Activity 3: People Without a Place to Call Home
Introduction
A significant number of migrants in the early 21st century are refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Refugees are people forced to leave their home country because of fear of persecution or physical harm. Internally displaced persons are, like refugees, persons who have had to leave their homes but who remain within the boundaries of their country.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), referred to as the UN Refugee Agency, seeks to address the needs of many of these people and works for their eventual repatriation or resettlement in a third country.
Materials Needed
- "International Migration: Facing the Challenge," Population Bulletin 57.1 , pp. 3-9 (PDF: 380KB)
- Computers with Internet access
- Handout 1. Blank World Map (PDF: 698KB)
- Colored pencils
Instructions
Who Are the Major Refugees Groups? Where Do They Go?
- Use the following link from the UNHCR website to identify major groups of refugees and IDPs: UNHCR Basic Facts: http://www.unhcr.org/basics.html—then select "Refugees by Numbers" in the right sidebar.
- Locate, shade, and label on Handout 1 the countries that are major sources of refugees.
- Next, locate, shade (using a different color), and label the major asylum countries for these refugees. [Note: If a source country is also a country of asylum, indicate this by adding diagonal lines to represent asylum status.]
Why Do These Refugees Groups Feel Compelled to Leave Their Homelands? What Impact Do They Have on the Host Country?
- Working in pairs or small groups, develop a brief profile of each of the major refugee groups. Use the questions that follow to guide your investigation.
- UNHCR: http://www.unhcr.org/basics.html
- World Refugee Survey: www.refugees.org/article.aspx?id=1156
- Search function on a major news site, e.g., New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, BBC
- What circumstances resulted in the refugee status of this group?
- When did the major refugee shifts take place? Are they ongoing?
- How many people are involved?
- What were the primary destinations of these refugees?
- Are there also internally displaced people in this country? How many?
- What problems do refugee populations present for the country of origin? For the country(ies) of asylum?
- What are the demographic characteristics of the refugee populations?
- What problems of data collection exacerbate the refugee problem?
- To what extent has repatriation or resettlement occurred?
What External Factors Contribute Further to the Dilemma of Refugees?
- Sometimes refugees are caught up in political circumstances that are beyond their control. Examine the map of "Refugee Hotspots" at the following site: www.refugees.org/data/wrs/04/pdf/top_10_refugee_hot_spots.pdf
- Identify the "hotspots" shown on the map.
- Read the notes below the map.
- Participate in a class discussion of these major developments that have affected refugees and other displaced persons.