Migrants

The number of people who are forced to leave their countries of birth and seek a better life elsewhere is increasing so much that it is becoming a global crisis.

Reasons……

There are many causes of Migration:
Some are positive

• Many people move because they have skills which are of great value to a “host” country. For example medical and technical skills that are rare or in short supply.
• Some people move from one country to another because they are closely related to citizens of another country.

However the majority of migrants move because they have no choice in the matter. They are termed “Refugees”:

• They have fallen foul of powerful political forces, be it military or civilian
• Their home country is so impoverished that starvation exerts huge negative pressures
• Warfare and military actions make their “home” countries uninhabitable or violently dangerous
• Climate change is and will in the future large parts of the planet uninhabitable due of heat, flooding and incapacity to grow food.

Here is an extract from the “Guardian” Newspaper:

“Hopeless and Broken”

Why the worlds top scientists are in despair… “Sometimes it is almost impossible not to feel hopeless and broken said the climate scientist Ruth Cerezo-Mota. After all the flooding, fires and droughts of the last three years worldwide, all related to climate change… I really thought governments were ready to listen to the science , to act in the peoples best interests”. Instead Cerezo-Mota expects the world to heat by a catastrophic 3C this century, soaring past the internationally agreed 1.5C target and delivering enormous suffering to billions of people.

The point of including this is that a climate catastrophe is inevitably going to vastly increase the number of refugees on to a world incapable of managing current levels of displacement..

Hostility towards refugees

The world is becoming increasingly negative environment, there seems to be a natural hostility towards large numbers of refugees: their cultures and behaviour clash with those of the recipient countries; large numbers of incomers puts great strain on resources

Severe Droughts

Starvation

Gaza, Ukraine

Recent violent upheavals that have caused many refugees to flee after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a violent and illegal act by Russia, which has caused enormous damage to the built environment and many casualties. The international community have declared Russia to have committed many criminal acts.

Gaza has a completely different history. It was started by Hamas, which is judged to be a terrorist organisation. Hamas invaded the State of Israel, taking many hostages and killing several hundred Israelis.

The Israeli response has been hugely violent. The Israeli army has virtually destroyed Gaza, and killing nearly 50,000 civilians. Israel has also been accused of war crimes.

In both the cases of Ukraine and Gaza, thousands of innocent civilians have become Refugees from the violence.

Refugees – Brian Bilston

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
Do not be so stupid to think that
A place should only belong to those who are born there
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)

Some statistics

117.3 MILLION
Forcibly displaced people worldwide
at mid-2023 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order.

68.3 MILLION
are internally displaced people (Source: IDMC, as of end-2022)

37.6 MILLION
are refugees

6.9 MILLION
are asylum-seekers

5.8 MILLION
are other people in need of international protection

73%
originate from just five countries
Nearly three-quarters of all refugees under UNHCR’s mandate and other people in need of international protection come from just five countries.

47 million
are children
At the end of 2022, of the 108.4 million forcibly displaced people, an estimated 43.3 million (40 per cent) are children below 18 years of age.

2 million
children were born as refugees
Between 2018 and 2022, an average of 385,000 children were born as refugees per year.

1.2 million
refugees returned or were resettled
Nearly 1.1 million refugees returned to their countries of origin during 2023 while 158,700 were resettled (with or without UNHCR’s assistance).

75%
hosted in low- and middle-income countries
Low- and middle-income countries host 75 per cent of the world’s refugees and other people in need of international protection. The Least Developed Countries provide asylum to 21 per cent of the total.

4.4 million
stateless people
Data on some 4.4 million stateless people residing in 95 countries was reported at mid-2023. The true global figure is estimated to be significantly higher.

69%
hosted in neighbouring countries
69 per cent of refugees and other people in need of international protection lived in countries neighbouring their countries of origin.

(Data as of 13 June 2024)

From the Financial Times, London

“After two years of wrangling, a bill allowing the UK government to transport to Rwanda some asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel — one of the most egregious pieces of British legislation in recent years — is set to become law. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s admission that flights may still not start leaving for Rwanda before July highlights just how problematic this measure is. But the issue is not merely that this inhumane and hugely costly plan may not achieve its aim. The legal means the government has used to over-rule, in effect, a block by the UK Supreme Court creates a pernicious precedent for British democracy. It is extraordinary for any government to become so in thrall to such a dubious scheme. There is no guarantee desperate migrants already willing to cross a hazardous sea lane in flimsy boats — five more, including a child, tragically died in the attempt on Tuesday — will be deterred by the slim chance of ending up in central Africa. To clear the way for flights to happen, the bill “disapplies” some parts of other UK and international law. That further smears the reputation of a country that prides itself on respect for the law and human rights”.

Legal challenges to Rishi Sunak's Rwanda bill are "inevitable", the illegal migration minister has admitted, as human rights organisations called on the government not to put the scheme into force.

Michael Tomlinson, Minister of State for Countering Illegal Immigration, said the government wanted to ensure flights get off the ground "as soon as possible" but that there would undoubtedly be challenges to the legislation, which passed around midnight last night after months of parliamentary ping pong.

"There will be challenges, but we will meet them, we will overcome them," he told Kay Burley on Breakfast.

His words come as five migrants died during an attempt to cross the Channel on Tuesday morning.

Mr Sunak “believes” the Rwanda bill - which seeks to deport asylum seekers arriving in the UK via small boats to the African nation - will act as a deterrent for those who are considering making the dangerous Channel crossing.

Rubber dinghies crossing the English Channel