Entry # 10 Essay

 Thinking about Refugees

 

 There are thousands of refugees in the world. We see them on television, we see them on the news, we see them in the newspapers, we see them on the streets, but do we really see them? It is important to understand the reasons why a person becomes a refugee, the way they are seen by other people and the role international organizations have towards them.

  

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a refugee is “a person who has escaped from their own country for political, religious, or economic reasons or because of a war”. Therefore, as it can be inferred from the definitions, nobody becomes a refugee because they enjoy that kind of lifestyle. There are many causes which drive a person to become a refugee. One of them can be a natural hazard that has devastated their homeland, as it happened in Haiti in 2010. Another cause is war and political persecution as it happened in Syria. Violence, extreme poverty, lack of food and medicine also displaces a lot of people from their land, 

 Even though refugees are commonly seen as people who need to be helped, many countries turn their back on them if they arrive at their frontiers. Many governments blame refugees for their economic problems, insecurity  and the lack of work for the people of that country. Due to this negative campaign towards refugees from the media and state of many countries, there are a lot of people who treat refugees as the responsible  source of all their misseries. As a consequence of this, refugees are  at the centre of discrimation, violence and indifference.

 Many international organizations do a lot to accompany and help displaced people to have better living conditions, however they cannot do much to make a substantial change without the support of all the powerful countries which receive thousands of refugees a year. Organizations such as the United Nations, Amnesty International or Doctors without borders make a great effort to protect refugees. They are not only present in many countries that host them but also in improvised refugee camps where, without their help and support, living conditions in those places would be unbearable. Even though their contribution is valid, they cannot do much without the support and genuine will of countries which are supposed to provide asylum for refugees.

 As it has been stated before, refugees can be found all over the world, they were forced to leave everything behind in order to survive, but sometimes, their journey toward freedom is eternal, because many people die trying to get to a safer land. The fortunate ones that are able to get to a place where they can be given asylum are not always treated in a fair way or given the opportunity to have better living conditions. International Organizations help displaced people but it seems more as a temporary provision of assistance rather than a solution or tools for refugee people to build up a life full of dignity.