A Page From a Refugee's Diary

Every human being has a special attachment to his motherland. He wants to live and grow old among his family and friends and in the place where he is born. Though migration has its own benefits, however, it is always a great ordeal to leave one's home, whether under duress, by coercion, or for economic or political reasons.

Believe me; it is never easy to lead a life of a refugee. It is tantamount to losing your identity as a citizen and is akin to turning into a rolling stone with no destination to reach. Given the today's world, ruled by economic constraints and social distress, the lives of refugees are unbearable and dejecting. The pain of separation from their families and friends is beyond description. To make matters worse, the voices for the rights of refugees are getting slower and dim.

The world conscience has to rise up to the agonies of millions of refugees scattered in different regions across the world. There was a time when most states, who were signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, took significant steps to ensure due rights of refugees. However, now almost all such refugee rehabilitation measures are restricted to Twitter, Facebook and video conferences only to chant slogans at the top of voice, but to no avail. No practical work is being done to solve their problems. Many countries, including the United States, sympathize with refugees, but, on the other hand, they discourage the permanent resettlement of refugees. What an irony!

This indifferent attitude has added to the problems of refugees. Thousands of people around the world die after being granted a refugee status by the UNHCR in the hope of resettlement in a country, where their lives would be safe and would not be persecuted on religious, ethnic and linguistic grounds. Historically, the United States was the biggest supporter of the resettlement of refugees, however, it has now failed to allow even a single refugee to enter the U.S. borders, particularly since the Trump regime took over the White House.

The so-called international community and such advocates of human rights as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and many other Western countries are also following the U.S. footsteps and have adopted policies that have practically made it impossible for refugees to move there to lead a peaceful life in those countries.

More's the pity, the refugees fleeing from war-torn areas in Muslim countries are no more recognized as refugees and thus are not subject to human rights, as granted by the UN conventions. Some Muslim countries, for example, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei, Muscat, Turkey and Morocco, have even imposed more restrictions to curb refugee inflows. Every year on June 20, International Refugee Day is celebrated with tall claims and commitment to the refugee convention, but seldom has been witnessed when it comes to actions and implementation of refugee protection principles. Countries, despite signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, avoid reporting their progress each year with regards to the refugee resettlement. It looks like that the time has just stopped for refugees.

The democratic countries should come forward to play their role for the welfare of refugees, securing their future and enabling an environment feasible for their adjustment and resettlement. There are hundreds of thousands, who are still stranded in hostile border areas and even many ended up in jails and prisons for the crime they have never committed.

The right groups, watchdogs and the international community by and large must raise an effective voice together for such deprived people. The UN Refugee Convention helps to protect people fleeing persecution and trauma in foreign lands. The convention describes an asylum seeker as someone who is outside the country of their nationality “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and “is unable to, or owing to such fear is unwilling to, avail himself of the protection of that country”.

Thousands of refugees have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea and the real figure is likely to be more than reported. Those who have crossed Mediterranean Sea or the international borders need our help since they are voiceless. Let’s raise our voice for the voiceless.

The world conscience must be awakened to realize the fact that that refugees are human beings, who have caught in sufferings not by their own choice, but by different compulsions and, therefore, they need special care and attention. I myself have been a refugee journalist for the last ten years. I think God made me a refugee so that I can better inform the world about the plight of refugees and raise my voice for their betterment and well-being.