MIGRATION AND REFUGEE FLOWS

Migration and refugee flows: 

..have existed already for many centuries. Again and again, poverty, oppression and stigmatization have forced people to emigrate, to flee, to look for another place, another country, where they could imagine a future in dignity, in physical and personal security. It was no different in our recent past, as in particular at the end of the 19th century and later in the early 20th century, hunger and mass unemployment in Europe were rampant (large emigration flows inter alia to the USA and Latin America), and especially during and after the Second World War, as initially millions of people fled, this time from oppression and from devastated countries, and later because of poverty moved to where work and income was to be expected.

And so today, be it in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, in the poorest countries of Africa, but even from poorer east and south European states – millions upon millions flee either from poverty and lack of economic opportunities (so-called economic migrants) or from war and destruction (and thus in turn again from poverty). According to UNHCR, the year 2015 recorded an all-time high of 65 million refugees and displaced persons worldwide. Poverty and the decay of civilian life (the social and economic infrastructure – especially income generation, electricity, water supply, food, following one’s own religion, schools, health, transportation, personal security) – whether as a result of mismanagement and lack of resources of the respective countries or due to military and acts of war – thereby usually go hand in hand. Real existential fear due to wars and social impoverishment, but also religious conflicts, environmental destruction and climate change[1] thus lead to massive migration from south to north and east to west. To make matters worse, the people and the economies of the countries of destination are not prepared for coping with such enormous challenges, thus further exacerbating the potential for conflict.

To end this problem is an epochal task – it is possible to address, but only with a radical direction change of humanity based on a reorientation of values ​​and the resulting new conception of social and economic systems.

[1] By 2025, up to 2.4 billion people worldwide may be living in areas subject to periods of intense water scarcity, which may displace as many as 700 million people by 2030. (http://www.unccd.int/Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/Publications/Desertification_The%20invisible_frontline.pdf)