Almost every day, people are forced to flee their homes. Conflict, violence, human rights abuses, natural disasters and climate change are the main causes of displacement, but poverty, hunger and persecution for reasons including race, gender or sexual orientation also drive people to seek asylum. The world’s refugee crisis has reached staggering levels. Millions of people are in need of help and hope. This can only be solved by addressing the root cause of displacement, not by closing borders or turning away refugees.
The world has an obligation to protect and welcome refugees, and the United Nations Refugee Convention and Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement set clear legal guidelines for how to do so. At the same time, many governments, particularly in Europe and North America, struggle to meet their responsibilities. The global community must stop the race to the bottom, and put solidarity and compassion above petty wrangling over who should host a few thousand refugees.
Many of the current displacement crises are deeply entwined with war and regional instability. Consequently, the host states’ security concerns often intersect with their obligations under international refugee law. This can lead to policies that erode refugee protection, which in turn undermines state stability and fuels secondary displacement. For example, some host states fear that the presence of refugees threatens their social or political stability, and they curtail refugee protection measures in response. This can be especially true if refugees have the same ethnic or religious characteristics as host-state citizens, which can create perceptions of a demographic threat.