This series focuses on people who are considered unimportant, unworthy of attention, and without inherent dignity. It concludes with refugees, the last group from the parable of “The Sheep and the Goats.” Along with the hungry, the slaves, and the poor, they are counted among the least of Christ’s brothers. He said about them, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me. What you have done for them, you have done it unto me.”
This will consist of three articles: the crisis that creates refugees, the journey they take to freedom, and the welcome they receive.
Obviously, the most prominent refugees today are the Ukrainians. About 3 million of them have escaped the violence, and the displaced people remaining inside number many more. But there are other refugees on the global map today, millions who are barely remembered or noticed. That is the reason why I turn to refugees in Tigray, Ethiopia; in detention centers in Libya; in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh; and internally displaced persons in Syria.
In each case, we will see inhumane treatment, abuse, and a blind eye by the powerful. The recurring impression is that concern for their plight is waning.
Tigray Province, Ethiopia
Eritrea and Ethiopia have been at war for years. Thousands of Eritreans have relocated south of the border in the province of Tigray. There they have found no protection. The Eritrean government sees them as defectors, and the Ethiopians see them as the enemy. They are fully exposed to brutality from both sides. As recently as January, heavy airstrikes by one side or the other hit their camps.
In the masses of these camps, many children become separated from their families and are trafficked to other countries. Only 7000 trucks with humanitarian goods have gotten through in the past three years. World Food Program calculates that those represent less than 10% of the trucks needed. 900,000 are at or below the level of food scarcity, and 1,200 people starve to death each day.
Hope for international relief lessens by the day.
Libya
This country has been a destination for refugees departing its shores for Italy and Greece. The European Union has sent 450 million Euros to the Libyan government to improve the living conditions for the refugees who are detained there. Sadly, the money has been diverted to warlords and the militia, and the centers have become prisons.
The flight of the refugees takes them from their villages to the Mediterranean, to flimsy boats, to “rescue” by the Coast Guard, back to Libya. There, some are incarcerated at detention sites while others are trafficked to other parts of the world. They commonly face extortion, with a price that further impoverishes their families.
Most of the refugees have traveled from Sub-Saharan Africa. They become subject to abuse, torture, and exploitation. They are trafficked or removed to other camps. They discover racism and the truth behind the frequent warning, “Libya is not safe for Black Africans.” For these people, the information is scarce and the attention is waning.
Rohingya of Myanmar and Bangladesh
Something happened in the year 2017 in Rohingya camps near Burmese villages. Though there is dispute about what the event was, what is not disputed is that it was a spark that set off a cataclysmic Rohingya disaster. Within months, most of the Rohingya population was forcibly displaced, villages were burnt, women were raped, and thousands began their move to safer places.
600,000 Rohingya remain in Myanmar where they face the brutality of the military. Earlier this week the United States Department of State declared that the Myanmar military was guilty of genocide on the Rohingya. This is but the eighth time such a declaration of genocide has been made by the United States.
900,000 Rohingya have relocated to Bangladesh where they have been placed in huge camps. These are surrounded by barbed wire. They are overcrowded and lack sanitation and sewage. The location of the camps has frequent flooding, landslides, fires, and cyclones. 5,000 of those in the camps do not have roofs over their heads.
The plan of the Bangladesh government is to move all of them to Bhasan Char, an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal. Rights advocates have pointed out that this will make access to food and other supplies most difficult and egress for medical care almost impossible. The outcry for the Rohingya is rarely in the news and is almost muted.
Syria
The civil war in Syria began ten years ago. Back then, many Syrians were able to leave the country, going across from Turkey to Greece.
Since that time, the stream of refugees has diminished, but within Syria are over 6 million displaced people. Like the camps for the Rohingya, these camps lack adequate sewage and sanitation. Food and other humanitarian supplies do not get through. Many report that they get one meal a day, some less. Medical assistance is nearly non-existent. Reports tell of mothers no longer knowing why their children die, since there are no diagnoses and no medicines.
The circumstances in Syria render these internally displaced people as pawns in the geopolitical situation. They may have permission to leave the camps and return home. Those who do, however, are arrested and subject to extra-judicial smuggling and killings. But again, after ten years, we hardly remember the atrocities of Aleppo and the Yazidis.
Next week we will look at South Sudan. For now, as a conclusion to this dreary report, I turn to Jane Austen and the Psalmist.
“The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.” Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice
“Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.” Psalm 146:2, 5
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