Mahatma Gandhi

“Action is my domain. It is not what I say but what I do that matters.”

In the past few years the fate of refugees has been much more uncertain than it ever was in the past. Over forty four million people have been driven from their homes by the Iraq war, Darfur and other situations in which they would face bodily harm due to violence and persecution. Some of those people were displaced within their own country but others were in such terrible situations that they were forced to live abroad. However, when they are forced to leave their homelands it is very uncertain what they will do or where to go. Some countries have changed thier immigration policies since the 11th of September 2001 to disallow seekers of asylum because they fear further terrorist attacks.

It seems that it is unclear to these nations that these asylum seekers are also victims of terrorism. If such things had not happened there wouldn’t have been wars in Iraq and Afghanistan or conflicts on Somalia and other parts of Africa like the Congo. They didn’t ask to be displaced but if you’ve a choice between being blown up, beheaded, raped, tortured or beaten or leaving their homes the logical people would leave. There have been several nations on the other hand that have been very generous in taking in refugees. Sweeden, Holland, Pakistan, Iran, the United States, Germany, Tanzania, Syria and Jordan have all taken in large amounts of refugees. Sweeden and Holland have taken in more Iraqi refugees than the other countries. Due to the war and civil war (it’s not officially called that but that’s basically what it is) that followed more than four million Iraqis have been displaced. It is the fortunate few that can return home to try to eak out an existance and rebuild their world. Recently many refugees have returned to Afganistan. We must do our best to help these often unseen victims of terrorism. Talk is good sometimes but now is a time for action, not violent action but effective actions to end the conflicts if at all possible and allow people to go on with their lives.