With the development of economy and technology, the trend of globalization is deepening around the world. It seems that the world is becoming a scene of prosperity andstability. However, it is not the case. There are still many poor and refugeesin the world.
From 2000 to2016, each year, there are millions of refugees fleeing their own countries. For most people, when it comes to the word “refugee”, wars or poor countries will appear in their minds at first. However, according to the UN Refugee Agency(UNHCR, a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights andbuilding a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities andstateless people), refugees are people fleeing conflict or persecution. That is, even in the developed countries, there are still having refugees; even in China, where the economy is booming, there are still having refugees. But, do you know where do the refugees prefer to go?
From 2000 to 2016, each year, more than one hundred thousand Chinese refugees leaving China move to other countries. At the same time, most of them like to move to Asia and North America. In Asia, they’d like to choose India, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia to asylum or residence. In North America, they’d like to choose UnitedStates, Canada and Mexico to asylum or residence. From where they choose, wecan learn that the Chinese refugees prefer to go somewhere the economy is better, and close to their origin place.
In general, from 2000 to 2016, the refugees around the world “like” to move to Asia and Africa. Each year, there is an average of 5306460 refugees pouring into Asia, anaverage of 3210530 refugees pouring into Africa. However, there is only anaverage of 1815420 refugees moving into the Europe, an average number of1149772 refugees moving into the North America respectively each year. That is,the number of refugees moving into North America in 2.9 year and the number of refugees moving into Europe in 4.6 year is equal to the number of refugees moving into Asia in one year.
In Asia, they’d like to choose Pakistan, Islamic Rep. of Iran, Turkey, Syrian Arab Rep. and soon; in Africa, they’d like to choose Kenya, United Rep. of Tanzania, Uganda,Chad etc. But does these areas are the dream places for the refugees to go?
As we all know,most of the developed countries are located in the Europe or North America, themajority countries in Asia or Africa are developing or less developed countries.That is, these countries maybe also need help from others so as to develop themselves smoothly. However, refugees are people fleeing conflict orpersecution, they need to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another country. Canthey find shelter in some developing or countries?
Or do thesecountries have the duty to receive the refugees? In fact, the question thatwhich countries should be responsible for the refugee problem has beendiscussed by the media for many years.
Some people argue that, “who pollutes, who governs”, who bombed Syria, who should received refugees. Western "democracies" such as the United States are the makers of refugees, they should open their doors to receive refugees, and thereis no reason for other countries to pay for their SINS. While other believe that the countries which have the power should be responsible for the refugees.Just like China, with the One Belt And One Road strategy and the wish of building a community of Shared future for mankind, China should be responsiblefor the refugees, so as to show great power and take internationalresponsibility.
In recent years,the number of refugees China has received is increasing, even surpass the United States. Each year, there are more than two hundred thousand refugees move into China, however, the quantity of refugees move into China is far morethan the refugees leaving China. Since 2015, the quantity of refugees has overthree hundred thousand, and has reached 317255 in 2016.
Why China can receive the refugees from other countries, but can’t solve the native refugees well, just like many other countries. Thus, what on earth is the perfect way tosolve the refugee problem and help the refugees to find their dream places? How about depending on the UNHCR? The primary purpose at UNHCR is to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. Together with partners and communities, UNHCR works to ensure that everybody has the right toseek asylum and find safe refuge in another country. It also strives to securelasting solutions.
What’s more, written in the homepage of UNHCR, people can see that “For over half a century, UNHCR has helped millions of people to restart their lives. They include refugees,returnees, stateless people, the internally displaced and asylum-seekers. Our protection, shelter, health and education has been crucial, healing broken pasts and building brighter futures.”
In fact, the rate of refugees assisted by UNHCR seems high, the average of the assisted rate is 60%, even reach 79% in 2015. However, it doesn’t mean that every refugee from all countries can be effectively assisted. From 2000 to 2016, there are 2792202 refugees leaving China, but only 4100 gain the assist from the UNHCR.The assisted rate is as low as 0.15%. Besides, there are 5113990 refugees moving into China, but only 639084 refugees assisted by UNHCR; the assisted rate is 12%.
The refugees are defined and protected in international law, and must not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom are at risk. Therefore, if theUNHCR can’t afford some effective measures to solve this problem, the economicand administrative burdens of those countries or territories which received the refugees will be increased. That is, it is not feasible to solve refugee problem only rely on UNHCR.
If we can’t deal with this problem properly, the refugee problem will become worse and worse, just like the rolling snowball or rising flood waters, causing some unaffordable consequences, leading the world to an unstable and horrible scene.People can learn a lesson from the history. In the 1960s, a large number of Palestinian refugees from Palestine and Jordan move into Lebanon. However, the Lebanese government lost the control of these refugee communities soon, Lebanon has become the birthplace of a chaotic jihadi organization.
Just as Wang Yi,Foreign Minister said in June this year that, refugees are not immigrants.Displaced people around the world are still need to return to their homeland torebuild their homes. Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry said in2015 that, the key to solve the refugee problem is to solve the development and stability problem of some areas fundamentally.
Maybe the dreamplaces for the refugees to go are their own countries, and the perfect way to solve the refugee problem is trying our best to help the refugees returning their homes.