Refugee crisis is the term used to describe the difficulties and dangerous situations experienced by huge groups of forcibly displaced people, such as refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), or migrants. Displacement is caused by conflict, violence, famine and extreme food insecurity, poverty and lack of access to services, political instability, human rights abuses, or environmental degradation.
In most cases, refugee crises become entangled with regional or international conflict. Large numbers of displaced people complicate host-state security concerns, destabilize the situation in their home countries and create new challenges for returning refugees to their homes. They also exacerbate fears about the impact of displacement on stability in neighboring states and regions.
When governments fail to provide adequate protection and assistance for displaced people, they can become complicit in schemes that commodify them, exploit them, or manipulate their circumstances. This is what has been happening in many places, including Libya, where large refugee camps have sprung up along the Tunisian and Chad borders with Libya, where refugees are held for ransom by traffickers, and where squalid conditions make them vulnerable to disease.
We should work with countries to strengthen their ability to protect and support displaced people. Among other things, this includes developing the capacity of countries to investigate and prosecute trafficking in migrants, reducing barriers to family reunification, and combating all forms of xenophobia, discrimination and hatred. All countries should ensure that they are not scapegoating refugees and migrants, as well as investing in community development to reduce inequalities and encourage social cohesion.