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The Ballymun Partnership recently hosted a coffee morning organised by the Ballymun Intercultural Group to acknowledge World Refugee Day and show solidarity with refugees living in Ballymun.
World Refugee Day is a salute to the indomitable spirit and courage of the world's refugees, not just in enduring the dangers and violence of the crises that made them refuges, but also in the courage they show in rebuilding their lives and contributing to society in difficult or unfamiliar circumstances.
In attendance were members of the Ballymun Intercultural Group, local residents, people working in Ballymun and Ballymun Partnership Board members Cllr. Andrew Montague and Declan Dunne. There were contributions from Ann Scully, a former Chair of the Irish Refugee Council, Fazlu who shared his experience of being a refugee in Ireland and local guitarist Christophe from the Ballymun Mens Centre.
The previous evening, the contribution of regugees to Irish society was celebrated and recognized at an award event in the Dublin City Council offices in Wood Quay. B.I.G. Chairperson Ann Scully (pictured right) was presented with a World Refugee Day Award at the event by The Minster for Integration, Conor Lenihan TD. She was nominated for her community work and her proven record of bringing together asylum seekers, refugees and local residents. Ballymun Intercultural Group was highlighted as part of her work.
More information on Refugees is available from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees web site.
Speaking on World Refugee Day, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said numbers were rising again after several years of decline, "Now, unfortunately, with the multiplication of conflicts and the intensification of conflicts, the number is on the rise again". "People being forced to move, unfortunately, will be one of the characteristics of the 21st century," he said.
In its annual report released Tuesday, the UNHCR said 11.4 million people were forced to leave their countries in 2007, compared to 9.9 million in 2006. Another 26 million were displaced within their own countries by conflict or persecution, up from 24.2 million the year before .Nearly half the world's refugees are from war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq. UNHCR said there are 3.1 million displaced Afghans, most in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, and 2.3 million Iraqi refugees, mostly in Syria and Jordan. Another 2.4 million Iraqis are internally displaced, an increase of 600,000 since the start of 2007.
The number of internally displaced people grew last year in Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Yemen, as well as in the Central African Republic and Chad, where thousands of refugees have crossed the border from the Sudanese region of Darfur. Around half a million Sudanese have sought refuge abroad, the UN report said, including some 300,000 in Chad, and violence has also spilled across the border from Darfur. The UNHCR report also said that in Colombia, where the government has fought a decades-long war with left-wing guerrillas, as many as 3 million people have left their homes, while more than 550,000 have become refugees in other countries.
Most refugees end up taking shelter in neighboring countries. UNHCR said the top refugee-hosting countries included Pakistan, Syria, Iran, Germany and Jordan.
It is not just war that drives forced migration. Guterres said bad governance, environmental degradation and rising food prices were generating instability and "new patterns of forced displacement" in many regions.
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