Columbus advocates call attention to conflicts outside of Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine enters into its fourth week, Columbus advocates who work closely with refugees are urging Americans not to forget other ongoing crises around the world.
The Russian invasion that started on Feb. 24 provoked swift condemnation by the international community and a series of sanctions. But conflicts outside Europe that also are causing large-scale death, destruction and displacement haven’t been treated the same way, according to Dr. Seleshi Asfaw, president of Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services (ETSS).
ETSS is a Columbus-based social service agency that offers employment, health and other programs to new American communities. Working on a daily basis with immigrant residents from war-torn regions, Asfaw said he has been disheartened by the lack of attention that Western media and governments are paying to conflicts in other countries.
“Many of us have watched in horror with the latest crisis in Ukraine, but serious human rights violations are also occurring in other countries in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa,” said Asfaw, who originally is from Ethiopia. “When I compare how the international community reacted and mobilized in each case, I see a lot of racism and discrimination.”
Nadia Kasvin, the founder of a local resettlement agency called US Together, came from Ukraine to the United States as a refugee 28 years ago and has been advocating for the swift relocation of eligible Ukrainian refugees amid the war. She, too, is calling on the U.S. government to pay attention to people outside Europe who are suffering from humanitarian crises.
“There are so many conflicts going on affecting so many people, not just white Europeans,” Kasvin said. “Yes, Ukrainian refugees are waiting years to get resettled here, but there are people waiting even longer to come here. We can’t just focus on Ukraine and forget everyone else.”
Here are some of the major world conflicts – besides the war in Ukraine –
that are causing violent deaths, widespread displacement, as well as fear and anxieties among Columbusarea residents who immigrated from these countries.
Afghanistan
Those in Afghanistan have had to endure more than 40 years of conflicts, natural disasters and poverty. More than 6 million Afghans have had to flee their homes, with over 925 Afghan refugees resettled in Ohio from the fiscal years 2011 to 2020.
Following the U.S. military withdrawal last year, the Taliban entered the capital of Kabul and took over the country. While some residents were able to evacuate to the U.S. or a third country – with hundreds resettling in Columbus – most are still stranded there, including those who have offered help to the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan.
Ethiopia’s Tigray region
The ongoing civil war began in November
2020 in Ethiopia’s Tigray – the country’s northernmost regional state. These armed conflicts have, especially, put in danger the lives of about 96,000 Eritrean refugees who escaped persecution in their own country to reside in Ethiopia’s refugee camps.
In recent months, the Tigray War has “deteriorated significantly,” according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Fighting has extended to other parts of Ethiopia, and airstrikes have resulted in at least 300 deaths in the past four months.
Advocates estimate that tens of thousands of Ethiopian-americans live in Columbus. There are also about 5,000 Eritrean refugees who have settled in the city.
Myanmar
Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia that has suffered devastating natural disasters, military dictatorship and ethnic conflicts. The Rohingya people – a stateless Muslim minority residing on the western coast of the country – in particular face longtime discrimination and persecution by the government.
From 2000 to 2019, the number of immigrants from Myanmar in the U.S. increased from 17,000 to 189,000, according to a report by the Pew Research Center. Ohio accepted 1,332 refugees from Myanmar in the last 10 years. Those in the Columbus area mostly belong to the Karen and Chin ethnic groups.
Somalia
Somalia’s ongoing civil war that started in 1991 has led to widespread poverty, hunger, political instability, civil unrest as well as the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents. Despite the international community’s resettlement efforts, more than 750,000 Somali refugees remain in neighboring countries, and 2.6 million are internally displaced in Somalia.
Nearly 3,000 Somali refugees were resettled in Ohio in the last 10 fiscal years, but the number of Somali immigrants in the region is much higher. Advocates estimate that there are about 45,000 to 50,000 Somalis in Columbus alone, most coming here through secondary migration.
Iraq
The Iraqi refugee crisis is the result of decades of wars and continuous fighting among local militant groups. Conflicts escalated in 2014 when the Islamic State attacked northern Iraq. Since then, more than 3 million Iraqis were displaced. Residents, including millions of children, are in dire need of assistance.
Ohio has been one of the large Arab settlement regions in the U.S. ever since the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s. In the past 10 years, it took in about 2,500 Iraqi refugees.
Yilun Cheng is a Report for America corps member and covers immigration issues for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/3fnsgaz. ycheng@dispatch.com @Chengyilun