Around the globe, there are approximately 60 million people who have been forced to leave their homes to escape war, violence, and persecution. The majority of them have become internally displaced persons, which means they have fled their homes but are still within their own countries. Others have crossed a border and sought shelter outside of their own countries. They are commonly referred to as refugees. But what exactly does that term mean? The world has known refugees for millennia, but the modern definition was drafted in the UN's 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees in response to mass persecutions and displacements of the Second World War. It defines a refugee as someone who is outside their country of nationality, and is unable to return to their home country because of well-founded fears of being persecuted. That persecution may be due to their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and is often related to war and violence. Today, roughly half the world's refugees are children, some of them unaccompanied by an adult, a situation that makes them especially vulnerable to child labor or sexual exploitation. Each refugee's story is different, and many must undergo dangerous journeys with uncertain outcomes. But before we get to what their journeys involve, let's clear one thing up. There's a lot of confusion regarding the difference between the terms "migrant" and "refugee." "Migrants" usually refers to people who leave their country for reasons not related to persecution, such as searching for better economic opportunities or leaving drought-stricken areas in search of better circumstances. There are many people around the world who have been displaced because of natural disasters, food insecurities, and other hardships, but international law, rightly or wrongly, only recognizes those fleeing conflict and violence as refugees. So what happens when someone flees their country? Most refugee journeys are long and perilous with limited access to shelter, water, or food. Since the departure can be sudden and unexpected, belongings might be left behind, and people who are evading conflict often do not have the required documents, like visas, to board airplanes and legally enter other countries. Financial and political factors can also prevent them from traveling by standard routes. This means they can usually only travel by land or sea, and may need to entrust their lives to smugglers to help them cross borders. Whereas some people seek safety with their families, others attempt passage alone and leave their loved ones behind with the hopes of being reunited later. This separation can be traumatic and unbearably long. While more than half the world's refugees are in cities, sometimes the first stop for a person fleeing conflict is a refugee camp, usually run by the United Nations Refugee Agency or local governments. Refugee camps are intended to be temporary structures, offering short-term shelter until inhabitants can safely return home, be integrated to the host country, or resettle in another country. But resettlement and long-term integration options are often limited. So many refugees are left with no choice but to remain in camps for years and sometimes even decades. Once in a new country, the first legal step for a displaced person is to apply for asylum. At this point, they are an asylum seeker and not officially recognized as a refugee until the application has been accepted. While countries by and large agree on one definition of refugee, every host country is responsible for examining all requests for asylum and deciding whether applicants can be granted the status of refugee. Different countries guidelines can vary substantially. Host countries have several duties towards people they have recognized as refugees, like the guarantee of a minimum standard of treatment and non-discrimination. The most basic obligation towards refugees is non-refoulement, a principle preventing a nation from sending an individual to a country where their life and freedom are threatened. In reality, however, refugees are frequently the victims of inconsistent and discriminatory treatment. They're increasingly obliged to rebuild their lives in the face of xenophobia and racism. And all too often, they aren't permitted to enter the work force and are fully dependent on humanitarian aid. In addition, far too many refugee children are out of school due to lack of funding for education programs. If you go back in your own family history, chances are you will discover that at a certain point, your ancestors were forced from their homes, either escaping a war or fleeing discrimination and persecution. It would be good of us to remember their stories when we hear of refugees currently displaced, searching for a new home.
