People love their land but they love their lives more. They flee war, famine and persecution, taking risks sometimes deadlier than the ones they flee - a bitter reality now on display in a shaper relief than ever before. In 2014, there were 51.2 million refugees as compared to 37.5 million a decade ago, says the UNHCR's annual Global Trend Report released last week. On average, 42,500 people became refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced every day during the past year, the report said. Of these hapless people Turkey hosts the largest number, nearly 2 million, of whom Syrians are the biggest in number. Pakistan, the second in that order, is still having nearly a million and a half of Afghan refugees on its soil, as the lingering instability in their homeland tends to impede their speedy return. The number of fleeing refugees who perish before making to their dreamlands is several thousands. There is no dearth of reports on ships carrying illegal migrants from Libya being sunk in the Mediterranean and Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar being starved to death at sea. Barring a few exceptions they are never welcomed in their dreamlands, a reality that moved Pope Francis to tears. He slammed hostility towards migrants, as he said "It brings tears to one's eyes to see spectacle of these days, in which human beings have been treated like merchandise". But that would hardly impress Nobel laureate Aung Sun Sui Kyi - she won't risk her political future in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar by disapproving persecution of Rohingya Muslims. Of the present refugee population nearly two-thirds are the internally displaced by conflict or forced out of their homes and hearths by natural disasters like earthquake, flood and drought. The rest have fled their countries fearing for the lives or as economic migrants to escape deprivation generated by warlike conditions.
No doubt the West is generally sympathetic to the cause of refugees and generous, but it would welcome only those who qualify to be an asset to society. Those who are not it would prefer them to be kept in camps - where care and shelter is considered to be the essentially the burden of countries which produce refugees, IDPs and economic migrants. How that is done there is marked difference in the quantity and quality of assistance offered by the host country. For instance, in Pakistan the IDPs have received pretty good treatment offered both by the people and the government. But in many war-torn countries in Africa the case is just the opposite. In Pakistan, the Afghan refugees have generally received warm and generous hospitality. Turkey is another country where refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq are being treated with great generosity. The international community is expected to come forward and share the burden of countries like Pakistan and Turkey. But more than that, it is pertinent to mention that the challenge of ever-increasing refugee population should be confronted head on. As to who are these refugees and why they flee their homes there is not much of debate left, given the fact that nearly all of them are Muslims and have fled conflicts in their own countries and injustice as minorities in non-Muslim countries. And conflicts in their own countries are as much the creation of the democratic West, as in Iraq and Libya, as the outcome of power struggle and religious extremism where they lived, as in Syria, Somalia and Yemen. Yes, the international community should be forthcoming in making life of refugees safe and secure, but more than that it should work to ensure that the causes like war and injustice are tackled in their very initial stages. Another area of concern for the international community should be the criminal networks at prey on refugees. How heartless is this breed of people the deadly exploitation of hundreds of Bangladeshi and Rohingyas at their hands and sinking of a vessel carrying some 950 Libyans make for heart-rending sagas. That the concerned governments had failed to stop these human traffickers is difficult to believe.
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