Refugees welcome here?
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
This is the second strophe of John Lennon’s Imagine. Life in peace is often asked too much all around the globe. More than 60 million people — that’s about as much as the entire population of Italy — are dislocated from their home. This roughly equates to one of every 120 people on earth.
Currently 26 countries are considered resettlement countries by the UNHCR. Amongst them are the USA, New Zealand and also in more recent years Germany. These countries recieve a certain number of refugees per year. For New Zealand the current quota is 750 people per anno, which, to be perfectly honest, doesn’t sound like an aweful lot of people and probably isn’t. It definitely isn’t when there are 42.500 people forced to leave everything they have behind. Every. Single. Day.
Double the quota
In New Zealand exists a movement called “double the quota” which demands to double the number of refugees which are submitted to New Zealand on a yearly basis through the UNHCR refugee resettlement programme and to double the funding for refugees and its programmes accordingly. Seeing as New Zealands quota hasn’t changed in 29 years it’s most definitely overdue especcially since the number of refugees worldwide increases every year by MILLIONS. Not hundreds or thousands but millions.
What is worse is that a majority of refugees are children below the age of 18. Children are the most vulnerable and should be especially protected. The global peace index report shows that the three countries which are responsible for the majority of refugees (Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria) are also the lowest ranking countries worldwide. New Zealand ranks 4th only behind Iceland (1st), Denmark(2nd) and Austria (3rd).
So who is responsible for this many refugees? 4 Letters. ISIS.
And to a “lesser” extent the civil war in Syria.
If you want to get some insight in what it means to be a refugee and how extremely dangerous the life as one is you should definitely watch this documentation (sorry it’s only in German).
After seeing the video you will probably agree in that this is something one wouldn’t wish for anyone to experience. Not only does the life of a refugee put you under extreme physical and mental stress during your time as a refugee but also afterwards most of the refugees will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and thus live the rest of their life remembering the dead, the drowned and the ones left behind each and every single day.
At the end of the day all my wish is for everyone in the world to have a safe place to live at without the fear of being persecuted due to religious belief, ethnicity, ideals or standing up for their rights.
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
