Work With Immigrants and Refugees - Essay Example

[Critically examine the proposition that refugees are being forced into illegal migration by the increasingly restrictive policies of receiving states] The article 13-2 of the Universal declaration of the Human Rights talks about the rights that every human has. It says that every human has the right to travel anywhere, to any country without any restrictions and they should not be questioned or troubled when they are making their move. They even have the right to come back to their own home country when they want to. If we look at the exact sentence of the charter it clearly talks about something similar to borderless movement of the humans. Today though there are many restrictions with relation to the movement of humans from one country to another country even then those who are skilled or possess better degrees or qualifications have an easier chance to be able to travel to another country. People who belong to lower class and have more need to travel in search of better opportunities to different countries are denied the freedom as they are deemed imperfect by the different governments (GIFFORD, 2002). The main reason that there are so many difficulties that the immigrants face with respect to the migration they do from one country to another country. In short the receiving countries are very critical about the people who come in. If there is war in some country the first thing the neighbors of that country do is that they lock their borders to cut down the influx of the refugees into their own countries. The biggest issue that arises out of this is that illegal trafficking occurs. People of the warring state are already so tensed and worried about their own future and the future of their children that they will do anything or pay any amount to escape. It has been seen in the past that the very state that is creating so many issues at the international from about the sudden and increased influx of refugees, is the state whose own people become involved in heinous crimes like human trafficking and smuggling. It is a very common and accepted fact that the rich of any country can easily survive even if their own countrymen have nothing to feed on and nothing to wear. Their money makes them welcome anywhere in the world and therefore they take the maximum advantage of it. They pay their way through the borders and the government officials and end up becoming legal citizens or legal immigrants. It is the poor that suffer the most through the restrictive attitude of the governments. They do not have enough money and they want to survive the poor state that they are living in. The illegal agents who promise them green grazing pastures on the others side of the border most of the time make good of the money that they receive and then leave them at the mercy of the officials at the other side (MCCLELLAN, 1981). The people then face a lot of issues with relation to the health facilities, the educational facilities, the place for living and as well as food. It has been seen that they end up being in much worse state that they were in their own countries and at that time most of them try to move back to place that they came from but generally it is too late for them as they cannot cross the border back to their own countries without being caught by the authorities and same is the case for their own countries. Their own country treats them quite badly and they are not majority of the time given their own due rights as their country labels them as traitors, runaways or even sometime as secret agents and spies. They are in a very bad state and this makes them more prone to negative work (WHARTON, 1995). Such people when they have nowhere to go and no one to turn to they get involved into the dark side of the society. They get recruited by the black sheep of the society and then they spiral down more to the bottom of the pit of darkness. Such people get involved into drugs and prostitution, begging, street crimes and they even later become drug dealers and peddlers. It has been observed that such people know that they have nothing to lose and hence they are fearless and not scared of the risks they are taking. This is what most of the governments fear and hence they put serious restrictive measures related to border policies and do not help the refugees or allow them to move in to their own countries (CHANG-MUY, CONGRESS, 2009). The worst fear that the countries have in relation to the influx of the refugees into their country is related to prostitution. The people who move in are desperate and they are willing to do anything and everything to make ends meet. Therefore, they get involved into such business which in turn harms the society and creates other social problems. This kind of work pays a lot and thus they end up becoming richer and this enables them to penetrate into society more easily. Once they get themselves established in the society they start to recruit people from within the community they are living in and so the evil chain of events start. The worst part related to this issue is that the higher officials are equally involved and therefore they do not bother much about getting rid of it and hence the problem multiplies. There are some people within the society and the officials who are more interested in known what happens to their society and worrying about it rather than actually being a part of it. They try to control it and this also makes those who are the evil ones to at least devise strategies that are appear internationally as stringent ones. It is this clash in the apparent and the actual policies that makes it the biggest issue and such problems remain un-solved (OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES. 1984). Similarly the case of drugs usage is same. These people, when they have no one listening to them have to make ends meet and it is for this that they feel that they should try to do something even if it is illegal to feed their families and support them or at least in case if they are alone to be able to sustain themselves. The refugees fall prey to the drug wolves who are already roaming the streets to discover people who are in such dilemmas or conditions. It is utterly wrong for the official to leave the refugees like that as it is in their knowledge as well, about what actually happens to those who are left abandoned on the streets or the slums. The drugs ring leaders get hold of them and with the promise to improve their lives become the owners of their souls and bodies and hence these refugees even if they want to come out of the whole mess cannot since their lives are indented to the ring leaders. Ring leaders use them to transport their drugs or act as peddlers on the street. These people have little to lose and whatever they have is at stake when once they start working for these people. It has been seen and is a norm that the peddlers when caught are treated very roughly or given life long sentences, but what the authorities fail to consider is that they are not working alone, there is a whole bunch of people who are controlling them and manipulating them into doing this. Those people run amok and end up recruiting more people and continuing their businesses. It is a fact that the business of such people will never stop by catching the street peddlers or people who just act as in between. It is the mistake of the authority that they do not take proper care of the refugees that come in and they fall prey to wrong hands and end up being used. It is a fact that these people at firs try to find legal ways to earn their living even if it is a meager amount, but they want to start their lives in the new place with all honesty, but it the red tape bureaucratic structure that fails to help them and as well as the non interested behavior of the officials from both the sides make them suffer. This is