Editor’s note: Yusuf
Jimoh Aweda, the director of the Centre For Human Rectitude, elaborates
on the ordeals of Syrian refugees amid an unfolding world refugee
crisis that has reached enormous scale. According to the UN, what is
claimed to be the largest humanitarian crisis since the World War II has
recently hit another dreadful “milestone”, as “the nation of the
displayed” now accounts for almost 60 million people – more than ever
before.
Unfortunately, Nigeria has also contributed to
the devastating figure. According to the UNHCR report, as of May 2014,
the total number of the displaced people in the country stood for
650,000, with 95,000 of them seeking asylum in the neighbouring Chad,
Cameroon and Niger. Is it possible to even imagine those enormous
hardships the refugees all over the world (including Nigeria) are going
through every day?
The right to seek protection or asylum in a
rather peaceful and secure place, as well as in a holy place, is almost
as old as the mankind itself. Though the practice has begun since time
immemorial, the act was first codified in law in 600 AD in the ancient
Greek and primeval Egyptian civilizations. The similar laws were
implemented throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.
The related
concept of political exiles also has a long history. Such was the case
of François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), who sought asylum in England from
France because of his frequent religious arguments for tolerance and
freedom of thought. He campaigned to eradicate priestly and
aristo-monarchical authority, and supported constitutional monarchy that
protects people’s rights.
In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia became
a new system of political order in Central Europe based upon the
concept of co-existing sovereign states. It was a friendly and
accommodating principle that made a citizen of one nation a virtual
citizen of another sovereign state without any immigration
procedures. Unfortunately, this policy didn’t last for too long. In the
late 18th century, nationalism gained sufficient acceptance in Europe.
Since that, the people were required to prove their identity before
crossing a border. Consequently, refugees, who often did not have any
documentы proving their identity, could not seek asylum from tyrannies
in their native countries.
The events unfolding in the world at
different times gave birth to the new humanity theories. The World War
II is a perfect example. It led to the creation of the United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to provide aid to the
areas liberated from the Axis powers, including parts of Europe and
China. By the end of the war, Europe had more than 40 million refugees.
The UNRRA was involved in returning over seven million refugees, then
commonly referred to as Displaced Persons or DPs. Immediately after the
World War II, on April 20, 1946, the International Refugee
Organization (IRO) was found. It assumed the functions of the UNRRA.
Later it was followed by the formation of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the UN Refugee Agency,
mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government
or the UN itself, assist in their local integration or resettlement to a
third country and arrange, organize and supervise their voluntary
repatriation.
Syrian dimension
By 2014,
Syria has appeared at the centre of the global refugee crisis, and
discussions about its resolution dominated various world fora. As of
February 2015, Turkey hosted 1.7 million Syrian refugees – more than any
other country.
It strikes the mind, why the world that hosted and
rehabilitated 40 million refugees after the World War II, now considers
the Syrian refugees as the
“modern plague”that cannot be
assisted. It poses a very big challenge to the UN Refugee Agency that
won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981. Its weak response to the
sufferings of the Syrians in the hands of the terrorists, as well as the
hypocritical powers mindlessly playing with millions of innocent lives
like chess pawns, cannot but agitate any sane mind.
The
entire world heaved a sigh of relief when the Israeli aggression
towards the Palestinians receded, with the belief that never again shall
we experience anything similar to the disasters like the II World War
and Israeli carnage.
No doubt, the Israeli conflict has so far led
to more than three million Palestinian refugees in different parts of
the world, however, the pathetic situation in Syria seems to be the
gargantuan tragedy.
An intriguing paradox
Syria
is indeed a paradox – a nation at war with itself, physically and
morally tormenting its own people. Like chess players, the super powers
are currently displaying uncanny arrogance and utter disrespect to human
lives by using innocent Syrian children, women and defenseless men as
pawns. The complex crisis involves not only terrorism and recalcitrance
of Assad, but also political intrigues – hence the current world’s
disposition to the refugee crisis. Since the start of the imbroglio,
none of the major game players has been to Syria sincerely for the sake
of the Syrians. Each was eager to achieve a peculiar selfish goal.
No
doubt, Russia, America and Israel have aggravated the problem in Syria
and rudely perpetrated many evils that perfectly fit into the theories
of terrorism, just as other
“servant states” like the depraved Saudi Arabia, France and England are being used as the tools for human destructions.
The pariah state of refugees
According
to the findings, hundreds of thousands of Syrians, who have fled the
war to the Gulf States and Western nations, have become poorly paid
labourers. While few professionals among them have built lucrative
careers, most of them work as low-paid labourers who simply gave up
their rights to get menial jobs, and they could be forcefully deported
with no notice. Though regarded as
“refugees”, they are neither
accorded support that come with legal refugee or asylum status, nor
offered a path to future citizenship benefits.
New role of the UNHCR
So,
nothing has changed after all as the UN has failed to live up to its
very essence. The UN defines refugees as individuals who are outside
their country of nationality or habitual residence because of fear of
persecution, or unwilling to avail of the protection of that country, or
to return there, for fear of persecution.
Eventually, the only
thing that has changed is the integrity of the UN that is being
swallowed up by double standards and selfish interests of the evil
forces. Another thing that has changed is the inclination of the people
in the world. Many people had not not feel any concern for the Syrian
refugees until the picture of thedrowned Syrian boy went viral on the
social media.
An appeal
It is high time
people in the world came to their sanity. When it happened in Poland,
the world, including some countries in Western Europe, felt unconcerned.
When it occurred in Bosnia, the rest of the world stood akimbo. When it
took place in Rwanda, the people of the globe kept criminal silence.
When Israel slaughtered Palestinians, the world simply stood disgraced.
When the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Anti-balaka terrorists maimed,
raped and enslaved their victims in Congo and Central African Republic,
the world felt unperturbed. As the UN and the world powers callously
look away when the Syrians are being locally massacred, displaced and
enslaved on the foreign soil, it is instructive to warn, particularly
the beneficiaries of the present blood bath, that what goes around shall
surely come around.
The so-called Western apologists, who clothe
themselves with the garment of human rights activists, especially in
Africa and Asia, should wake up to their responsibility. Merely excusing
their refusal to act in the face of crimes against humanity committed
on a daily basis in Syria is unacceptable. It amounts to unwholesome
pandering to the concocted theory and propaganda of the Western powers.
What
is going on in Syria is simply a deliberate violation of humanity. It
is so because some greedy homo sapiens, who have arrogated leadership of
humanity to themselves, value their inordinate ambition above the same
humans they claim to be leading.
Welcome to the world my angels #pooh3 #pooh4 #twins
