Society's Biggest Issue - Refugee Crisis

Currently, the world is faced with a major social problem that has been a concern of the 21st century. The refugee crisis can be categorized as most severe social problem of recent times as it takes a stake to humanitarian concerns. Over the recent past, there has been massive transfer of large number of displaced persons from one part of the world to the next. This crisis has either occurred inside countries (Internally displaced persons) or international migrants. Factors contributing to this situation includes civil wars, human rights violations, persecution and violence.

​Many parts of the world are faced with challenges of conquering this menace. The most recent cases include ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar, Civil wars in Democratic Republic of Congo, Syrian refugee crisis, South Sudan and Somalia. Wars and political persecutions in these countries have seen refugees pour in large numbers in neighboring countries or seek refuge abroad in deadly journeys as witnessed in the Mediterranean Sea. The main problem to the host country may include provision of food, shelter and medical surplus. However, there are many strategies that the world can emulate so as to reduce, if not eliminate this problem.

​The European refugee crisis gained a lot of attention as huge numbers of refugees from northern Africa and Middle East made their way to Europe. The problem reached its highest levels as thousands of Africans and Syrians braced the Mediterranean with hopes of finding better opportunities in Europe. It lead to thousands of deaths as boats capsized. (Holmes et al, parag.7) asserts that a strategy to conquer the European refugee crisis could involve Anthropology. This involves study of human societies, their cultures and development. Such studies helps establish vital links that exist between human experience and political, social and economic setup of communities. In this methodology, it is important to analyze the current situation so as to come up with workable resolutions. The initial stage is to identify what problems caused the situation. Analysts can study the situation of migration sources to establish conflicts that leads to emigration or internal displacement of people. Analysis of such reports forms the basis of finding resolution to problems. In Germany for example, anthropologists seek to understand the cultural setup of Syrian refugees such that initial provision of food, shelter or medication is done as per their cultural norms and practices. After settlement of refugees, causes of conflict or driving factors to such migration can be addressed by all relevant stakeholders and recommendations made.

​One of the most recent crisis involves the vulnerable Muslim Rohingya community who are fleeing Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh in what has popularly been blamed on ethnic cleansing by the Myanmar military forces. These Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar but have faced forced migration to Bangladesh. This has constituted a long range violations of human rights. This is such a severe social problem as forced migration and statelessness of Rohingya refugees has become a non-traditional security issue (Parnini, et al, pp.284). In efforts to solving the crisis, the international community has responded and condemned the unfair treatment of this community by the Burmese Government. The scale of oppression of these community threatens their existence. For a long period of time, the international community has been quit adamant about the plight of these community until late 2016 when it received worldwide media coverage.

​In order to help the crisis from getting out of hand, The United Nations has been at the forefront in the recent past to try and quell the crisis. This crisis has seen Rohingya women allegedly assaulted by Myanmar Army. The current Secretary General Antonio Gutteres has promised to make sure the vice stops and cool tensions between Myanmar and Bangladesh. United Nations Human Commission for refugees (UNHCR)