the refugee crisis

who are refugees?

• refugee: a person who is unable to return to their home country because of a well-founded fear of persecution and/or death due to race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin

the numbers

• there are 82,400,000 people displaced from their homes worldwide
• 2,900,000 were displaced from their homes in 2020
• 26,400,000 displaced people are under the age of 18
  • children make up 30% of the world’s population but 42% of the forcibly displaced population
• 37,000 are forced to flee every day
• 57% come from Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and South Sudan
  • the world’s 6 biggest refugee crises are currently in Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar (1.1m), and Somalia (900,000)
• 80% of refugees live in countries bordering their own

common stereotypes of refugees

• poor
• uneducated
• don’t speak “our” language
• unemployed
• homeless
• scary
• violent
• freeloaders

geographic patterns

emigration from

• South America
• Africa

immigration to

• North America
• Europe

key terms

emigrants (emigration = migration from a location)

• refugee: a person who is unable to return to their home country because of a well-founded fear of persecution and/or death due to race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin

• internally displaced person: someone who has been forced to migrate for similar political reasons as a refugee but has not migrated across an international border

• types of migration

  • voluntary migration: a movement made by choice
  • forced migration: a type of movement in which people do not choose to relocate, but do so under threat of violence

tracking immigration patterns

• net migration: the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants to and from a region
• interregional migration: a permanent move from one region of a country to another
• intraregional migration: a permanent movement within one region of a country
• chain migration: the idea that people move to communities where relatives or friends have previously migrated

“push” factors

• persecution: the mistreatment or punishment of a group of people because of their identities or beliefs
• genocide: a type of persecution; an attempt to kill an entire population based on a shared identity or belief

“pull” factors

• sanctuary: a coveted location of protection for refugees; often a stop or endpoint on their journeys
• protection of human rights
  • human rights: rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status

opportunities for aid

• humanitarian: a person who seeks to promote human welfare; a philanthropist
• Red Cross: the largest humanitarian organization, coordinating aid efforts after human and natural disasters around the world

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