“Today, no continent, and barely any country, in the world is untouched by the global refugee crisis. At the beginning of 2000 an estimated 14 million people were living as refugees, uprooted from their homes and forced to cross international borders.”8
The global refugee crisis has been made worse because of military and political conflicts, bad governance and corruption by governments in the developing countries. According to the UN, refugees are created every day and there is a need to address this at international level; these and many other reasons pertaining to the refugee situation, particularly after the Second
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World War, promoted the establishment of the first United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). This was the creation of an international and global refugee body that would oversee all aspects relating to the status of refugees on a global scale, and seek mainly to support, care and also protect and provide solutions for millions of displaced people and refugees. In its mandate, the UNHCR cares for 21.8 million refugees, around half of whom are women and girls. This highlights the realities of the experiences of war, conflict and disasters for refugees and their families and the devastating effects on the lives of women, children and their communities9.
Refugees are created every day as a direct result of external or internal conflicts or disputes between communities, tribes and factions in the same country. Some of these conflicts can also be between rebels and government forces such as in the case of Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Uganda. They can also be between neighbouring countries, in the case of Eritrea and Ethiopia, Israel and Palestine in the Middle East. Most refugees come from developing countries, for several reasons including bad governance, religious persecution, civil conflicts, gender-based violence, etc. Most persons are forced to leave because of circumstances beyond their control and their wishes. They are forced to seek safety – this has been highlighted by Zephaniah (2001) in his well-known book ‘Refugee Boy’.10
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According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, (UNHCR) there are approximately 50 million uprooted people around the world – refugees who have sought safety in another country and people displaced within their own country. Between 75-80 percent of them are women and children. Refugees-volume, number 126(2002) p6
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Some people believe that I gave up my homeland and lost my parents in order to become a refugee; some people actually believe that I gave up thirteen months of sunshine to live in the cold and to be called a scrounger. I didn’t. Circumstances beyond my control brought me here. (Zephaniah, 2001:.292).
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However, some members of the general public who do not understand some of these reasons tend to blame refugees for some of the social problems that they are experiencing within their own communities.11 There are bad press reports about refugees being scroungers and living on benefits from British taxpayers, jumping ahead of British citizens on housing waiting lists, refusing to work and not connecting with other members of the host community. These have, over the years, not only fuelled the anger vented on refugees but it has also increased the prejudice against them and their families.
Yet, despite their plight and their difficulties, refugees do not seize to be human beings and they continue to retain many of their positive characteristics and, also, they may develop even new positive characteristics. As a direct result of their traumatic experiences and the new roles that they had to assume,12 Thorpe (2006) showed how women became empowered and made vital contributions to local, regional and national development. This was a significant
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I do not see why any country should be forced to allow the dilution of its way of life and the
character of its people by allowing others to enter at will. How can we preserve our individuality if too many different races try to exist and live 'cheek by cheek'? No, let those who wish to improve their way of life do this through the democratic process at home. We are already an overcrowded island. Other countries like Australia have plenty of space. J Siddon, Chesterfield UK: Talking point: Should the west open the gateswww.bbc.co.uk Accessed January 2011
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Indeedthe nation was at the tether but that national agony became the labour pains that gave birth to the realization of the strength in solidarityfor womanhood in Sierra Leone. (Thorpe, C.
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way forward for these women because they had not been given the chance or opportunities to contribute to local, regional and national development, before they were exposed to the adversities that they were exposed to.
Sierra Leone is a patriarchal society where women and girls are subjected to structural discrimination by practice, custom and law. The subjugation of women was worsened by the 1991-2002 war and its aftermath.13 Traditional and cultural values make Sierra Leonean women, like most other women from developing countries, the invisible partners in
development, and most of the time their efforts are not acknowledged or recognised. The civil war changed attitudes, perspectives and women’s roles and, according to Thorpe (2006), they became accountable on behalf of their households.14 Her findings are mainly centered around research that she conducted in the field and her work with Sierra Leonean refugee women during the conflict, while they were living in refugee camps and also as they try to resettle into their communities after the war.