It was world refugee day few days back. As per the UN data, with approximately 70.8 million people as refugees (and counting), our world is witnessing an unprecedented crisis of mass persecution of homeless people worldwide. Nobody wishes to flee from their homes until their lives and existence are at stake. People flee to other locations due to specific reasons like war, religious & political persecution, persecution based on gender identities, hunger- poverty, natural or human-made disasters and climate change, among others. Most likely, these people cannot return to their homes ever again.

With the advent of globalization, which made capitalism spree, the entire globe has been made interconnected and interdependent. In this world, things don’t happen in a vacuum. Trade wars between the USA and China can impact the developmental process in European countries and the countries of the African continent. At the same time, conflicts and war like situations between India and China can impact other countries in multiple ways. Similarly, people getting homeless and stateless in Syria, South Sudan, Myanmar or Afganistan, must be considered a global issue, ingrained in our shifting identities as a cosmopolite.

International cooperation on certain occasions has proved to be significantly successful. Multilateral collaboration should be encouraged first to reduce the triggering factors which lead to mass migrations and, secondly, to accommodate already displaced people. In getting governments to form such policies, public opinions hold a secure place. Each one of us is a powerful political entity. Collectively, our opinions matter. The first step of forming an idea, good or bad, comes with gaining knowledge about that specific issue and looking at it from different lenses.

There are certain rights we all are born with, and those rights are inalienable. Having to live a life in their absence is a terrible situation. As a world, our humanity depends on how we serve our most vulnerable dwellers.

No Land. No Home. No Rights. Is That What We Call A Life?

By – Dev Nagar