the reason that they even get involved into street crimes and mug people and snatch things just to be able to survive. These people if they are given right opportunities then they can turn out to be loyal and respectable, decent citizens of the new state they are moving in. When they end up on eh wrong side of the society they commit illegal crimes and thus they get labeled that the refugees are people who can never be good and they bring only problems and issues within societies rather than any kind of good. They are a burden on the society that is what the general concept of the people is when they hear the word refugee. It is in fact the government of the country they are moving into who is actually responsible for creating this image. It is true that there are people who are actually not good and look for ways to harm people and already have illegal things in their minds when they move to newer states, in fact there are people who actually think that they expand their illegal businesses once they move to the country and actually look forward to chances so that they can fulfill their own desires and for this they sometime recruit innocent people from across the borders to help them run their illegal business or people from their own country who are actually desperate to escape the dire situation they find themselves in. These people want the good in life and when things do not come the straight way they go on to look for other ways. The refugees are in a very vulnerable position they have already seen so much harm and loss that they are psychologically very weak and this makes them prone to all sorts of behavior. Their situation is very similar to the soldiers who return from the war. When the soldiers started returning from the war areas to their homeland, they were very insecure, although they had a sense of victory after achieving the win on the world war, but they felt that they had now nothing left to do. It was also seen that the soldiers who came back had quite a lot nightmares, some of them even developed disorders that ranged from sleeplessness, insomnia and delusions. It is reported that many soldiers felt that the people they had murdered had come back to haunt them and they were guilty. Guilt was the most common problem that the returning soldiers felt; they felt that they were responsible for the deaths of thousands of people even though earlier they had reasons to justify their own actions. The returning soldiers had mental issues as well. Most of them had lost their families and for many their families had left them for better lives. It was very painful for them and this made them more reserved and many became hermits with a complete boycott of social lives. The soldiers started living in deserted areas and never returned to the social lives. Many of the soldiers had also become handicapped; this was an added trauma to the already disturbed people. They felt that they had become societal rejects and thy will never be accepted back into the societies. Also, a major reason for such behaviors was that there was a serious lack of recognition from the government itself. The soldiers were seriously pensioned up for the war effort and after giving their young years to war they were not recognized in the proper way as they should have been. This also increased the feeling of being abandoned among the returning soldiers (ROBINSON, 1953). Same is the case with the refugees they are very raw in their feelings and small things snaps in them and they go tumbling down. It is the duty of the receiving government that they make adequate measures for the people coming in. It is advisable that they should set up camps or shelters for such refugees. They should be kept their and the government should properly document them so that they are aware o who has come in and who has not. It will also tell the government as to who is how much capable. If possible they should be given jobs accordingly. In this regard the UNHCR should also participate fully and the other countries should provide the host country with aids and similar things so as to prevent the refugees from becoming an economic burden. There is this big example of Pakistan, who took foreign aids and misused the funds that were given to them during the Afghan war. The misplaced funding has caused them in the long run as they were never able to curtail the refugee influx from Afghanistan, now this is causing increased terrorism within the state and also increased crime rates. There is another fear that people have and which is related to the fact that these people come in with their own cultures and this mingles with the cultures of that place and makes it impure. People want to preserve their own cultures and hence it becomes an issue. These people have hatred harbored in them and they are usually in serious need of therapies or psychologists as they are a bit disturbed. It also advisable that they should be given adequate chance to adapt to the country and allow to operate their own businesses in the country they have moved into as this will help increase diversity within the community and as well as help them survive in a more better way. Their co existence can turn out to be beautiful and peaceful and as well as productive for the host country if things are taken care of properly. The main reason that the countries have strict laws related to refugees is that the refugees are a burden on their economy and besides being burden they also create a lot of social and societal issues which later evolve into bigger and major issues which slowly become out of control. The desperate conditions of the refugees make them a vulnerable targets for the ill fits of the society and as well as the enemies of the countries. If the society and the government take proper measures to accept them and help them integrate into the society then the issues that come up can be solved easily and the problems can be reduced. The major role can also be played by the schools that can help the children learn to do exist peacefully and at the same time help they overcome their biases. REFERENCES 1. OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES. (1984). Refugees. Geneva, Switzerland, Public Information Section of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2. WHARTON, E. (1995). The refugees. Charlottesville, Va, University of Virginia Library. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2011278. 3. (1995). Refugees issues. 95. Luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Community. 4. CHANG-MUY, F., & CONGRESS, E. P. (2009). Social work with immigrants and refugees: legal issues, clinical skills, and advocacy. New York, Springer. 5. GIFFORD, C. (2002). Refugees. London, Belitha. 6. CQ PRESS. (2002). World at risk: a global issues sourcebook. Washington, D.C., CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc. 7. AHEARN, F. L. (2000). Psychosocial wellness of refugees: issues in qualitative and quantitative research. New York, Berghahn Books. 8. HEATER, D. B. (1989). Refugees. Vero Beach, Fla, Rourke Enterprises. 9. MCCLELLAN, G. S. (1981). Immigrants, refugees, and U.S. policy. New York, H.W. Wilson. 10. CENTRE FOR DOCUMENTATION ON REFUGEES (UNITED NATIONS), UNHCR CENTRE FOR DOCUMENTATION AND RESEARCH, OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES, & OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. (1994). Refugee survey quarterly. Oxford, England, Oxford University Press. http://www3.oup.co.uk/refqtl/. 11. INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN ISSUES. (1986). Refugees: the dynamics of displacement : a report for the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues. London, Zed Books. 12. ROBINSON, N. (1953). Convention relating to the status of refugees; its history, contents and interpretation; a commentary. New York, Institute of Jewish Affairs, World Jewish Congress. Read More