Stories of the plight of a lost people
THE situation and plight of refugees dominates media reports. Refugees are persons who flee from a place to find safety or refuge from, for example, the ravages of war or natural disasters.
Refugees, or displaced persons as they are also called, have been part of humanity for a long time.
In ancient Palestine there were six cities of refuge. These were Bezer, Ramoth-Gilead and Golan on the east side of the Jordan River, and Kedesh, Schechem and Hebron on the west side.
Persons who had killed other persons, either accidentally or in self-defence, could flee to these cities where they would get a fair trial.
If they were found not guilty of wilful murder, they could remain in the city. If they were found guilty, they were returned to the place from which they had fled in order to be punished.
Just before and during the two world wars, hundreds of thousands of persons, mainly in Europe and Asia, became refugees.
Currently, the situation and plight of refugees are again being highlighted. Large numbers of refugees are from the African continent.
On June 20 we commemorated World Refugee Day 2017. The idea was that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees would use that date to launch the #WithRefugees petition.
The message is that governments the worldwide, should contribute to relieve the plight of refugees. Monetary assistance is urgently needed.
South Sudan, which is plagued by civil war, famine and drought, can be singled out as a country with an overwhelming number of refugees.
It is reported that conflict and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in South Sudan are driving people from their homes. More than 1.8 million persons, which includes one million children, are refugees.
The suffering of refugees becomes unimaginable. One news report focuses on refugees from Niger. During early June, more than 40 people, including three babies and two children, died of thirst while travelling through the Sahara Desert after their lorry broke down in Northern Niger.
Last year in June the bodies of 34 refugees, among which were 20 children, were found in the same region.
The refugees had been abandoned by their human trafficker, and also died of thirst. There are many stories that highlight the plight of refugees.
There is the story of Rebecca Nyaden who fled her home in Aweil because of food scarcity caused by the drought. She walked for seven days before relief came into sight, and is now living in a refugee camp in Wau.
Then there is a report that seven refugees suffocated in a van parked in Tripoli near Garabuli Beach, a suburb outside the Libyan capital. There were 23 other refugees in the van.
There is also the story of Nyayath Uluak, a displaced South Sudanese. Uluak was caught in crossfire in the town of Malakal when the civil war in South Sudan erupted in 2013. A bullet tore into her leg.
Although Uluak survived, the lower part of her leg had to be amputated. After finding refuge, but having to flee more than once, she now finds herself in a camp surrounded by barbed wire and sandbags, and manned by UN peacekeepers.
Many refugees leave this continent in, often, flimsy boats to reach the safety of one or other European country.
There are often reports of the capsizing of these boats, with concomitant loss of lives. I wonder how many of us who are, geographically, so far removed from these sights of horror, truly comprehend the extent of the plight of the persons who are involved?
A recent event draws attention to this situation, but fortunately the outcome was less than dire.
In mid-June nearly 9 000 refugees, mainly from African countries, were saved in the Mediterranean after they had left Libya in unseaworthy boats to reach southern Italy, a gateway to other European countries.
A massive search-and-rescue operation ensued, and illustrates the power of co-operation on the part of many, even opposing forces.
A less heartening report draws attention to the situation on disagreement about whether Somalian refugees should be assisted to return voluntarily to their homeland.
While a summit of East African leaders has agreed to facilitate the voluntary return of Somalian refugees, the UN announced it would not support refugees’ return to Somalia, a country that faces severe famine.
However, African leaders in support of the voluntary return of Somalian refugees, agreed to bolster the protection of refugees and respond to the drought in order to prevent more persons from becoming displaced.
They would focus on the question of asylum for refugees, and work towards their integration into existing communities.
The question of famine relief is a difficult one. As recently as March there were reports that the famine in South Sudan was spreading.
It was reported that at least 30 persons had died due to starvation. And as the drought and famine continue, coupled with a devastating civil war, people are fleeing from South Sudan in increasing numbers.
Somalis and international aid agencies are behind a drive to feed the Somalian people. The American Refugee Committee was to distribute over 60 tons of food flown in to Somalia.
I conclude this writing on refugees on a bright note. When I read a report on young people’s response to the refugee crisis I felt proud of the youth of South Africa.
In 2016 the Varkey Foundation published the Generation Z: Global Citizenship Survey regarding the attitudes of young persons aged 15-21 in 20 major countries. The survey found that 68% of young people in South Africa think that our government is doing too little to address the global refugee crisis. Only 5% of the young people thought that the government was doing too much.
According to the UN Refugee Agency, South Africa has more refugees and asylum seekers than any other place in the world. There are 120 000 refugees and 1 million asylum seekers.
The writer of the report is correct in saying that the journey for refugees does not end when they are granted asylum. Besides the vital issues of housing and work, there is the important question of integration into communities.
It should be the mission of a state to provide its people with capabilities to look sensitively at the question of refugees and, especially once refugees have become naturalised citizens, to appreciate the economic and other contributions they make.
Finally, and on another note: This month it will be a year since the first contributor to Counterpoint, my husband professor Adam Small, died. I pay tribute to a wonderful husband and father, poet and playwright of note, and a person with a keen social conscience.