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A Rohingya refugee girl looks next to newly arrived refugees who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar in Ukhiya in September 2017. Agence France-Presse/KM Asad

WORLD Refugee Day is observed internationally on June 20 every year to honour refugees across the globe. First known as Africa Refugee Day, it was renamed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2000. It was first observed on June 20, 2001, and since then, it commemorates the plight of refugees worldwide and honours the strength and courage of people forced to flee their home country due to conflict or persecution.

The purpose of World Refugee Day is to bring attention to refugees rights, needs, and aspirations and to mobilise political will and financial resources to help them flourish. Every day is a good day to protect and enhance the lives of refugees, but special days like this help us draw attention to the situation of people escaping war or persecution.

To understand the depth of our current refugee crisis, let us have a glance at some overwhelming numbers. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 82.4 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced. More than 26.4 million of these people are refugees, and millions are in statelessness, while 42,500 people flee their homes every day in search of safety either within the borders or outside and more than 20 people leave their country every minute to avoid terror and war. The developing countries alone host 86 per cent of the worlds refugees. As per statistics, about half of the refugees are under the age of 18. This is the highest number of child refugees documented since the end of World War II.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the differences between the terms migrant and refugee. Migrants are people who leave their country for reasons other than persecution, such as seeking better economic opportunities or abandoning drought-stricken areas in search of better conditions. Here, it is important to remember that the responsible authority for deciding whether someone is a refugee will, once again, depend on the circumstances in which the decision is made.

In reaction to the massive persecutions and displacements during World War II, the UNs 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees defined the current concept of refugee. It states that a refugee is someone who is outside their country of origin and cannot return due to valid fear of persecution in their home country. Persecution can be driven by an individuals ethnicity, religion, race, social group membership, or political ideas, and it is frequently associated with conflict and bloodshed.

Today, as mentioned earlier, over half of the worlds refugees are children. Many of them are fleeing their homes without the company of an adult, making them more vulnerable to being exploited and exposed to sexual or physical labour. Refugees experiences vary; many are forced to embark on dangerous trips with uncertain consequences. Many people have been relocated around the world due to natural catastrophes, food insecurity, and other difficulties, but international law, rightfully or wrongfully, only recognises individuals fleeing war and violence as refugees.

What happens when a person leaves their own country? Most refugee trips are lengthy and dangerous, with little shelter, water, or food. Due to the unexpected nature of the flight, belongings are often left behind, and people fleeing violence often lack the necessary documentation, such as visas, to board aircraft and enter other countries. Financial and political factors may prevent them from taking conventional routes. This means they can usually only travel by land or water and may rely on smugglers to cross borders. Some seek safety with their families, while others depart alone, hoping to be reunited later. This separation is extremely stressful and painful.

While cities shelter more than half of the worlds refugees, a UN refugee agency or local government-run camp is occasionally the first destination for people trying to escape violence. Refugee camps are temporary shelters until residents may return home, integrate into the host nation, or move to another country. Relocation and long-term integration options are limited. Many refugees are stuck in camps for years, if not decades.

According to statistics, long-term displacement is the new normal. In the absence of answers to their exile, people are trapped in persistent temporariness for years or decades in the case of Somalis, Afghans, and Palestinians. Only a few hundred thousand refugees return home each year, few states in the global South are willing to let them stay permanently, and less than 1 per cent of refugees are allowed to settle in a third nation.

Extensive exile is the outcome of containment measures that have made the international refugee situation and its durable solutions obsolete. States generally agree that refugees require protection albeit basic survival protection rather than a dignified existence but they also believe such protection should be provided in the refugees home country rather than in the global North. The desire to keep refugees in the global South has resulted in the deployment of measures to prevent individuals from crossing borders and claiming asylum, or, where this is not possible, to deter people from claiming asylum, or, when they do manage to cross borders, to keep them in camps in marginal regions.

Such exclusionary policies and practices have been legitimised by being presented as critical to national security. Refugees who fled for their own safety are cast as a security threat that must be contained. The exiled ones are othered in such depictions and are hardly seen as fellow humans. They have been turned into potentially threatening beneficiaries rather than political and right-bearing subjects. This observation resonates with Hannah Arendts views on refugees exclusion from the human race, reduction to bare life, and ensuing marginalisation from the political realm. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres rightly reminded us that the problems are violence and hatred, not individuals fleeing.

