Relief and Remedy: Responding to the Needs of Refugees
Port Arrival, Chios, Greece, September 2017
The number of people who are forcibly displaced is growing every single day. In 2018 UNHCR recorded 70.8 million people were displaced worldwide, a record high and exponential surge up from 43.4 million in 2009. This represents 37,000 new displacements every day.
This is a global issue that is starting to be accepted as a new norm. The issue doesn’t just impact those that are fleeing. Often the receiving countries, such as Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda and Sudan, are already struggling to support their own citizens and taking on the burden of rapid population flow stretches scarce resources and infrastructure to breaking point.
It is important to distinguish between the different classifications of refugee, asylum seeker, migrant and internally displaced people (IDP) as these terms have significant political implications for how these individuals are received into a country, the protections and rights they receive, and even how the receiving society might react to their arrival.[1]
Refugees are people who flee persecution or war. They are seeking asylum somewhere outside of their home country because returning home is too dangerous. Refugees are officially defined and recognised by the UNHCR.[2] Though often interchanged with the term refugee, an asylum seeker is technically different. Every refugee is seeking asylum until the point when they are granted asylum. The decision of whether to recognise them as refugees depends on the individual case as well as the government of the receiving country.[3] A migrant is someone who decides to move, usually to seek a better life. This is to find improved opportunities for work, education, or reuniting with family. The key difference between a refugee and a migrant is the fact that migrants are able to return to their home without being in danger.[4] Lastly, an internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who stays within the borders of their own country and remains under the protection of its government, even if that government is the reason for their displacement.[5]
“In 2018 UNHCR recorded 70.8 million people were displaced worldwide, a record high and exponential surge up from 43.4 million in 2009.”
It is clear that being forcibly displaced has devastating effects on an individual’s wellbeing. Cut off from regular access to food, water and shelter not only do displaced people suffer physically but the trauma of life-threatening situations leads to mental disorders and impair their wellbeing.[6]
Beyond the traumatic migration process, the living conditions within the refugee camps are dire and harsh. Refugees will often live outside of camps due to the lack of space and sanitation within the camp. It is extremely common for camps to reach capacity and continue to have refugees living in the camps as there is nowhere else to go. This means that food and water portions are lessened and distributed at a third of what it was originally anticipated for. Additionally, black markets are often established where food and water are kept and then sold at an exorbitant price. These stressful conditions contribute to a sense of hopelessness, mistrust and vulnerability. As they continue to endure these conditions, their hope and sense of purpose start to erode. In a 2004 internal UNHCR report, it was projected that the average length of time that refugees spend in camps is 17 years.[7]
As the global civil society work to address the issue, we first seek to address the emergency response needs of displaced people. These naturally focus on physical factors such as food, water, shelter and clothing. Beyond these needs however, there is limited provision of services for mental wellness, again, not only just in an emergency counselling sense, but services that also support a person’s sense of purpose, community connection, self-belief, relationship, communication and general life skills. All of which are not only important to a person’s personal Wellbeing but support building and supporting collective community wellbeing. Left unaddressed, we set ourselves up for a continuing cycle of unrest, conflict and ongoing mass displacement of people.
Key to addressing this issue is recognising that governments and agencies working in this space are under pressure to demonstrate money is being spent to have the greatest impact, hence why the significant proportion of funding flows to needs that are more tangible and easier to measure; food and water rations, medical supplies and buildings. Therefore, to be more effective in directing resources to address the refugee crisis, it is important to take a more holistic approach to measuring the needs of displaced people not only for their immediate wellbeing, but that we may also start to solve these issues once and for all.
“Left unaddressed, we set ourselves up for a continuing cycle of unrest, conflict and ongoing mass displacement of people.”
Written by Gabrielle Nind, Project Coordinator at Huber Social
[1] Impact Hub, The Importance of Words: Refugee, Asylum Seeker, or Migrant?, May 2018, online: https://vienna.impacthub.net/2018/05/30/importance-words-refugee-asylum-seeker-migrant/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, Internally Displaced People, n.d., online: https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/internally-displaced-people.html
[6] The Inquisitive Mind, Refugees wel(l)come: The impact of social support on refugees’ well-being, 2019, online: https://www.in-mind.org/article/refugees-wellcome-the-impact-of-social-support-on-refugees-well-being
[7] UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018, 2019, online: https://www.unhcr.org/5d08d7ee7.pdf