that drive families and individuals to cross borders and the short-sighted and unrealistic ways that politicians respond to them are the problem.
Campaigning for people on the move
With our campaigns, we put pressure on governments to honour their responsibility to protect every single person's rights. They must make sure that refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are safe, and are not tortured, discriminated against or left living in poverty.

We campaign for governments to properly process the asylum claims of asylum seekers so that they don't leave them in limbo - sometimes even locked away in detention centres - for years. We also want to see migrants being protected from exploitation and abuse by their employers or by traffickers.
The individual beyond the label
Each human being has more than one identity. "Refugee", "migrant" and "asylum seeker" are only temporary terms; they do not reflect the whole identity of women, children and men who have left their homes behind to start a new life in a new country.

When we use these labels, we need to remember that out of the many ways in which people describe themselves, these terms only refer to one experience: that of leaving their countries. But the identities of these people are made up of so many more things.

Most people seeking to live elsewhere will feel that the experience of leaving their countries doesn't fully capture who they are. Like all of us, they are complex and unique human beings and might choose to identify themselves as being from a certain country or region, belonging to a group that speaks a certain language or shares a culture. Or they might say about themselves that they are a teacher, doctor, artist, passionate football fan, father, sister, son or mother.

A person's legal status cannot express the full identity and personality of a refugee, asylum seeker or migrant. No one can be known solely through their legal status.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Support our campaigns to help refugees!

You can join our movement of people who welcome refugees. Amnesty's I Welcome campaign calls on governments worldwide to welcome their fair share of the world's people who are seeking safety. With enough political will, our leaders can protect people fleeing conflict and persecution, including through a solution called resettlement.

We are also pushing for other safe ways for refugees to start new lives, such as by reuniting families who have been separated, through community groups sponsoring refugee families to move to their country, and through universities and businesses offering people study or work visas to start a new life.

Governments should never force anyone to go back to a country where they are at risk of human rights violations. Instead, refugees should be offered a safe place to live and opportunities to access work, education and health care.

Where your government has a sponsorship programme, you can get involved in community sponsorship. This is where local communities come together to raise money to resettle and welcome families and individuals who have fled their home countries.

FIND OUT MORE

Laws for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers

The rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are protected by international law, regardless of how and why they arrive in a country. They have the same rights as everyone else, plus special or specific protections including:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 14), which states that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries

The 1951 UN Refugee Convention (and its 1967 Protocol), which protects refugees from being returned to countries where they risk being persecuted

The 1990 Migrant Workers Convention, which protects migrants and their families

Regional Refugee law instruments (including 1969 OAU Convention, 1984 Cartagena Declaration, Common European Asylum System and Dublin Regulation)

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Who is a refugee, a migrant or an asylum seeker?

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"Refugee," "migrant" and "asylum seeker" are only temporary terms, learn more about who they really are.