Smruti Deshpande

As armed conflicts, climate crisis and poverty rage like wildfires around the world, millions have been rendered homeless. This global refugee crisis now threatens to push many countries to the very brink.

Brute power from state or foreign militaries has by far contributed the most to the global refugee crisis. To go by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR’s) statistics till mid-2021, about 84 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced. Of these, more than 26.6 million are refugees. As a matter of fact, 68 per cent of refugees originated from just five countries—Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Myanmar. Syria alone contributed 6.7 million refugees, whereas Venezuela contributed 4 million, Afghanistan to 2.6 million, South Sudan to 2.2 million, and Myanmar to 1.1 million. The rest amounted to 7.9 million refugees.

Displacements can be a result of violence inflicted by governments on their own people, offensive action from a foreign military, climate change and even poverty. Not all who are displaced within or outside the country are lucky enough to escape along with their families. In fact, nearly half of the world’s refugees are children. To put it in figures, children account for 30 per cent of the world’s population, but 42 per cent of all forcibly displaced people. Millions of children, according to UNICEF, are on the move. “Some are driven from their homes by conflict, poverty, or climate change; others leave in the hope of finding a better life. Far too many encounter danger, detention, deprivation, and discrimination on their journeys, at destination or upon return.”

Thanks to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, more than 14 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine. While nearly six million have left for neighbouring countries, another eight million have been displaced within the country. Poland, Romania, Russia, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Belarus, Czech Republic and Germany have all received Ukrainian refugees. The United Nations (UN) estimates that at least 2.1 million Ukrainians have returned home.

Similarly, when the US forces withdrew and the Taliban took over in Afghanistan in August 2021, a number of Afghan refugees fled to Pakistan and Iran. Afghans, having suffered more than 40 years of war and unrest, were already the world’s third-largest displaced population. Before the recent crisis, a vast majority of refugees from Afghanistan had been living in Pakistan and Iran, which continue to host more than 1.4 million and 780,000 registered Afghan refugees respectively. Nearly 2.6 million Afghans are refugees. As per UNHCR estimates, Afghanistan’s immediate neighbours – Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan today house these refugees. As a result of four decades of war, India hosts about 21,000 Afghan refugees. As is natural, 73 percent of all refugees are housed by neighbouring countries.

Skewed Ratios

The wealthiest of countries, such as the US, continue to shirk responsibility for hosting more refugees. The UNHCR data suggests Turkey (3.7 million), Colombia (1.7 million), P