Asylum is a refugees first legal step in a new country. They are asylum seekers and wont be recognised as refugees until their case is granted. While most nations agree on a uniform definition of a refugee, each host country is responsible for reviewing all asylum claims and determining whether applicants qualify for refugee status. Guidelines vary by country. Host nations owe various obligations to those they have recognised as refugees, including providing basic care and non-discrimination. The most fundamental commitment to refugees is non-refoulment, which prohibits a government from relocating a person to a risky region. In practice, refugees are constantly subjected to inconsistency and discrimination.

People forced to evacuate, no matter who they are, should be treated decently. Anyone can seek protection regardless of who they are or what they think. It is a human right to seek safety. Anyone compelled to leave should be welcomed. Refugees arrive from all over the world. They could fly, sail, or walk to safety. The right to seek safety remains universal. If forced to evacuate, people should be safeguarded. Everyone needs protection from war, violence, or persecution. All those forced to flee should have free borders. Border closures and access limitations may put refugees at risk. Forced repatriation is unconstitutional when it endangers lives or liberties.

In other words, governments should not force someone back until they have weighed the threats the person might face. Those who cross international boundaries should not face prejudice. Refugees asylum claims should be treated equally, regardless of ethnicity or religion. People forced to escape should be treated with decency and respect. Like any other human, they have the right to respect and safety. This includes preventing arbitrary imprisonment, keeping families together, and safeguarding individuals from human traffickers, among other things. Imagine tracing your family tree. In that situation, chances are there that your ancestors were compelled to leave their homes, either escaping air or fleeing discrimination and persecution. We must remember their tales when we hear about refugees who are currently displaced and searching for a new home.

World Refugee Day aims to draw attention to the issue at hand and show refugees that their predicament may be alleviated if we all work together to aid displaced people in finding homes where they would be safe and content. Human rights are the fundamental rights a person enjoys as a part of the human family. The significance of human rights in the current refugee scenario must be recognised. As the international community has repeatedly stated over the last five decades, they embody the ideas and ideals that serve as the foundation for global freedom, justice, and peace.

Human Rights in the refugee situation helps improve and develop refugee legislation by responding compassionately and practically to human and social needs. They also ensure that the refugee crisis is viewed as primarily a human issue and addressed thoroughly and rationally. It would be insufficient just to state that respect for human rights demands national and international social and economic growth. In a society where tyranny, injustice, and violence are prevalent and chronic, human rights cannot thrive. Today, freedom, justice, and peace should all be considered as part of a drive for peace and progress and as we go on thriving for changing the sites of refugees for betterment, we must consciously consider everything from a more human ground.

Md Rakibul Alam is a lecturer in English in the Bangladesh Army University of Engineering and Technology in Natore.

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Human dignities in zones of exception - newagebd.net

Refugees and Migrants aboard fishing boat driven by smugglers reach the coast of Europe after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey (Photo: Jim Forest)

On World Refugee Day, June 17 in Naples and June 18 in Caserta, the migrant and refugee movement of Naples and Caserta, together with organizations struggling for dignity and rights for migrants, will take to the streets demanding peace, social justice and the regularization of undocumented people.

We will present concrete proposals to the immigration offices of Naples and Caserta, to the regional government and to the Ministry of the Interior, the organizers state. Its about improving the lives of both migrants who have lived in these territories for years, and those who have just arrived.

Organizations building the two-day mobilization arranged assemblies and meetings in the fields where migrants are exploited in the agricultural industry, and in the Extraordinary Reception Centers, which are collective shelters in which refugees are forced to live.

Growing poverty, widespread precariousness, increasing layoffs and the institutional racism to which migrant people are exposed, are demanding for a popular and determined response, declare the organizers of the mobilization.

World Refugee Day has special significance this year. The escalation of the war in Ukraine has introduced the possibility of a new World War. The militarization of the conflict is producing even more deaths and refugees. Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 6.6 million have fled. Meanwhile, refugees from other conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia are treated far worse by Western media than Ukrainian refugees, in a hypocritical and racist double standard.

