AT the juncture of International Refugees Day celebrated this year on June 20th, 2023. I felt urged and compelled to write about the refugees being involved directly with an organization which deals with the affairs and betterment of refugees. It normally doesn’t happen that an author or a writer argues within their articulation as a piece of writing. For me, writing on this subject became argumentative and debatable within myself. In this disposition, I came out with the caption on the refugees in any region a boon or a bane. As this article goes with the flow of thought, we would try to have a comparative analysis that does the displacement of any community making them refugees bring them merits, demerits, pros and cons, fouls and fairs or rights or wrongs.
In a very short way we’ll discuss all these comparative analysis in order to find out our own thesis which is the caption of the subject Refugee’ a Boon and or a Bane. Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres said; “Becoming a refugee isn’t a choice. But standing with refugee is”. According to the World Bank Development report 2023, of the approximately 22 million people who live outside their country, about 35 % are refugees and hosted in just 10 countries.
Getting displaced from their own homeland doubtlessly is a harsh and miserable experience. It evacuates the body, mind and soul of the individual who experience displacement is a big challenge physically, mentally, psychologically and financially. Broken hearts remain broken during the journey from their beloved places towards uncharted territories. It is a grave demerit and surely a bane. But on the contrary it could turn out to be a boon if their journey lands up in a host country or a place which is welcoming, conducive, compassionate and kind enough helping to rearrange their lives and livelihoods. Refugee community may take all the boons of the hosting country or society if they get assimilated according to norms, conventions and culture of their host country.
However, the host country could be a bane if the refugees of that country don’t allow themselves to get assimilated sooner. When we talk about assimilation it purely means the law of the land, the constitution of land and societal customs. Refugee community can turn their bane into boon to mitigate the effects of Brain Drain integrating refugees into functioning national systems for education, health, livelihood skills and social protection that should be financially and socially sustainable making progress toward durable solutions by combining legal status and access to opportunities. Their interest and inclination decides to pick all the boons that territory offers.
Being the person directly working on refugees, the conclusion of the debate is that if they take one thing it gives back from one hand after the test it gives back something better in return. I will finish this article by saying that it is all about the love of human beings in different shapes and sizes. Love is the key to the waning of all the miseries. Every year World Refugee and Human Rights Day is marked not only to show solidarity with refugees but to reassure ourselves that how love and kindness here can turn bane into a boon. Pakistan is the example of hosting the biggest refugee in history. Pakistan is a boon and we have to value this piece of land as it was founded on principles of being a kind, compassionate and passionate country. “As Human Development is the key”.
— A writer is an activist and managing head of a Project for the rehabilitation of Afghan refugees with gender equality.
