5주차｜사회·노동·인권 (+ 난민·이주)_김현서

[김현서]

People on the move; Their rights – our future

Glossary 

1. World Bank : 세계은행

2. The UN Refugee Agency : 유엔난민기구

Migration is as old as human history. There is no society that has not evolved as a function of migratory movements. My own country, Ireland, was not even populated for much of the earth’s history and is today made up of people of extraordinarily diverse origins. As any of us who happened to undergo DNA testing know, we are all, in one way or another, the descendants of migrants.

The causes of migration tend not to change greatly over time – they include war, economic stagnation and entrenched inequalities, hunger, the persecution of minorities, and environmental degradation. Today, we are witnessing how such migratory push factors are exacerbated by advances in communication and transportation – both allowing people to move comparatively faster and easier across countries and continents, while staying in touch with families and friends back home.

Consider poverty: as the gap between the world’s rich and poor widens exponentially, internet and satellite media bring a constant flow of images of wealth and prosperity into the homes of those less well-off. At the same time, according to the World Bank, in just the past year, there has been a sharp rise in the number of people who have fallen into extreme poverty and food insecurity due to soaring food and fuel prices.

In recent years, we also observe that, due to climate change, natural disasters occur more frequently and are of greater magnitude with dramatic humanitarian consequences. For example, the floods in Pakistan last year swamped one-third of the country. By mid-January 2023, as many as 4 million children were still struggling without proper shelter and winter clothing, living near contaminated flood waters, risking their survival and wellbeing.

Here in Europe, the impact of war and conflict on migration is an ever-present reality. I acknowledge with respect that I am in a country that experienced such horrors in recent living memory. This is not a thing of the past; every day for the last year, we have heard evidence of the horrors inflicted on the people of Ukraine.  

In light of the global realities, global displacement figures are truly startling. The UN Refugee Agency announced in May 2022 that, globally, one in every 78 people has been forced to flee their country due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations, and events seriously disturbing public order.

Here in Europe, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has resulted in massive population displacement, both internally and externally. The European Union has received the largest number of people fleeing war since World War II: nearly eight million people fled across Europe, out of whom nearly four million, mostly women with children, received temporary protection in the EU.