Po celem svetu je bilo približno 60 milijonov ljudi prisiljenih zapustiti svoje domove, da bi pobegnili pred vojno, nasiljem ali preganjanjem. Večina jih je postala notranje razseljene osebe, kar pomeni, da so pobegnili od doma, vendar so še vedno znotraj svoje države. Drugi so prečkali mejo in iskali zavetje zunaj svoje države. Imenujemo jih begunci. A kaj natančno ta izraz pomeni? Svet pozna begunce že tisočletja, a moderno definicijo so skovali na Konvenciji ZN 1951 nanašajoč se na status begunca kot odziv na množično preganjanje in razseljevanje v drugi svetovni vojni. Ta definira begunca kot nekoga, ki je zunaj svoje države, in se ne more vrniti v svojo državo, ker se upravičeno boji, da bo preganjan. Preganjan je lahko zaradi svoje rase, vere, narodnosti, članstva v določeni socialni skupini ali političnega mnenja in je pogosto povezano z vojno in nasiljem. Danes je približno polovica svetovnih beguncev otrok, nekateri brez spremstva odraslih, situacija, ki jih naredi še posebej ranljive za otroško delo ali spolno izkoriščanje. Zgodba vsakega begunca je drugačna, in veliko jih mora na nevarno pot z negotovim koncem. A preden pridemo do tega, kaj vsebuje njihova pot, razčistimo nekaj. Obstaja veliko zmede glede razlike med izrazoma "migrant" in "begunec". "Migranti" se ponavadi nanaša na ljudi, ki zapustijo državo zaradi razlogov, ki niso povezani s preganjanjem, kot je iskanje boljših ekonomskih priložnosti ali zapuščanje sušnih predelov v iskanju boljših možnosti. Po celem svetu je veliko ljudi, ki so bili razseljeni zaradi naravnih nesreč, negotovosti glede hrane in drugih težav, a mednarodno pravo, prav ali napak, kot begunce prepoznava samo tiste, ki bežijo pred konflikti in nasiljem. Kaj se torej zgodi, ko nekdo pobegne iz svoje države? Večina begunskih poti je dolgih in nevarnih, z omejenim dostopom do zavetja, vode ali hrane. Ker je odhod lahko nenaden in nepričakovan, lastnino morda pustijo za sabo in ljudje, ki bežijo pred konflikti, pogosto nimajo potrebnih dokumentov, kot so vize, da bi se vkrcali na letalo in legalno vstopili v drugo državo. Finančni in politični faktorji jim prav tako lahko preprečijo potovanje po običajni poti. To pomeni, da lahko običajno potujejo samo po kopnem ali morju in morajo morda zaupati svoje življenje tihotapcem, da jim pomagajo čez mejo. Medtem ko nekateri iščejo varnost skupaj z družino, drugi gredo na to pot sami in pustijo svoje bližnje za seboj z upanjem, da se kasneje spet združijo. Ločitev je lahko travmatična in neznosno dolga. Medtem ko je več kot polovica svetovnih beguncev v mestih je včasih prva postaja za nekoga, ki beži pred konflikti, begunsko taborišče, ki ga ponavadi vodi Agencija za begunce Združenih Narodov ali lokalna vlada. Begunsko taborišče naj bi bilo začasna struktura, ki ponuja kratkotrajno zavetje, dokler se prebivalci ne morejo vrniti domov, se integrirajo v državo gostiteljico, ali jih premestijo v drugo državo. A premestitev in dolgoročna integracija sta pogosto omejeni. Zato begunci nimajo druge izbire, kot da ostanejo v taboriščih leta in včasih celo desetletja. Ko so enkrat v novi državi, je prvi legalni korak za razseljeno osebo prošnja za azil. Na tej točki so prosilci za azil in niso uradno priznani kot begunci dokler njihova prijava ni sprejeta. Medtem ko se države strinjajo v definiciji begunca, je vsaka država gostiteljica odgovorna za pregled vseh prošenj za azil in odločanje o tem, ali bo prošnja za azil sprejeta. Smernice se med državami lahko zelo razlikujejo. Države gostiteljice imajo kar nekaj dolžnosti do ljudi, ki jim je prepoznan status begunca, kot je zagotovilo minimalnega standarda in ne-diskriminacija. Najbolj osnovna dolžnost do beguncev je načelo nevračanja, princip, ki narodu preprečuje, da bi posameznika poslala v državo, kjer sta ogrožena njihovo življenje in svoboda. V realnem svetu pa so begunci pogosto žrtve nekonsistentnega in diskriminatornega ravnanja. Vse bolj pogosto si morajo na novo zgraditi življenje kljub ksenofobiji in rasizmu. In prepogosto ne smejo vstopiti na trg delovne sile in so popolnoma odvisni od humanitarne pomoči. Prav tako vse preveč begunskih otrok ne obiskuje šole zaradi zmanjšanega financiranja izobraževalnih programov. Če greš skozi zgodovino svoje družine, je možno, da boš odkril, da so bili na določeni točki tvoji predniki prisiljeni zapustiti domove zaradi vojne ali bega pred diskriminacijo in preganjanjem. Bilo bi dobro, če si zapomnimo te zgodbe, ko slišimo o današnjih beguncih, ki iščejo nov dom.