On Saturday, June 20, the world marked the World Refugee Day under the theme, Refugees are Ordinary People in Extraordinary Circumstances’. The Day was observed as the total number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide surpassed the 60 million mark for the first time in contemporary history. It is unfortunate that forced migration not only continues to rise in this day and age, causing untold human suffering and ruining the future of millions around the world. Equally tragic is the indifference that continues to characterize the international response to this crisis, with figures suggesting that less wealthy countries and communities shoulder 86 per cent of the world’s refugee burden. Needless to say, there are always reasons why people choose to leave their homes, to either cross the borders or seek refuge elsewhere inside their respective countries. Whether in refugee camps away from their home countries or in makeshift camps of internally displaced persons in their own countries, forced migration comes with dire consequences, including deprivation of basic rights such as access to health care and education, hunger, unemployment, among others. Rwanda alone hosts more than 110,000 refugees, most from neighbours Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. These are not economic migrants. They are genuine refugees who fled from insecurity and violence often linked to their own governments. Thousands of migrants, mostly from Africa and Asia, have died at sea while trying to cross to Europe, while many others are still trapped on highly risky territories after they were denied entry into European nations. Today’s forced human displacement is a total tragedy. It calls for leadership and concrete actions at the highest level to reverse the trend. Yet the solution is no rocket science. It is known to all of us. It lies in ending the conditions that lead to mass human migration. It is about ensuring that nations guarantee the safety and security of their people. That is a responsibility for governments, and yet some have tragically instead become the instigators of violence against their own people. This must end now. Where governments are unwilling to protect their citizens the international community must not hesitate to do everything necessary to ensure the safety ordinary citizens. The world must choose to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those suffering at the hands of abusive regimes and not the other way round. NOW is the time to act.