The pandemic has created an economic crisis which has worsened living conditions. The most affected are migrants, who continue to work and run the economy in the midst of the lockdowns. At the same time, migrants were the last to have access to the vaccine and are now the first to lose their jobs and residence permits.

Institutional racism has a concrete effect in the everyday lives of migrants and refugees. Long waiting times at immigration offices, the impossibility of renewing documents often due to illegitimate requests by institutions create the perfect conditions for blackmail and labor exploitation.

In August 2020, the governments regularization program was introduced supposedly to solve these problems, but according to the organizers, two years after its introduction, the program has ended up as an empty promise. In summer 2020, over 200,000 requests were passed in to the immigration offices, two years later, over 110,000 migrants are still waiting for their papers, organizers explain. Only an urgent administrative intervention can guarantee that they can emerge from irregularity and restore dignity and justice to those who live and work in Italy. That is the reason why we will take to the streets for World Refugee Day.

Sign the call: We want peace because we have known war!

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In Italy, migrants and refugees take to the streets for peace and social justice - Peoples Dispatch

Emily Thornberry has been slamming the Government's scheme over its efficacy, insisting moving illegal migrants to Rwanda for processing and resettling would not solve the issue. The Shadow Attorney-General was questioned on how the Labour Party would then address the problem of illegal immigration after she once again criticised the current Government strategy. Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Ms Thornberry said Labour would simply resume its cooperation with France despite years of clashes with Paris over the handling of boats leaving the French coast to cross the Channel into England.

London has been at loggerheads with the Elysee for years, claiming the French Government has failed to respect pacts on stopping departures despite the UK forking out millions for the help.

GMB presenter Adil Ray said: "What would Labour do to sort out what is described as a migrant crisis of people coming on boats from Calais? What would Labour do to stop that?"

Ms Thornberry said: "The first thing we'd do is work with the French.

"We'd work with the French in how it is we challenge these criminal gangs that are putting people onto boats.

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"We would work with the French Priti Patel has not relationship with the French, as far as I can see. She's not able to work with them.

"And we would also be looking upstream on how people get to the situation in which they do, we need to be able to work with that."

The Labour frontbencher continued: "We would also need to be making much more timely decisions about asylum.

"I had somebody come to my office a couple of days ago who had fled the war in Eritrea with his wife and two children, he's been here since 2018, he's been waiting four years for a decision to be made on whether he's not claiming asylum rightly and he's had no decision made.

READ MORE: Emily Thornberry sparks GMB 'switch off' as fans fume over one-sided interview: 'Pathetic'

Business minister Paul Scully has defended Boris Johnson claiming that lawyers attempting to block theRwandascheme are "abetting" criminal gangs, agreeing this would be the "net result" of their work.

When asked about lawyers receiving death threats following the Prime Minister's comment, Mr Scully told Times Radio: "I don't recognise the link between the two to be fair.

"Because I think in terms of the situation inRwandathere has always been a number of lines of appeals to block and to divert removals in any given situation - not just inRwanda, but we've seen in other countries as well.

"We want to put in a robust system that actually works because people time and time again at the ballot box have always said that mass migration in this way needs to be tackled.

"We feel that we've done it in a fair way and in a reasonable way, and no court as yet has ruled thatRwandadeal unlawful."

When asked whether the Prime Minister's comment was appropriate, Mr Scully said: "I think the net result is that if we are blocking measures to tackle the situation in the Channel, then invariably, human traffickers will continue to apply their hideous trade and push people onto small dinghies and risking their lives."

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That worked so well...Thornberry says Labour to 'work with French' to solve migrant crisis - Express

The United States is experiencing the highest inflation in 40 years. One of the few causes that has dominoed into hikes in inflation is the decrease in migrant labor in the U.S.

According to a source from Fortune Magazine, there are 2 million fewer immigrant laborers in the United States.

These 2 million missing immigrants are part of the reason we have a labor shortage, shares Giovanni Peri, an economist at the University of California, Davis.

