by Hayley Smith, LHI Founder/Director
People have been fleeing persecution, war, and natural disaster since the beginning of time. The Roman period saw groups of 100,000 at a time arrive from outside territories.
Belgian refugees arriving in neutral Netherlands in WWI.
Fast-forward to modern industrialized warfare as we know it, when refugee numbers are staggering: 10 million in WWI & 60 million in WWII. Since no international agreement to recognize and protect refugees had ever been implemented, most pleas for resettlement or basic protection were rejected.
Refugees from East Germany, 1944.
For example, out of the 125,000 Jewish applications for resettlement in 1938, the USA only accepted 27,000. And then there was the SS Drottningholm incident, when a ship of 937 Jewish refugees were turned away from American waters. It’s heartbreaking to think of how many lives could have been saved had there been rules in place to recognize their right to asylum in a safe country.
Vietnamese “boat people” in the 1970s.
Luckily, in 1951 the newly created League of Nations (now the UN) recognized the need for international regulations. And this is exactly what World Refugee Day celebrates: the 1951 Convention, which saw 19 countries adopt the first international laws to recognize and protect refugees. The 200+ page document produced during the convention is one of the most seminal of the 20th century.
Bosnian refugees in the 1990s.
The 1951 convention actually only covered Europe, since there were still many refugees waiting for resettlement years after the war. It seems like everyone thought that WWII was the war to end all wars, but as the century kept progressing, mechanized war around the world kept going. The 1967 Convention ratified the original document to include the entire world. And looking around these days, it’s a good thing those changes were made.
Syrian refugees arriving in Greece 2017.
As the executive director of a humanitarian organization that focuses on refugee aid, I’m somewhat conflicted about World Refugee Day. Let me explain: 140+ countries have signed the convention. Yet, several wealthy countries have started picking and choosing which articles of the convention to actually follow. And since there is no body that oversees adherence to the rules, refugees are being turned away when they should be accepted.
So, let’s dedicate World Refugee Day (Saturday, June 20, 2020) to not only honoring refugees, but also to recommitting ourselves to do whatever we can to take make sure that the 1951 convention does not fade into history.
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