Ten Million Refugees​—Who Wants Them?

TRAN used to teach mathematics. Now he​—and 1,900 others—​struggle to survive in a crowded Thailand refugee camp. “Inadequate food and sanitation are our biggest problems,” the 27-year-old former teacher says.

Alan was a refugee of another kind. A crumbling economy and a harsh government sent him fleeing his Caribbean island home. The 700-mile (1,126-km) journey to the United States was a treacherous ordeal that terminated in a detention camp.

Since World War II well over 40 million people have suffered the fate of the refugee. They have trudged across burning deserts, hacked through jungles and been tossed about by angry seas in their tiny, rickety boats. Thousands have died before reaching their destination. Thousands more have suffered the indignity of being packed into settlements frighteningly akin to World War II concentration camps. Authorities estimate that by 1982 there were well over ten million refugees worldwide!

The world’s response to this grim reality has so far been less than overwhelming. Meager funds and political realities seriously hamstring relief efforts. And while the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives individuals the right to ‘seek and enjoy asylum,’ there is little guarantee that the country to which they flee will actually grant it.

Further, not all are considered legitimate refugees. This term is generally limited to persons who have fled their native land because of political, racial or religious persecution. By this definition, however, those escaping economic deprivation or natural disaster may receive, not refugee status, but the disdained designation of “illegal alien.”

Who, then, wants the world’s homeless? Not many. Integrating them into a foreign land with a different language and culture can be traumatic for all concerned. Refugees, too, often do not have the skills necessary to find jobs. Those that do are often resented for siphoning off jobs from local residents. Hence, many prefer simply to ignore the plight of the refugee as a problem for government bureaucrats. But, as you will see, it is not an issue to be ignored.

Legacy of Our Troubled Times

THE problem of the refugee is not a new one. History’s tides have often swept large masses of people away from their homes. The makeup of Europe, for example, is largely the result of migrations that erupted following the debacle of the Roman Empire. One would think, however, that such tragic movements of humanity would belong to the past. Yet, a former UN high commissioner for refugees recently indicated that “mass exodus is becoming a tragically permanent feature of our times.” Why?

The Era of the Refugee

As the Bible foretold, peace has been taken away from the earth since 1914. (Revelation 6:4) The opening shots of World War I signaled sweeping social, political and economic changes. The eruption of a second world war underscored this fact, leaving in its wake some 11 million European refugees.

After World War II, relief efforts focused on resettling these uprooted ones. But the war had also tolled the death knell for colonialism. Throughout Asia and Africa new nations began to emerge, paying in bloodshed and socio-economic chaos for their “independence.” Thousands of Europeans found themselves ousted from their adopted nations. Internal political upheavals also resulted in the exodus of thousands of local residents. And so it continues today. One million in the past six years have fled Ethiopia in the face of war and drought. Well over a quarter of a million fled Zimbabwe during its 1972-1979 internal conflicts.

Asia and Central and South America have similarly suffered mass migrations as the result of political change. The year 1947, for example, saw India gain independence from Great Britain. The subsequent slicing of this vast subcontinent into religiously divided India and Pakistan, however, triggered a nationwide bloodbath. Hindus and Muslims in both countries fled to their respective territories for refuge. It was one of the largest population “exchanges” in history​—18,000,000 people. As many as 10 percent of these refugees were killed or died of starvation and exhaustion before they could reach their new home. The partitioning of North and South Korea similarly spawned refugees​—1.8 million of them. And today Thailand must house almost 200,000 who have fled war in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

These massive population upheavals are but one indication that the problems plaguing man since 1914 are out of control! As further evidence of this, consider today’s economic refugee.

A Worn-Out Welcome?

“OUT WITH THE TURKS,” cried the hand-painted sign. It reflected a growing hostility among Germans toward the more than 1.4 million that have migrated from Turkey. And this in spite of the fact that they had entered the country at the invitation of Germany! Their plight is rather typical of yet another refugee movement​—the economic refugee. Such ones are not necessarily fleeing some oppressive government or religious persecution and are thus not considered bona fide refugees. Yet they are fleeing bankrupt economies, unemployment, unbearable inflation​—even starvation. Like bona fide refugees, they very often face hostility from the nation they chose as their place of refuge.

This reminds us of a situation that developed long ago in Egypt. Recall that the nation of Israel first went there as ‘alien residents’ when famine forced them to trek to Egypt for provisions. Pharaoh, indebted to Israelite Joseph for foretelling the famine and planning for it, invited the Israelites to reside in Goshen. (Genesis, chapters 41, 42 and 47) But the welcome did not last long.

“Growing Antirefugee Sentiment”

Tensions grew between the Israelites and the Egyptians as languages, cultures and religions clashed. Egyptian farmers especially resented the land-consuming flocks of the Israelites. A shift in Egypt’s rulership then occurred. The Israelites suddenly found themselves enslaved by the very ones who had befriended them.​—Exodus 1:8-11.

Similarly today, during periods of prosperity, aliens are frequently welcome, as they are often willing to work at jobs that residents disdain. Europe, for example, has some 12.5 million migrant workers. Said Business Week: “Two and a half years of slow economic growth, the decline of major heavy industries, and now factory automation are making jobs scarce and foreign jobholders an increasing target of racial pressures.”

Adding to the tension is the fact that many economic refugees have entered the United States illegally. It is estimated that from 40,000-50,000 Haitians have immigrated illegally since 1972. And from economically parched Mexico also pours a daily flood of thousands more, desperate for employment.

But massive influxes of refugees​—both legitimate and economic—​strain national resources and tolerance to the limit. Time magazine, for example, reported “a growing antirefugee sentiment in Congress . . . in the face of a declining U.S. economy and shrinking social programs.” And many other nations are similarly rolling up their welcome mats.

A recent incident in Nigeria illustrates just how unwelcome economic refugees can suddenly become.

[Picture on page 6]

Many economic refugees enter a country illegally in search of employment