Bring an end to refugee detention.
Every year the UNHCR hold a day of celebration called World Refugee Day. Every celebration is given a title. In 2021 the celebration was titled, “Together we, heal, learn and shine.” To celebrate the day the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh had a visit from the UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Mr. Tahsan Khan who was there to open an intensive care unit and diagnostic services at the Sadar District Hospital, which was created with UNHCR funds. These services are undoubtedly needed, but a problem arises when International AID is provided to counties in exchange for temporary refuge because there is no incentive towards refugee resettlement. Indeed, the arrangement makes refugees the collateral for any future material developments, i.e., progress. As a consequence, some refugees have been in captivity for more than 30 years and their collateral status has simply grown and become more valuable for building a nation’s infrastructure. The bigger the camp, the more need for outside services. The regime is tantamount to human trafficking and slavery. Slavery, because the refugees have to maintain their own infrastructure within the camp.
The theme of the 2021 World Refugee Day was “together we heal, learn and shine”, it was a huge ask in an environment where people have a day-by-day struggle to survive. The aim to “heal, learn and shine” is all well and good, but we need to ask whose interests are really being served? In order to maintain this arrangement, the camp has to grow, this means more refugees are needed. More refugees will always be needed in order to secure funds for more outside infrastructure… This is how it works! It is a trade-off that most people appear to be happy with, except for the fact that refugees are never going to escape this system. Refugees will dwindle out and more will replace them. Refugees will never be truly free to build their own lives under this system.
In 2022, once again, another Refugee Day took place. This time the public are asked to engage with Refugee Day and its new aspirations. We are asked to remember what has been achieved. What has been achieved? We can reflect of the fact that nothing has changed, refugees are still imprisoned in outrageous conditions. The controls in camps have tightened and the environment has become ever-more dangerous. The mental health of residents has deteriorated. Many health services are not free and most are unaffordable. What has changed? No one can leave the camp without a pass. Close associations are watched by guards. Residents have to rely on charities for books and learning. The guards in their posts have nice bright uniforms and up-to-date weaponry while people are dying of treatable diseases and children risk injury from a lack of basic checks for health and safety. In 2022 a four-year-old child was buried alive under a landslide. Just a few weeks later two more children were buried alive during flooding. Remarkably, some people do “shine” because they still have faith in humanity and they are able to develop an extraordinary power of will. However, no one should have to live like this, it is systemic torture and against International Law.
Free refugees!