Millions of people around the world have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety and a better future. These people are known as refugees and are protected by the UN agency UNHCR. Refugees have the right to a safe place in another country, including freedom of movement and access to jobs that will help them support themselves. They also have the right to education for their children. They are not a threat to security but a stabilizing factor, and the sooner they become part of their host communities, the less risk there is for conflict.
Yet many rich countries still treat the refugee crisis as “somebody else’s problem.” As a result, poorer Middle Eastern, African and South Asian countries host 86% of the world’s refugees. These nations are not prepared for the task and struggle to provide even the bare necessities of life.
The conditions of exile also contribute to the potential for conflict. Refugees are often not granted the rights of citizens, which may limit their opportunities for employment and increase tensions with locals. They may also be restricted from establishing businesses, which increases the likelihood that they will seek work in distorted informal markets and illegal networks. This is a significant cause of the rising economic vulnerability of refugees.
Furthermore, if refugees share ethnic or religious characteristics with populations in host states that are themselves in conflict, those fears may aggravate anxieties about destabilization and compel host governments to restrict refugee protection measures. In this way, host state and refugee security are inextricably linked and undermining one weakens the other.