Opinion analysis by Rhea Haddad, Staff Writer

June 20th, 2020

There are many definitions of a refugee, ranging from the most restrictive to the most inclusive. After the Second World War, the UN member states drew up what is now known as the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees that defines a refugee as a “person owning a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail him/herself of the protection of that country.” According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR), two-thirds of all refugees worldwide come from just five countries, namely Syria, Afghanistan, South Soudan, Myanmar, and Somalia.

 In other words, refugees are regular people who, through no fault of their own, have been forced to leave their homes in search of safety. They often have little or no warning before being expelled out of their homes because of war or persecution, leaving their families, friends, and most or all of their belongings behind, and they usually undergo dangerous journeys to attain safety.

Each June 20, in a world where violence and wars force thousands of families to flee for their survival every day, the globe unites to honor World Refugee Day. Celebrated for the first time on June 20, 2001, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, World Refugee Day marks a key moment to raise awareness about forcibly displaced people around the world. 

 Over the past decade, worldwide refugee crises have obtained spotlight in the news, making the support and celebration of World Refugee Day more important than ever. The vastness of the crisis can be hard to grasp, therefore, raising awareness can help people globally to realize the scope of what refugees are going through daily. Additionally, it promotes a sense of empathy and compassion that brings people together from all walks of life. World Refugee Day provides an incentive to create a more peaceful world by reminding people of the necessity of a greater peace that could happen with a significant decrease in the suffering of forcibly displaced people. Finally, it is important to always remember that every big change starts with a small step. World Refugee Day inspires us to be better neighbors to refugees living in our communities and to be more compassionate world citizens in general.

This year, when even the world’s best-equipped health systems are struggling to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the pandemic’s public health impact and containment measures have raised even more weighty challenges for the refugees. For the past three months, we have been constantly hearing “stay home, practice social distancing, and wash your hand”. But, how can you shelter in place when you don’t know how long you will be safe where you are? How can you practice social distancing in a crowded refugee camp? How can you wash your hands without access to clean water? In fact, the coronavirus knows no borders, no language barriers, and threatens everyone on the planet, particularly refugees.

“Securing public health and protecting refugees are not mutually exclusive. This is not a dilemma. We have to do both. Long-recognized refugee laws can be respected even as governments adopt stringent measures to protect public health, including borders”, says Filippo Grandi, current United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  

Borders restrictions imposed or increased as part of the COVID-19 response measures had a major impact on asylum seekers and refugees, preventing many across the world from getting refuge and safety; hence violating the international legal principle of nonrefoulement, forbidding a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would likely be in danger or persecution. However, nearly two-thirds of European countries have found ways to manage their borders effectively while allowing access to their territories for people seeking asylum. 

According to the Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services”, and therefore, no human being must ever come to choose between their safety and their health. What this pandemic undeniably demonstrated is that the health of every person is linked to the health of the most marginalized and vulnerable members in a society. No one is safe until everyone is safe, and only through solidarity, will we defeat this crisis. Awareness of the misery of displaced people across the globe should be raised more and more, and today, more than ever, World Refugee Day has to be each one of us’ day. We must always remember that there is only one us, one human family, connected in ways we often forget. 

The only way to help our less fortunate human brothers and sisters is by uniting and working together as one global community.