Figure 1.--This photo was taken in a Syrian refugee camp. The Syrian crisis has become the greatest refugee crisis resulting from the Arab Spring (2011). U.N. emergency relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien reported to the U.N. Security Council that Syria has become 'a slaughterhouse, a complete meltdown of humanity, the apex of horror.' As is often the case in these tragedies, it is the children who are most endangered and who have suffered the most. Some 0.3 million Syrins have been killed and more than 11 million displaced from their home. .

At the onset of the 21st century, Afghanistan was the largest source country of refugees, a position it had held since the Soviet invasion (1979). Some one out of every four refugees in the world were Afghans, primarily living in Pakistan and Iran. Gradually this began to shift, although Aghanistan continues to be a problem. The United Nations tells us, "In general terms, the number of refugees in the world is broadly a function of the number of wars and human-rights-abusing dictatorships at any given time. Today, there are a series of internal and regional armed conflicts around the world. Most of these are in two regions, the Middle East and Africa." [Betts] There are currently humanitarian emergencies in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine. The UN high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, has described what he calls a 'world at war'. A British journalist makes the obcious satement, "If we were able to address the root causes of those conflicts, the number of refugees in the world would decline significantly. [Betts] And he provides a good basic assessment of the problem: 1) failed states and 2) economic failure. But typically for ideological reasons many oliticabs, academics, and journalisrs leave out to the two critical elements in the equation: Islam and the lack of economic freedom. The first major factor driving the 21st century refugee flow is the failure of many goverments, especially the Middle East and Africa. Weak governments unable or unwilling to provide even the most fundamental human rights of citizens. Some strong governents do not provide basic civil rights, but they are not driving the refugee flow. Some of these failed states include: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Congo, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria, but many other counties are involved. The medi focus on the refugee issue has been on the filure of Europe and nerica to simply open theur borders and very little on what set the refugees in motion. It is notable the number of these countries in which Islam plays a role in either driving the refugeee flow or in destabilizing secular government. Islam is not the only factor, but it is a very important factor that the Left (mainline media, academia, and Demoratic Party) not only refuse to address, but actively attempt to hide. Many people in these failed states have no other option but to flee their homeland, not only to obtain civil rights but often in fear of their lives. And notice the failure of Muslim countries other than the borser states to take in Muslim refugees. The second major factor driving freuggee flow is economic failure. Here we have and even wider problem than failed states with major problems not only in Africa and the Middle East, but also Asia and Latin America. The United Nations estimates that here were 70 million migrants worldwide (1970). Current estimates suggests that there are noe more than 200 million migrants (2015). Globalisation and modern communication and transport hs increased the opportunity and motivation to migrate. Here it is important to point pout that there is a difference between refugees and migrants. The media focus has again been on the failure of America and Eutope to open its borders and very little on the reason for the setting the migrant in motion which is the lack of economic freedom in poor countries. And this is largely the result of the sovialist and anti-market attitudes of the elites that that led the de-colonization efforts the development efforts in Latin America One of the ironies here is that the people who most vocal about ned to help immigrants are the same people who gavor the failed economic policies who set the immigrants in motion.

Causes

At the onset of the 21st century, Afghanistan was the largest source country of refugees, a position it had held since the Soviet invasion (1979). Some one out of every four refugees in the world were Afghans, primarily living in Pakistan and Iran. Gradually this began to shift, although Aghanistan continues to be a problem. The United Nations tells us, "In general terms, the number of refugees in the world is broadly a function of the number of wars and human-rights-abusing dictatorships at any given time. Today, there are a series of internal and regional armed conflicts around the world. Most of these are in two regions, the Middle East and Africa." [Betts] The UN high commissioner for refugees, António Guterres, has described what he calls a 'world at war'. A British journalist makes the obcious satement, "If we were able to address the root causes of those conflicts, the number of refugees in the world would decline significantly. [Betts] And he provides a good basic assessment of the problem: 1) failed states and 2) economic failure. But typically for ideological reasons many oliticabs, academics, and journalisrs leave out to the two critical elements in the equation: Islam and the lack of economic freedom. The first major factor driving the 21st century refugee flow is the failure of many goverments, especially the Middle East and Africa. Weak governments unable or unwilling to provide even the most fundamental human rights of citizens. Some strong governents do not provide basic civil rights, but they are not driving the refugee flow. Some of these failed states include: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Congo, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria, but many other counties are involved. The medi focus on the refugee issue has been on the filure of Europe and nerica to simply open theur borders and very little on what set the refugees in motion. It is notable the number of these countries in which Islam plays a role in either driving the refugeee flow or in destabilizing secular government. Islam is not the only factor, but it is a very important factor that the Left (mainline media, academia, and Demoratic Party) not only refuse to address, but actively attempt to hide. Many people in these failed states have no other option but to flee their homeland, not only to obtain civil rights but often in fear of their lives. And notice the failure of Muslim countries other than the borser states to take in Muslim refugees. The second major factor driving freuggee flow is economic failure. Here we have and even wider problem than failed states with major problems not only in Africa and the Middle East, but also Asia and Latin America. The United Nations estimates that here were 70 million migrants worldwide (1970). Current estimates suggests that there are noe more than 200 million migrants (2015). Globalisation and modern communication and transport hs increased the opportunity and motivation to migrate. Here it is important to point pout that there is a difference between refugees and migrants. The media focus has again been on the failure of America and Eutope to open its borders and very little on the reason for the setting the migrant in motion which is the lack of economic freedom in poor countries. And this is largely the result of the sovialist and anti-market attitudes of the elites that that led the de-colonization efforts the development efforts in Latin America One of the ironies here is that the people who most vocal about ned to help immigrants are the same people who gavor the failed economic policies who set the immigrants in motion.

Refugee Crises

There are currently humanitarian emergencies in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan (Darfur), Syria, and Ukraine.

Afghanistan

Congo

Nigeria

Sudan (Darfur)

Syria (2011- )

The Syrian crisis has become the greatest refugee crisis resulting from the Arab Spring (2011). U.N. emergency relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien reported to the U.N. Security Council that Syria has become "a slaughterhouse, a complete meltdown of humanity, the apex of horror.' As is often the case in these tragedies, it is the children who have suffered the most. Some 0.3 million Syrins have been killed and more than 11 million displaced from their home. The horrors of the Syrian tragedy and the sympthy that their suffering evokes has oscured many issues. First the killing and other atrocities has been conducted by Muslims. Second the people most viciously targeted are Christians and other non-Muslim minorities. Third President Obama not only enabled the rise of ISIS, but also declined to eforce his Red Line dictum which could have addressed the crisis while it was still manageable. Fourth, Muslim refugees head for Christian Europe rather than other Muslim countries. Fifth, except for border countries, not only Muslim countries, but other non-Christian countries are making no important efforts to take in the refugees. Sixth, the refugee issue are destablising the European Union (EU) resulting in first Britexit and now similar votes in other EU countries.

Immigration Crises

Created: 10:07 PM 2/9/2017
Last updated: 10:07 PM 2/9/2017