Understanding the Mounting Refugee Crisis
What can we do ?
1. Presiding Bishop statement, Sept. 15
The children of Abraham have ever been reminded to care for the widow and orphan and the sojourner in their midst, who were the refugees and homeless of the time. Jesus charged his followers to care for the least of these and proclaim the near presence of the Reign of God – in other words, feed the hungry, water the thirsty, house the homeless, heal the sick, and liberate the captives. We cannot ignore the massive human suffering in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, nor in Asia and the Americas. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, and our lives are bound up with theirs. The churchwide ministry of Episcopalians has included refugee resettlement since the refugee crisis of World War II. It continues today through the leadership of Episcopal Migration Ministries, and I urge your involvement, action, and support. Read about their work below, and share these opportunities with friends and co-workers. You will discover anew the power of good news in the face of the world’s tragedies.
2. Background
The European migrant crisis arose through the rising number of migrant arrivals in 2015 – a combination of economic migrants and refugees – to the European Union (EU) coming across the Mediterranean Sea and Southeast Europe from areas such as Africa, and the Middle East.
The term has been used since April 2015, when at least five boats carrying almost two thousand migrants to Europe sank in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined death toll estimated at more than 1,200 people.
According to a recent UNHCR report, more than 4 million people (through the end of 2014) have fled their homes to escape the war in Syria, adding to a worldwide total of nearly 20 million refugees, half of whom are children. This has become the largest refugee case since World War II
Why are families leaving Syria ? It is about an uprising against the government led by President Bashar al-Assa in 2011 that was associated with the Arab spring. The Syrian government has targeted violence and persecution against the country’s Sunni Muslim majority, the group that formed and fed the uprising. A second conflict is with the Islamic State coming from the east that made rapid military gains in both Syria and Iraq, eventually conflicting with the other rebels. By July 2014, ISIL controlled a third of Syria’s territory and most of its oil and gas production. The Islamic State has targeted Christians, Shia Muslims, and other religious minorities within the region, including Yazidis in Iraq and Syrian and Iraqi Kurds. Women and girls face violence at the hands of all conflict actors, most notably sexual and gender based violence in both Syria and countries of first asylum.
Watch the video from Odyssey Network
Article and videos on relief groups working on behalf of the Syrians.
3. Refugees vs. Migrants
Refugees are persons fleeing armed conflict or persecution. There were 19.5 million of them worldwide at the end of 2014. Refugees are defined and protected in international law.
Migrants choose to move not because of a direct threat of persecution or death, but mainly to improve their lives by finding work, or in some cases for education, family reunion, or other reasons. Unlike refugees who cannot safely return home, migrants face no such impediment to return. If they choose to return home, they will continue to receive the protection of their government.
For individual governments, this distinction is important. Countries deal with migrants under their own immigration laws and processes. Refugees are considered asylum seekers since they seek legal and physical protection (asylum) as a refugee in another country and are protected by law.
4. Policies on Asylum seekers
Europe has a common set of rules on how to deal with asylum seekers (but they don’t apply to UK and Ireland ). The EU’s Dublin Regulation places responsibility for examining an asylum seeker’s claim with the first EU country that the migrant reached. It was to prevent submitting applications to multiple countries.
The problem is that seekers tend to arrive first in only a few countries, particularly around the Mediterranean, particularly Greece and Italy. They are inundated with applications. Germany was the first country to suspend Dublin and decided to consider asylum cases from the majority of Syrian applicants.Some countries have taken matters in own hands – Hungary and Bulgaria have built fences along their borders
EU governments agreed to take in 32,500 asylum seekers in 2 years under a quota system but only from Syria and Eritrea. This July more than a 100,000 migrants arrived on Europe’s shores.
Frontex is the European border patrol. EU leaders have agreed to triple funding to them. However Frontex said in August it had not received enough pledges of assets from EU states to help Greece and Hungary. Italy abandoned its Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue mission last year after some EU members – including the UK – said they could not afford to fund it.
5. Numbers
According to Eurostat, EU member states received 626,000 asylum applications in 2014, the highest number since the 672,000 applications received in 1992. In 2014, decisions on asylum applications in the EU made at the first instance resulted in more than 160,000 asylum seekers being granted protection status, while a further 23,000 received protection status on appeal. The rate of recognition of asylum applicants was 45% at the first instance and 18% on appeal.
Four states – Germany, Sweden, Italy and France– received around two-thirds of the EU’s asylum applications and granted almost two-thirds of protection status in 2014; while Sweden, Hungary and Austria were among the top recipients of EU asylum applications per capita, when adjusted for their own populations. Germany has received over 98,000 applications for asylum so far and expect the number to hit 800,000.
6. Action – What can we do as a Church and individuals ?
"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." – Hebrews 13:2
" If God is our father, as we pray in the prayer Jesus himself taught, then we are compelled to treat each other as if we are brothers and sisters. As Christians, there is no opt-out clause in Christ’s invitation to view others as “family.” – Trysan Owain Hughes. Link to an article on compassion.
A. Prayer
"We pray for those damaged by the fighting in Syria.
" To the wounded and injured: Come Lord Jesus.
" To the terrified who are living in shock: Come Lord Jesus
" To the hungry and homeless, refugee and exile: Come Lord Jesus
" To those bringing humanitarian aid: Give protection Lord Jesus
" To those administering medical assistance: Give protection Lord Jesus."To those offering counsel and care:
" Give protection Lord Jesus.
" For all making the sacrifice of love:
" Give the strength of your Spirit and the joy of your comfort.
" In the hope of Christ we pray. Amen.
B. Support UNHCR (United Nations Refugee agency)
“The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.”
SEP 14, 2015
The U.N. refugee agency has received less than half the $4.5 billion needed to help Syrians who have fled to neighboring countries. As conditions worsen, many are opting to risk the journey to Europe.
Donations
"UN Refugee Agency humanitarian workers are working hard in Italy, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Turkey and other countries in Europe to receive and assist the new refugee arrivals fleeing countries affected by violence and conflict, including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. These refugees are in need of protection and they are often physically exhausted and traumatized – but your gift could keep a family safe
- $150 can provide thermal blankets to keep three families warm.
- $200 can provide twenty families with synthetic mats to protect them from sleeping on the cold ground.
- $300 pays for an emergency rescue kit for 10 survivors, containing a towel, thermal blanket, bottled water, an energy bar, dry clothes and shoes.
- $550 can provide emergency cash assistance for three families for a month.
Donate here
C. Support Episcopal Ministries
In 2015, the United States is welcoming 70,000 refugees to our country as new Americans.
Through Episcopal Migration Ministries, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society has been engaged in the ministry of welcoming immigrants and refugees for more than a century, walking with refugees and immigrants as they begin their new lives in our communities. It is through this ministry and through our membership in the 80-million member worldwide Anglican Communion that we have witnessed firsthand the suffering of refugees around the world and the positive impact that resettled refugees play in our communities here in the United States.
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, through Episcopal Migration Ministries, works in partnership with its affiliate network, along with dioceses, faith communities and volunteers, to welcome refugees from conflict zones across the globe.
Episcopal Migration Ministries
Donations through check or credit card for the nearest one in Eastern North Carolina.