Peri notes, too, that consumers will meet these labor shortages by paying higher prices for goods. Peri predicts that we will see an increase in wages to attract folks to traditionally low-paying, high-laborious jobs.

For every 100 immigrant workers in the U.S, there are 2.7 immigrants employed in agriculture, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is more than double the amount of people in agriculture that are native born. And the numbers have decreased as a result of COVID-19 and increased immigration policies.

Its an unfortunate outcome, in and out of our control as a country. I say out of our control because the last two years of COVID has alerted the country to invasive antigens and variants from people coming into the country. The U.S. has put in extensive measures to prevent immigrants from entering the country and, almost over a year later, adding new expectations for testing to be allowed in. This has slowed the labor force and brought the number of laborers down hundreds of thousands of people.

Whats in our control? Policies that allow immigrant laborers to work in the country.

This decline [in immigrant labor] reflects both tougher immigration policies and the pandemic which reduced legal immigration and caused some recent immigrants to return to their native countries, David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds.

President Joe Biden addressed the lack of incentive for immigrant workers to jump back into the U.S. labor force in his May 31, 2022, statement:

My Administration is committed to ensuring that our immigration system is accessible and humane. I have called on the Congress to pass long-overdue legislation to comprehensively reform our immigration system. Through multiple Executive Orders, I have also directed agencies across the Federal Government to remove barriers that improperly impede access to immigration benefits and to assure fair and timely adjudication of those benefits.

The White House can look into increasing benefits for immigrants seeking work in the U.S., and we can increase wages but does that really solve the issue?

There is still a decrease in birth rates in the U.S., which will lead to a huge fight between industries to secure laborers native or immigrant in the future. Most laborious fields, like agriculture, rarely see a growth in employee numbers with an increase in wages as the task is still daunting for many native workers. And many jobs require more than a high school diploma, but the cost of attending school is egregiously high.

The U.S, especially industries like agriculture that are very laborious, has two paths forward. One, partially or fully atomizing the industry. Two, lobbying alongside immigrant labor unions to amend immigration policies and immigrant labor policies that allow easier access to our country and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are going unfilled; stalling our national supply of goods across industries (such as textile, food, etc.).

So, what are those immigration policies halting immigration labor and amnesty?

The entirety of the policies arent the issue. In fact, policies such as the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952 or the clause within the act speaking specifically to special agriculture workers have taken many years and many edits to arrive where the legislation stands today. However, there are still places within the legislation that can be amended to allow easier access to our country and its labor to help us as a nation get back on track and to see more of our prices at the store decrease.

As everyday citizens, consumers, and/or agriculturalists, we can engage in this work. We dont need to be the people in the game, shuffling through legislatures offices and having meetings. We can support, monetarily or in our own meetings with lobbying organizations, to share our perspectives either for or against some immigration policies. Why? This because conversations around these issues from all our varying perspectives is what will springboard us all to a more inclusive, equitable, and positive space. It takes all kinds of kinds in an argument or an issue to arrive at a better tomorrow.

Where will you be in these next few months to help resolve the growing labor shortage in our country that is contributing to a rise in inflation? Is there something we can be doing, rather than watching as the price for goods rises? Where do we fall in the challenges that a decrease in labor has caused our country?

Bre Holbert is a past National FFA President and studies agriculture science and education at California State-Chico. Two ears to listen is better than one mouth to speak. Two ears allow us to affirm more people, rather than letting our mouth loose to damage peoples story by speaking on behalf of others.

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Inflation crisis is tied to decline in migrant labor an issue agriculturalists know too well - AGDAILY

Danish Red Cross is looking for a consultant to conduct a feasibility assessment to explore the potential to integrate NCD interventions into existing interventions in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia with a focus on areas such as disaster preparedness and response, health, resilience, mental health and psychosocial support and migrant/refugee projects.

