Humanitarian Week: Refugee Day
Credit: Unsplash
Worldwide, more than 33 million children have been forcibly displaced At the end of 2020
This includes:
Some 11.8 million child refugees
Around 1.3 million asylum-seeking children and an estimated 20.4 million children displaced within their own country by violence and conflict.
Another 2.9 million children living in internal displacement as a consequence of natural disasters.
Nearly one-third of children living outside their country of birth are refugees
At least 3.7 million refugee children are out of school
This figure is likely worsened by the COVID pandemic.
Distances: Global Facts
2015 Getty Images, Refugees International
The Syrian refugee crisis
For the thousands of families fleeing or who fled war and violence in Syria, the journey from Aleppo in Syria to Horgos, Serbia, Serbia’s border with Hungary, involves a distance of more than 1,400 miles.
If a family was able to cover 25 miles per day (an ambitious distance), this journey would take 452 hours, or about 50 days.
This arduous trek would be a mix of walking and riding on transport while carrying possessions, shepherding young children, and stopping to look for food.
Refugees travel approximately one billion miles every year to reach their first point of safety
Refugees often travel by foot or boat for days, weeks, or even months.
“In 2016, Syrian refugees traveled more than 150 miles to reach Turkey, while Rohingya refugees in Myanmar traveled approximately 50 miles to reach Bangladesh. Honduran migrants and asylum seekers travel 1,407 miles to Texas, USA.”
Distances: Activity
(based on Refugee Solidarity network walk-A-thon challenge)
Distances in central america: walking from guatemala to mexico
This route spans 82 km, or 51 miles from San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala to Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, a distance which takes about 19 hours to complete.
Another Perspective on Central American Routes:
“They carry almost nothing — a bottle of water, maybe a T-shirt, usually a scrap of paper with the name of a relative in case something happens to them. They are dependent even more than usual on the good will of others for food and shelter, adding to the challenge of an already desperate trek North”
“For Central Americans seeking to enter the U.S. illegally, the path through Mexico begins at the border towns of Tapachula, the most popular entry point, and Tenosique, the location favored by most Hondurans.”
Distances in south asia: walking from myanmar to bangladesh
This route spans 73 km, or 43 miles from Maungdaw, Myanmar, to Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh, a distance which takes about 14 hours to complete.
More information:
“By the end of 2019, countries in Southern Asia hosted nearly 3.6 million refugees and asylum-seekers. The nearly 2.7 million refugees from Afghanistan – the largest protracted refugee situation in Asia and the second-largest refugee population in the world – were, for example, mainly hosted by Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Bangladesh is the destination for the majority of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, who constitute the fourth-largest refugee population worldwide (UNCHR, 2020).”
“Refugees’ testimonies gathered by UNHCR in 2019 also highlight the physical abuse by smugglers […] Women and girls, especially those travelling on their own, were particularly at risk of rape and abuse. Of the refugees who had fled by land or sea more than 20 years ago, more than half said their journey was difficult but not life-threatening, but all those who had fled over last five years said they feared for their lives and described their journeys as hazardous or dangerous/very dangerous.”
distances in the middle east: walking from syria to turkey
This route spans 51 km, or 32 miles from Aleppo, Syria, to Hatay, Turkey, a distance which takes about 13 hours to complete.
More Information:
An estimated 29 million people have migrated from Arab countries since 1990, according to UN data. (http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/migrantroute/)
More interactive material: Syrian Journey, Choose your own escape route
Trauma and Harassment
Source: Council on Foreign Relations
Child trauma
“Many refugees, especially children, have experienced trauma related to war or persecution that may affect their mental and physical health long after the events have occurred. These traumatic events may occur while the refugees are in their country of origin, during displacement from their country of origin, or in the resettlement process here in the US.”
While in their country of origin, refugee children may have experienced traumatic events or hardships including:
Violence (as witnesses, victims, and/or perpetrators)
War
Lack of food, water, and shelter
Physical injuries, infections, and diseases
Torture
Forced labor
Sexual assault
Lack of medical care
Loss of loved ones
Disruption in or lack of access to schooling
Isolation stress
Refugee children and families experience many stressors as minorities in a new country. Examples include:
Feelings of loneliness and loss of social support network
Discrimination
Experiences of harassment from peers, adults, or law enforcement
Experiences with others who do not trust the refugee child and family
Sexual Harassment
At the U.S. Border:
“In each of the past four years, 1,000 or more immigrant children who arrived at the southern U.S. border without their parents have reported being sexually abused while in government custody”
Language Activity
Source: UNHCR
the language barrier
“Migrant people often travel to Europe through many countries before reaching their destination. Each country they enter has different cultures and customs, and language plays a major role in facilitating or hindering their journey.”
“For thousands of people living in transit and in refugee camps, language barriers are a difficult reality of everyday life. They often rely on information from refugees and friends who have gone through the same experience, especially because local authorities, humanitarian aid workers, and volunteers do not usually speak their languages.”
“Multilingual refugee children, due to their ability to learn languages quickly, are often interpreters for their parents. Their learning is informal and disrupted, leaving significant gaps in their education, and some refugee children are unable to access education in their host countries due to language barriers.”
Another simulation from the coe
Consider the problems that arise when no interpreters are provided to refugees applying for asylum.