The number of people displaced by the ongoing humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Gaza, and other regions around the world continues to increase, They discussed the impact on children and women, challenges, and how support should be provided. The video and article are available here.
(The article is based on the dialogue, with additions and rearrangements.)
More than 100 million refugees and internally displaced persons in the world today, and the number continues to grow.
Oi: There are approximately 36 million refugees worldwide who have been forced to flee their homelands due to conflicts and political instability. If internally displaced persons are included, the number rises to more than 100 million. *1 In other words, as many people as the population of Japan are displaced, and it is said that about 70% of the refugees have been displaced for more than five years. What is your view of the prolonged situation of refugees?
Sahel It is very painful. Each one of these numbers should have a name and human rights, but I am very afraid that the numbers are getting too big and people are starting to treat the numbers as if they are separate from the living people. Many of the refugees say with a sad look in their eyes, “We have been forgotten by the world.
*1 Global Trends | UNHCR
Sahel Rosa, Actor
He became a war orphan at the age of 4 during the war between his native Iran and Iraq, and came to Japan at the age of 8 with his adoptive mother. From his original experience of suffering in a country with a different language and customs, he now works as an actor while visiting refugee camps around the world and children’s homes in Japan to provide support and exchange with them. In recognition of his public and private support activities, he received the Human Rights Activist Award in the U.S. in 2020.
The harsh reality of children in Uganda
Oi: Mr. Sahel, you have visited refugee camps around the world to provide assistance, and in February of this year, you visited a refugee settlement in Uganda. What did you feel?
Sahel This time I was allowed to visit a refugee settlement in Uganda called “Changwari” where I met about 2,500 students in primary and secondary schools. They are all beautiful and loving children of the earth. However, there is no electricity or running water in the refugee settlement, and the children had to go out for an hour to fetch water, and even beyond that, there was a long line of people waiting. Sometimes they wait five or six hours. I wonder how they, with their skinny little bodies, carry those heavy bottles…when they really should be in school, learning.
In cooperation with an NGO, Sahel delivered notebooks and pencils to local elementary and junior high schools.
Classrooms in the lower elementary school are packed. The number of students decreases as they get older. (Photo by Sahel Rose, AAR Japan Association for Aid and Relief Japan)
Sahel To my surprise, most first grade classes had over 100 students, both boys and girls, in most schools, and the classrooms were crowded with an unbelievable number of children. But by around the fourth grade, more than half of them quit school at once. Only a few dozen or so would graduate. When we asked why, the reality was that they had to quit even though they really wanted to learn, for example, because they could not afford to pay for exams or to help their parents. This problem is actually a chain of events: because of poverty, the parents themselves do not see the value in learning. And children, seeing their parents’ difficult situation, give up on learning in order not to cause trouble.
Oi: Lack of access to education increases the risk of child labor, child marriage, and mobilization by armed forces in conflict areas. Education is of the utmost importance for an independent life in the future.
Uganda hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa, and both refugee and resident children can attend the same school. JICA has been supporting Uganda for many years, and we try to improve the lives of the residents of the host country as well as supporting the lives of the refugees. This is because supporting only the refugees can create disparities and frustration among the residents, which can lead to new conflicts.
Ayako Ooi, Director, Peacebuilding Office, JICA
After working for a commercial TV station, he worked at UNDP Timor-Leste office to support the return of internally displaced persons, and at the Japanese Embassy in Afghanistan to support local reconstruction.
Refugee Women’s Power to Survive
Oi: In the process of evacuation, women are at risk of sexual violence, or discrimination in receiving assistance, among other things. How do you see women among refugees, Sahel?
Sahel Some women cut their hair and come here to run away and make themselves look like men, or they think they are boys at school, but they are girls…. This is because being a girl has caused them a lot of pain and assaults. It was very heartbreaking to hear that they were doing it to protect themselves. It is too cruel to say that if you are born a girl, you are unhappy, when the world should be a place where every child is blessed.
However, as was the case in Uganda this time and in Bangladesh, where I was allowed to visit in March, women have the power to live and are very strong. When I asked mothers in refugee settlements in Uganda, “What do you need most right now?” they say, “I want an environment where I can work, and I want to work. What I sensed from their words was that they do not want to beg, but they value living independently.
Oi: I have never met a woman crying out, “Please give me money. In Palestinian refugee camps supported by JICA, women have been asking for job training and childcare services so that they can work, and we are now trying to make this happen.
Refugees share their joy with rice seeds they cultivated and harvested themselves (Refugee camp in Ajumani District, Uganda, where JICA provided agricultural training).
What is the support for independence that does not make refugees vulnerable?
Sahel, I think the important thing to remember is that there is no eternal support. I stick that “no one has eternity” on the presentation plate of my mind. This is because what we do for good causes them to become accustomed to and dependent on us before long. As a result, it makes them weak.
Refugees” is written as “difficult people,” but they are not difficult people at all. They are people who have worked hard in their own countries: some are properly educated, some are university professors, others are managers, artists, tailors who work with their hands. Not as “refugees,” but as people. So even though they are involved in wars and conflicts, they are all looking for what they can do to help. It is because they still have dignity as a human being. I believe that we should respect them and support them by making use of their potential, which will lead to their self-reliance.
Oi: You are absolutely right, and JICA also believes that it is important for refugees to be able to live sustainably, independently, and with dignity as human beings by utilizing their own abilities. In Uganda, which I mentioned earlier, we are providing agricultural training for both refugees and residents, and IT training for displaced people from Ukraine, with the aim of enabling them to get jobs and earn a living on their own.
On the other hand, there are many people who wish to return to where they used to live as well as to be self-reliant in their evacuation centers. We believe it is necessary to provide support to their countries of origin so that they can return to their hometowns and live in peace.
JICA’s long-standing joint agricultural training for refugees and residents in Uganda IT skills training conducted by JICA for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. In addition to Polish companies, Japanese companies and NGOs have expressed their willingness to provide employment cooperation.
Never give up on what each of us can do.
Sahel I believe that indifference has encouraged various wars, conflicts and discrimination. Therefore, I think the first thing we can do is to know. We tend to keep what is happening in the world in a comfortable platform, a cell phone filled with our small interests. But what is happening in the world is not something we can choose based on our own interests or likes/dislikes.
Oi: At first glance, you may think that the refugee problem is an event in a distant and unfamiliar country, but I would like you to imagine for a moment that you would be in that position. As the number of refugees continues to increase and the situation becomes more protracted, it is not something that can be solved by any one person or any one organization, so I believe that humanitarian aid, development cooperation, NGOs, companies, and individuals must all work together to address this issue.
Sahel I really agree. I also feel helpless every time. But I tell myself that I am not helpless. You, Oi and I, as well as “you” who are reading this, can support someone’s back and make their life worth living, just by being alive. Supporting someone while suffering and sacrificing yourself will not last long, and will end up controlling the other person. I suggest one way to be involved that is not like that. For example, we should try to make the things we buy and the food we eat a step toward understanding the current situation in the world. As consumers, we can start to get involved in a way that we can protect an equal relationship where the people of the country are given back instead of buying things that have been exploited.
I believe that the most important thing is for people to connect with each other from the heart. We are all the same people of the earth. Even though it is difficult to eliminate war, I, as a human being, would like to appeal for peace in order to pass on a hopeful tomorrow to the next generation.
© Source JICA
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