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• 06 Dec 2023
• Satish D

Supporting Refugee Communities: A Closer Look

A refugee is a person forced out of their country due to various reasons, including war, violence, and persecution. Persecution may be on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or the person’s membership and active participation in certain social groups. War and violence based on religion, tribe, and ethnicity are among the common causes of people fleeing their countries.

There are three types of refugees: internally displaced, stateless, and asylum seekers. Only three countries – Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, constitute 52% of refugees in the entire world. Also, there are 62.5 million internally displaced people and 4.4 million stateless people across the globe, while 2.9 million people are asylum seekers.

Refugee Support Services

Refugee support services provide funding and other types of support for refugees. These services help refugees and ORR (Office of Refugee Resettlement) populations to become financially independent. They help refugees find jobs and maintain them by letting them associate with different programs.

While these refugee support programs focus on employment, they also vouch for job training and skill development, job placement, and maintenance. Refugees not only need to secure jobs but should also be able to maintain them. These programs also help refugees socially adapt to their work environments by teaching them to thrive in an ever-competitive world through various vocational skill development programs, such as English language training, translation and interpretation, daycare for children, and citizenship and naturalization.

The funding for these refugee support programs comes from various state awards. They may also come from state-alternative programs that comply with the 45 CFR Part 400, Subpart I regulations. These funding awards depend on the number of refugees participating in the program in the past years.

However, different states may also offer support services to refugees who have been in the country for five years, except for referral, interpreter services, citizenship and naturalization which come with time limits.

Helping Refugees

Over 100 million people are forced to flee their countries and there are ways to help support these people and their families. So, here’s what you can do.

1. Welcome Refugees

Remember that a refugee’s story doesn’t end after resettling in a new country. Even after their long journeys, they still need support to settle down in another land. So, the least you can do is welcome refugees coming into your country. There are many volunteering and sponsorship opportunities that you can leverage to support these people and their families.

2. Donations

You could also help refugees by donating money. Similarly, you can help provide shelter to refugees and vouch for their safety and protection. Remember that no matter how small the amount, it still goes a long way.

3. Advocacy

Global communities want to help refugees settle down in their new homes. So, you can always join forces with them to protect and nurture refugee rights and, above all, make them feel at home.

4. Connect with Refugees

Connecting with refugees fosters a sense of belonging in them. So, stay updated on emergencies worldwide, and do your bit to welcome refugees into your country.

Refugee Camps

Refugee camps provide immediate shelter and protection to refugees. While these camps may not be permanent solutions for housing refugees, they are still safe havens where refugees can stay until they can find their new homes. Refugee camps provide all the basic needs for refugees, including food, shelter, water, medical facilities, and other services to ensure their health and safety.

How long refugees may live in these camps depends on the situation. If a country is at war, or conflicts, they may live in these camps for years, or at times, even decades, until the situation is under control.

You usually find these camps in the rural parts of a country. However, they come equipped with the means to protect the refugees from various circumstances, such as forest fires, diseases, and environmental disasters. These camps provide other facilities for education, livelihood opportunities, toilets, and separate shelters for women to protect them against sexual exploitation.

It is also vital to note that not all refugees stay in these camps, but a vast majority (around 78%) seek shelter.

Refugee Resettlement Programs

Refugee resettlement programs come as durable solutions for those refugees who cannot return home, and require permanent resettlement in other countries. As a part of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), various refugee support programs offer ways for refugees to settle in the United States.

Furthermore, the programs also commit to safeguarding women, girls, children, older people, members of various ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, those who don’t belong to any of the states, human rights activists, and other refugees who may need to settle down permanently.

Programs such as the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) help refugees find a new home in the United States and have helped more than 3.1 million refugees since the Refugee Act of 1980.

Raising Awareness

International communities are trying to support refugees in many ways. Not only are these organizations providing direct, flexible, and inclusive funding to refugees and refugee-led organizations, but they are also advocating for and facilitating their legal registration. Besides this, these organizations invest in supporting refugee women and youth by fostering women-led and youth-led organizations within different communities. All this ensures that refugees are safe and happy, have jobs, and more importantly to participate in global and regional processes. So, with this, these organizations are calling for refugees to actively participate in acquiring leadership skills and thrive in international communities.