Picture: Globe License: Public Domain
Last year, the “refugee crisis” experienced a political
reckoning, as governments around the world sought to tighten boarders and curtail
refugee-friendly policies where they had previously existed. At the same time, the number of displaced
people continued to climb in 2017, after it reached its highest number ever at
65 million people at the end of 2016.
The below events chronicle 2017’s most significant developments in the
refugee crisis and the policy responses to it.
Travel Ban – Shortly
after taking office, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled
“Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,”
which greatly reduced the number of refugees the U.S. would admit -- including
blocking admission of all Syrian refugees -- and suspended entry of nationals
from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. The order was met with immediate protests, international
criticism, and legal challenges by those who saw the order as a “Muslim
ban.” A nationwide temporary restraining
order was issued in the case Washington
v. Trump, and upheld
by the Ninth Circuit. The first
order was replaced by a second and then a third
order which revised the original list of countries, clarified the effect on
green-card holders, and made the 90-day ban permanent. The Ninth Circuit
upheld a lower court decision finding the order unlawful in Hawaii v. Trump; the Supreme
Court granted cert in January, and allowed the administration to implement
the travel ban while legal challenges were pending.
Refugees Cross U.S.
Border into Canada – the number of asylum seekers illegally crossing from
the U.S. into Canada spiked to more than 15,000 people last year. The refugees, many of whom fear
Trump’s immigration policies, were met by both opposition by anti-migrant
groups and a supportive response by Canada, which granted asylum at increasing
rates.
South Sudan – Displacement
from South Sudan’s war became the largest refugee crisis in Africa. More than 2 million people had fled to
neighboring countries by the end of the year, with another 2 million displaced
inside the country.
Rohingya Refugee
Crisis – After a group of militant Rohingya Muslims attacked police bases
in northern Myanmar on August 25, the army responded with a brutal show of
force, burning villages, killing civilians, and raping women. Within weeks, over 420,000 Rohingya refugees
had fled, leading to a mass
exodus “unprecedented in terms of volume and speed,” according to the
International Organization for Migration.
Over 700,000
Rohingya have now fled to squalid refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. The U.N.’s human rights commission described
the retaliation as ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide.
German and Austrian Elections
– Radical right-wing populist parties performed well in both the Austrian
and German elections. The newly elected
Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, earned
his reputation as foreign minister for tightening Austria’s borders during
the refugee crisis, when Austria was taking in more asylum-seekers than any EU
country except Sweden. Germany’s
chancellor, Angela Merkel has tightened
her asylum policy under pressure from the far right and in response to
backlash against her initial welcoming stance.
Germany
resumed deporting Afghans whose asylum claims were rejected after stopping
deportations in May when a bombing near the German embassy in Kabul killed
around 150 people.
Manus Island Removal –
Hundreds of asylum seekers held for years in an Australian-run detention center
on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island were forcibly removed in November, three
weeks after Australia
officially closed the camp. Afraid
to leave the camp, the refugees had remained, despite Australia cutting off
electricity, food, and water. Security
forces eventually stormed the camp destroying the refugees’ shelters and
belongings.
Climate Change Spurs Migration -- Research
published last year suggests that changing weather is spurring people to
seek asylum in Europe, and predicts that trend to continue as temperatures are
projected to rise. The research has
sparked discussions on the appropriateness of the current definition of
“refugee,” which includes people fleeing persecution but not those forced to
leave by climate change.
East Congo – Eleven
Congolese refugees were killed by Rwandan police responding to a protest
over reduced food rations in a Kiziba camp.
Over 17,000 Congolese refugees inhabit the Western Rwanda refugee camp. Violence in Eastern Congo has worsened
recently due to clashes between government soldiers, local militias, and
foreign rebels.
Looking ahead, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear
arguments on the travel ban this year, and the new Austrian and German
governments are likely to further articulate their more restrictive immigration
policies. At the same time, the
international community will grapple with how to respond to the world’s
ever-increasing number of displaced persons fleeing conflict, ethnic cleansing,
and changing climate.
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