JOURNEYS AWAY FROM HOME: AN INSIGHT INTO THE HARSH REALITIES REFUGEES FACE

Some fetters and shackles never loosen. Some tethers remain absurdly attached. Even on their road toward finding refuge, it seems as if something always holds them back. Or perhaps it’s time that we finally realise that our world never makes a tranquil path to a new home for its children. My biological make-up and the strength in my arm, the god I pray to, and the colour of my skin—there’s no end to this unfaltering list of vindications that robs one’s right to refuge. These harsh realities ought to give all of us shivers. And if they don’t, it’s time for humanity to reconsider itself.

Journeys away from home start with a firm belief that there must be hope in the new destination. In most cases, it is only when all doors are closed and there is no chance of survival in your nation that a necessity arises. A necessity to pull through, to look for a means to live. But the question to ask is—even after striving to find an existence in a new country, can you really separate them from their memories of their home country? Ten, twenty, fifty, hundred, and thousands of familial memories. Days of ups and downs. These stick around you like images, voices, and narratives. And this, unfortunately, is not the worst part. The worst part of their journey begins when the already prevailing, excruciating struggles are made even more cumbersome. Sometimes even deadly.

Bedbugs. Now imagine a night on those. Afflicted by the Burma Civil War, one of the longest-running civil wars in history, some Karen refugees from Myanmar were, in fact, forced to live under such conditions by their landlords! All this in the name of bestowing them with a roof over their heads? There have been multiple instances of blacks being denied refuge, women and children forced by trafficking gangs, and all sorts of violence and looting, breaking out in the worst forms.

One of the new reports by UNHRC, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Mixed Migration Centre has been titled ‘On this journey, no one cares if you live or die.’ The report throws light on the unacceptable and extreme forms of violence faced by refugees and migrants on mixed migration routes from East and West Africa to and through North Africa. It might get even more somber if we get into the sinking depths of the dingy statistical data regarding the overall number of refugees who died during their migration journeys in 2021. It’s four thousand, four hundred, and seventy? And no wonder how many remained unaccounted for. 

This is like a facade of false benevolence. One disguises oneself in the colours of altruism, with arms wide open, and promises to provide a secure means of existence, but the moment you go close, you’re exposed to the true face behind the facade. Every year, millions of refugees suffer extreme human rights abuses on their journeys. At times, it is believed that such brutal tactics are deliberately employed in an attempt to forcibly push people back to their countries—almost like shaking off this ‘extra burden’ from their shoulders. Many acts, such as the 1951 Refugee Convention, have been enacted to address this issue. It ensures that a refugee is never made to return to a country where he or she faces serious threats to his or her life or freedom. However, if such laws are meant for these impoverished refugees, why’s the glee on their faces so out of sight? Is it perhaps due to the unspeakable nature of their brutalities that we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear?

The ground realities are much beyond the baffling words of these hefty Acts. It is absolutely indispensable for world leaders to join hands and introduce more instantaneous plans than mere laws. Simple solutions, like opening up safe routes for refugees, employing rescue operations in places of distress, prosecuting trafficking gangs, and combating all kinds of discrimination, are the need of the hour. Many of these have been included in the 10 Point Plan Act, brought out by UNHRC and solutions suggested by the International Rescue Committee.

Our world is currently rife with instances of the refugee crisis. The world echoes with cries for help. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the number of people on the run has been constantly multiplying, and the already war-stricken Syria is quivering after severe earthquakes. Somewhere in the world, there is always someone looking not only for a new home but also for some warmth to make them stay in it. 

A refugee walks with baggage on his shoulders of not just the home he left, but also the infinite hurdles that await him ahead.

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