LAW - LEGAL ISSUES

Asylum seekers/ refugees

Asylum seekers/ Refugees

Introduction

The movement of people has existed for thousands of years, some of which who move through choice, and others, who are forced to move by the impact of natural disasters, poverty, civil war and Oppressive regimes.

The United Nations High commissioners for refugees (UNHCR) reported that in 2009, 43.3 million people world-wide were forcibly displaced. Classified by international law, were 15.2 million refugees, followed by 983,000 asylum seekers of which at least 922,500 individual applications for asylum or refugee status were submitted in 159 countries or territories. This constitutes a 5% increase since 2008.

Refugees originate from various parts in the world. The pattern and sizes can differ depending on the scale of the impact and the length of time it exist. By the end of 2009, following on-going conflict in Iraq, one out of four refugees in the world originated from Afghanistan and were dispersed across 71 asylum countries worldwide, of which 96% of which were hosted by Pakistan and Iran alone, indisputably an unfair share.

One world (2010) reports that such unequal distribution is not in isolation as current trends tend to show developing countries; those less able to sustain further burden, are in fact having the greatest burden placed upon them.

The UNHCR (2010) reported that by the end of 2009 developing countries were host to 8.3 million refugees, or 80%, of the refugee population. Pakistan hosted the greatest number in relation to its economic capacity, (1.7 million), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (592) and Zimbabwe (45), and further followed by Islamic Republic of Iran (1.1), and Syrian Arab republic (1.05 million). UNHCR estimates that more than half of the world's refugees reside in urban areas and less than one third in camps. However, 60% of refugees in sub-Saharan Africa reside in camps. This places further pressures on weak infrastructure of those developing countries and it pre-existing citizens, which times can create civil war.

Richer countries inclusive of the UK have been heavily criticized for failing to share the burden of the refugee population, whilst on the other hand financially benefiting from those poorer countries, through the global markets (One World 2010). Sklair (2002) Blames multinational companies and richer countries for failing to pay fair prices; pushing down the prices of goods and service of those poorer countries. Furthermore argues that corruption in leaderships; failure to share the country's wealth is an additional reason to a why some countries and people remain to live in absolute poverty.

Different theories related to migration

Modernization Theory

Much of the early work on migration within anthropology, up to about the mid-1970s, was influenced by the modernization theory. Originally developed around the turn of the 20th century, it was focused on development, as people flowed into the cities. An anthropological approach, developed by Robert Redfield in 1941, included a model that opposed city and country and contrasted two distinct ways of life: traditional and modern. Within this theory is a focus on migrants making rational and progressive economic decisions with ...