Bloggers Unite - Refugees

Starting in 1979 with the Soviet invasion, through the subsequent civil war and into the present, more than 5 million people have fled Afghanistan in an effort to escape the fighting. More than 3 million still remain in Pakistan and Iran. Myanmar, formally Burma, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been involved in political and armed conflict for more than fifty years and has seen the loss of 3.5 million members of its population who are now refugees in other countries. More than 200,000 people a year flee Columbia with almost 4 million displaced since 1985 and, in Darfur, more than 2.2 million people remain displaced.

As opposed to immigrants, refugees are defined as people “who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or having a particular political opinion, are outside the country of their nationality, and are unable or are unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country or return there because of a fear of persecution." In other words, refugees have left their country due to fear as opposed to having chosen to leave their country to seek something better.

Refugees are frequently required to live in camps with substandard hygiene, limited food supplies and poor shelter. In the Congo, women and girls are vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse when they leave the camps to collect firewood for cooking. Months after heavy violence and destruction in the Georgia region displaced some 160,000 civilians, tens of thousands remain crammed into temporary shelters and many lack the most basic services. Many pregnant refugee women deliver their babies early due to stress and excessive walking. New mothers have difficulty feeding their infants because of a loss of breast milk, also due to stress and poor nutrition, which can lead to higher than normal infant mortality rates.

Why should we care? We should care because we, as humans, must care about each other. We must be willing to aid those who have no choice and no voice in the tumult that forces them from their homes. If we choose to wage war, we must help the innocents who are displaced. If hunger or the environment drives people from their homes, we must be willing to lend a hand. If we turn our back on the suffering of another human being it makes us all less. We must be willing to acknowledge the plight of all refugees and to help in whatever way we can.

There are many aid organizations focusing on the needs of refugees worldwide who would welcome your assistance, a few of their websites are listed below.

Refugees United

Refugees.org
Human Rights Watch
Refugees International
Amnesty International
International Red Cross