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory diseases, diabetes and mental health conditions currently represent the fastest growing disease burden in Africa adding to the existing high burden of communicable diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS[1]. It is estimated that 34% of all deaths in Africa are caused by NCDs (WHO 2015). By 2030, NCDs will be the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa increasing from 28 to 46 percent of the total disease burden. In the Eastern African countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, 40% of all deaths on average are attributable to NCDs. Most of these deaths occur when people are in the productive age, causing economic hardship to families and countries. Furthermore, every year 703 000people take their own life and there are many more people who attempt suicide. Every suicide is a tragedy that affects families, communities and entire countries and has long-lasting effects on the people left behind. Suicide occurs throughout the lifespan and was the fourth leading cause of death among 1529-year-olds globally in 2019. (WHO, 2021) In the Sub Saharan African, Cases of suicide and other Mental Health conditions have been on the rise and have become a major of grave concern.

Migrants, refugees and internally displaced people (IDP) may face additional risks as they often do lack or have limited access to basic services including health and NCD care. It is estimated that East Africa and the Great Lakes Region currently hosts more than 4.7 million refugees and asylum seekers with almost 4 million residing in Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan (2021).2 The region thus hosts some 67 percent of the refugees on the African continent and 20 percent of the global refugee population. The largest number come from South Sudan, with significant arrivals from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. Most governments have generally continued to maintain open-door asylum policies by adopting progressive national refugee frameworks and promoting the inclusion of refugees into national health, education, and social protection/security systems.

Disasters, particularly those associated with weather related hazards such as floods, storms and drought triggered 2.6 million new displacements during the year(2018). Conflict and disaster events caused by climate change in 2019 suggest that the number of displacements is likely to continue rising. Risks and vulnerabilities linked to disasters and conflict, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic-, have highlighted the importance of addressing health risks holistically while integrating comprehensive NCD care, both in humanitarian response and in efforts to strengthen health systems and reduce risks especially in contexts affected by crisis and disaster. There is an urgent need to ensure continuity of NCD care for vulnerable and marginalized crisis-affected populations without access to NCD care in Africa.

The Danish Red Cross with funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, plans to implement a project that seeks to replicate NCD project experiences from Kenya and integrate them into relevant NCD interventions into DRC supported programmes in the East and Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia RC (ERCS) South Sudan RC (SSRC), Sudan RC (SRCS) and Somalia RC (SRCS). The unique access and mandate of RC/RC National Societies to provide lifesaving assistance to migrant and displaced populations and health care and MHPSS in emergencies will form the basis for integration, but the specific target groups and interventions will depend on needs and opportunities in the country contexts selected.

Based on the feasibility assessment conducted, this project will support the four countries in the East and Horn of Africa in planning, designing and integrating NCD activities into ongoing DRC supported programs. This will entail providing technical support, capacity building of staff and the National Society as well as resources for implementation of pilot interventions for 1-2 years. As part of the evaluation, DRC will support the development of case studies of the pilots, which will feed into the documentation and learning objectives of the projects.

The assignment will entail compilation and desk review of existing documents and information about existing services for the target group, review of real time programme data from health facilities, and review of programme documents from Sudan Red Crescent, South Sudan Red Cross, Ethiopia Red Cross and Somalia Red Crescent on services offered so far on the ongoing Health facilities and other relevant documents. The desk review will focus on Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia health care systems and access to NCD care and MHPSS services in these Countries. More data and information will be collected from Focus group discussions, Key Informant interviews and Household/ Individual questionnaires.

We expect that you apply as a firm or as team of consultants with the following areas of Expertise: Public Health with additional training/experience in NCD management, Counselling Psychology and Social Science with additional training/experience in Migration/ population movement/displacements. The team should also have relevant knowledge about the African region. Be familiar with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. Full proficiency in English is a requirement for this consultancy.

The consultancy is expected to take place in July and August 2022.

[1] Fighting non-communicable diseases in East Africa: assessing progress and identifying the next steps | BMJ Global Health

You can apply through this link: Rde Kors - Consultant for Continuity in Crisis - Ensuring continuity of NCD care for crisis-affected populations in East Africa Feasibility Assessment (easycruit.com)

Please reach out to Sylvia Khamati Anekha, sykma@rodekors.dk, if you need more information about the consultancy.

Application deadline is 15th July 2022.

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Consultant for Continuity in Crisis - Ensuring continuity of NCD care for crisis-affected populations in East Africa Feasibility Assessment -...