“Refugees are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, with the same hopes and ambitions as us—except that a twist of fate has bound their lives to a global refugee crisis on an unprecedented scale.” — Khaled Hosseini
Can you imagine being forced to flee your country in order to find safety? If you were lucky, you had time to pack your belongings. If you were not, you just dropped everything and ran.
Refugees are individuals who have fled war, violence, conflict, or persecution and crossed an international border in search of safety in another country. They have frequently had to flee with only clothes on their backs, leaving behind homes, possessions, jobs, and loved ones.
The Refugee Convention is a key legal document that defines a refugee as: "someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion."
It's difficult to imagine life as a refugee. However, for 26.4 million people worldwide, it is a terrifying reality. The countries with the most refugees are listed below according to the Concern Worldwide.
5. SUDAN
While Sudan is the fifth largest country of asylum for refugees (with 1.04 million registered), it is also a country that is producing an increasing number of refugees. The country is host to the 737,000 refugees from South Sudan — but nearly the same number of Sudanese refugees have fled the country due to ongoing violence, drought, and famine. Because most refugees end up in a neighboring country, this also means that there are 270,000 Sudanese refugees currently hosted in South Sudan.
Sudan has also become a port-of-call for Ethiopians, Syrians, and Eritreans, and the number of internally-displaced people in the country brings the UNHCR’s total “people of concern” closer to 3.6 million. Concern is active in the area of Darfur, which is host to an overwhelming majority of people forcibly displaced from their homes, and working to support both refugees and host communities.
4. GERMANY
Of the 12 countries that take in the most refugees, Germany (with a population of 1.2 million refugees) is the only high-income country, and the only one not neighboring the countries most represented within the refugee community. Over 605,000 Syrian refugees, 147,000 Afghan refugees, and 146,000 Iraqi refugees are currently hosted in the country.
3. UGANDA
Policymakers in Uganda have shaped and reshaped policies in recent years around providing safe and dignified shelter for an increasingly large refugee population. In 2018, the UNHCR counted 1.37 million people of concern. That number more than doubled in 2019, reaching nearly 3.69 million. In 2020, the country recorded 3.79 million people of concern, including 1.42 million refugees. In that year, Uganda also surpassed Sudan as the largest host community for South Sudanese refugees, with over 887,000 in the country. It’s also a major host for refugees from the DRC (414,407) and has large populations of Burundian, Somali, and Rwandan refugees.
2. PAKISTAN
Pakistan’s refugee population of 1,438,955 is almost entirely from Afghanistan (1,438,432). Many have lived in their host community for decades, initially fleeing the decade-long Soviet-Afghan War. The country experienced a dramatic increase of Afghan refugees in 2001, many settling in the Balochistan province, just across the border. The protracted nature of these displacements means that many refugee families have lived in compromised living circumstances for generations. Climate change and, more recently, COVID-19 have further complicated matters, as the coastal Balochistan province is prone to floods, and pandemic-related border closures have affected communities and economies in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Concern has worked in Pakistan since 2001, when it responded to that year’s increase of Afghan refugees. Since then, this organization has developed long-term programs in Balochistan, Punjab, and KPK province aimed at disaster risk reduction, financial security, and water and sanitation.
1.TURKEY
Over 3.65 million refugees are currently being hosted in Turkey, including 3.64 million Syrians (the balance largely comes from Iraq and Afghanistan), referred to in-country as “Syrians under temporary protection” by the government. A strong government response has meant that most Syrians in Turkey are living in host communities instead of informal tented communities, although many are still living at bare-minimum conditions.
According to the UN Refugee Agency and UNICEF, almost half of the world’s refugees are children. Considering that children make up less than one third of the global population.
According to UN data, the Ukraine crisis will affect 1.5 million people in 2021, half of whom are children and minors. Over 1.7 million people have become refugees since Russia's invasion in February 2022, according to the UN's refugee agency. More than five million Ukrainians are expected to flee their country as a result of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Lives of thousands of children and innocent civilians are at cost.
If you are interested in providing humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine, you can donate to one the organizations listed below:
People in Need, Donate here
The Ukrainian Red Cross. Donate here
The International Medical Corps. Donate here
UNICEF. Donate here
The United Nations World Food Programme. Donate here
World Health Organization Foundation. Donate here
Team Rubicon. Donate here
The International Rescue Committee (IRC). Donate here
CARE. Donate here
Nova Ukraine. Donate here
Mariam Aghayeva
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