TRAVEL

 

The Syrian refugee crisis has proven that the journey for these refugees is not a safe travel. They will do whatever they can to get to safety in some of the worst conditions possible. More importantly, some face the risk of being deported after their long travels. This extends into the social aspects of immigration, if they are not deported, such as facing face daily racism, xenophobia, and discrimination.

 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 1,011,700 migrants arrived by sea in 2015, and almost 34,900 by land. This compares to the more than 3,770 migrants were reported to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in 2015. The summer time is when the most migrants travel by sea and it increases the likelihood of not making it to land. The seas conditions, trafficker harassment, crowded ships and the illegal aspect all make the trip to safety feel like a bottomless pit.

 

If they do not have the money to travel by airplane or other modes of transportation, they will resort to paying traffickers to take them across the border. Migrants and refugees are different in this respect; refugees have a harder time traveling from one country to the next since they are fleeing instability.  Overcrowding of the ships is a major issue. This past year the deadliest month for migrants was April due to overcrowding. A boat carrying about 800 people capsize in the sea off Libya due to the increasing number of people needing to flee their country and in turn the amount of people forced onto these boats. A passenger, Ibrahim, on one of the boats traveling across the Mediterranean described his story: “At around 7pm the boat started to lose air and fill with water,” he told us. “People began to fall into the sea. With each wave, two or three were taken away. We clung to a rope with water up to our bellies.” A cargo boat eventually rescued Ibrahim and the only other survivor at about 3pm the next day.  Amnesty International discussed the frustrations with the current refugee situations explaining that  ”In Europe, many refugees and migrants don’t even reach dry land, as a tightening of ‘Fortress Europe’ means the only route in is by overcrowded and unseaworthy boats, run by traffickers who care little whether their passengers arrive. At least 3,500 people died making the crossing in 2014 alone. European governments are more concerned with keeping people out than saving lives.”

 

There have been efforts to help these refugees in their travels, but they have not gotten the necessary amount of aid. Recently, those that have helped these migrants have cut back. For example, the UK has recently cut funding for the Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operations. In the past these search and rescue missions have saved an estimated 150,000 people in one year, saying the rescues encouraged more people to make the crossing. Historically, Australia has also gone to great lengths to prevent the “boat people” (immigrants from Vietnam) from coming ashore. They threatened these refugees and asylum seekers with imprisonment and deportation to remote Pacific islands.

 

ENVIRONMENT and CLIMATE CHANGE

 

The Global Risks Report for 2016 predicts that there will be a lot of impacts to migration of people in the coming years due to involuntary migrant. Involuntary migration is defined as migration with the risk of environmental or economic instability. Climate change is a major focus on how the environment is going to produce refugees. A large portion of the world’s population is urban and coastal, so the impacts of environmental events will drive major migration, especially in those cities where support systems are already insufficient.

 

There is an island in the Pacific Islands called Kiribati. Many are looking to the Fijian government do help with the potential relocation and rescued of the island inhabitants, but the bigger picture is that climate change efforts should be enforced. A New Zealander who became a citizen of the island shared his opinions on what was happening to the island and how he was going to be forced into refugee status. He explains that he could become like any other refugee who is forced to leave their home, but the push factor will be very different. The blame for this wave of migration could not be easily pinned to political instability or violence from one country. Therefore, it is up to the whole or a collective of countries to take the responsibility to do something about the potential of environmental refugees.

 

One important note made by the New Zealander was that even if the Kiribati community was granted refugee status and they left their country, the loss of their homeland would be very devastating. In their departure there would be lost culture, heritage, traditions, myths, ceremonies and much more. He mentioned that on the island ““the word for the land and the people is the same. If your land disappears, who are you?”