Mental health is a well brought up topic in regard to family life, school, and the workplace. Removing yourself from stressful situations and giving yourself time to relax and rest is often articulated by institutions to maintain one’s mental health. But what do you do if you are not allowed to seek asylum in a safe environment? How is mental health maintained when the country you believed was safe sends you back to a dangerous environment?
Refugees in Malaysia Find a Home in the Arts
Recap: Reflections with Refugee Dr. Jihane Naous on Refugees' Health
This past fall semester we hosted a medical speaker event with Dr. Jihane Naous, a family medicine physician at UF Health who has extensive work experience and personal exposure to healthcare within refugee communities. This blog post will summarize Dr. Naous’s presentation that she gave. Dr. Naous referred to a paper published by the American Psychiatric Association titled “Mental Health Facts on Refugees, Asylum-seekers, & Survivors of Forced Displacement.” This paper provides valuable insight into mental health assessments of refugees. Notably, the paper includes that “about one out of three asylum seekers and refugees experience high rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Election Year Hot Topic: Immigration Policies and US-Mexican Border Security
Many are used to election years bringing highly controversial topics to the forefront of social media and news outlets. It is easy to step back from the political conversations, but what happens when this leaves few advocates for highly impacting causes?
Currently, the US-Mexico border has been experiencing escalating tensions, and Americans have taken notice. With the assumption of front-runners being Joe Biden and Donald Trump, a recent poll in the Wall Street Journal highlighted the importance voters placed on the 2024 presidential candidates’ immigration policies. This poll suggested that 13 percent of respondents chose immigration as the most important issue when voting in November of 2024, becoming the second-most relevant issue, only ranked 8 points behind the economy. A large percentage of these voters also claim to refuse to vote at all if the candidates do not provide immigration policies that align with their immigration views.
Increasing Access to Education for Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority who have lived in Myanmar for many generations. Despite that, they are not recognized as an official ethnic group and have been denied citizenship, making them the world’s largest stateless population. Following serious human rights violations and violent military crackdowns in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017, over 750,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh and joined the previous waves of Rohingya refugees who fled the country in the 1970s and 1990s. Today, nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in Bangladesh. A majority of them live in the Cox’s Bazar region, which is home to Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp (UNHCR, 2023).
About Europe’s Identitarian Movement: A Growing War on Refugees
What used to be framed as an extremist viewpoint at the fringe of French politics, the Great Replacement theory has propagated into a widely circulated concept, colloquially referenced by conservatives all over the global north. Proponents of the Identitarian Movement and the Great Replacement theory are fervent proponents for remigration, stricter immigration laws, and denial to asylum claimants—mounting support for “national preservation” in the face of an immigration “invasion.”
Given the amassing political influence of the Great Replacement narrative and European nativist groups, harmful rhetoric, online proliferation, political pressure, and acts of intimidation and violence are threatening efforts for refugee visibility, mobility, welfare, and protection.
Inadequate Resource Distribution in Refugee Camps
Food and water are very vital factors for maintaining safe and healthy refugee camps. The lack of resources for refugee camps has always been a big issue; children and women, especially, are impacted the greatest. Refugee camps often have no resources as they tend to depend almost entirely on humanitarian organizations and what they can provide. The malnutrition and dehydration that occurs in camps greatly contributes to an increased risk of disease, such as cholera and diarrhea (Thelwell, 2021). Refugee camps often do not have many sanitary measures in place; the increase in disease rates only makes the situation worse for all of the displaced individuals living in the refugee camps.
There is No “Getting in Line:” The Failures of the American Immigration System and their International Consequences
Working in immigrant resettlement and advocacy in Central Florida - a statement that usually elicits a sympathetic cringe or eyebrow raise from others when heard for the first time - is a very hands-on, typically unsung experience. Walking into a well-lit, professionally broadcasted event on immigration policy in Washington, DC, was almost disorienting – things look different from ten stories off the ground. Still, this conversation at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) targeted a universal truth, one which is increasingly impossible to ignore whether you are an asylum seeker in Gainesville or a policymaker on Capitol Hill: America’s immigration system is fundamentally broken.
How a Boat Carrying Refugees and a Submarine Carrying Millionaires Demonstrated Socioeconomic Inequality on a Global Scale
Perhaps one of the most quintessential and endlessly-fascinating philosophical debates arises from the so-called “Trolley Problem”. Created by British philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967, it involves a person making the seemingly impossible decision of who to kill given a set of two options and their presence on a trolley that is unable to stop before striking whichever person they choose to die (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2021). While in most cases, the decision is rather straightforward, such as choosing to let 750 people live instead of only 5, the level of difficulty of this task can vary with different factors added in.
Anti-Immigrant Legislation in Florida: How it Impacts Everyone
In the current refugee and immigration crisis fueled by war, hatred, greed, and nationalism, it is no secret that Florida has become a hub for those suffering displacement. Studies from 2021 presented that of the 21.3 million people living in Florida, an estimated 8%, or roughly 1.8 million people, are immigrants. This number encapsulates refugees, asylum-seekers, citizen immigrants, and undocumented individuals.
When Businesses Empower Refugees: A look at Chobani’s Leadership
After picking up my biweekly bottle of cold brew and vanilla coffee creamer, I love to grab a healthy assortment of my favorite snack—Chobani Flips. While Almond Coco Loco is my go-to flavor, this is not a tour of delectable yogurt varieties. Instead, this is a brief into Chobani’s company leadership and how its founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, flipped the script when he made refugee empowerment a central pillar in Chobani’s ethos and people-first character.
From hiring practices to global partnerships for refugee goals, Chobani pens a collective call to businesses worldwide and encourages organizations to take a stake in the economic integration and welfare of refugees everywhere.
Lack of Inclusive Education for Disabled Refugee Children
All refugees below the age of eighteen are entitled to an education by international law (Schorchit, 2017). However, providing education to refugee populations is a challenging task, especially when many refugee-populated geographic areas around the world lack access to volunteers, education materials, and funding. Although advocacy efforts around the world try to push for high quality education in refugee camps and communities, there are significant populations of refugee children who are not enrolled in any kind of educational program. About half of the world’s refugee children are out of schools as access to schooling becomes very difficult during national conflict.
Welcome Corps: Getting Ordinary Americans Involved in Resettlement Efforts in the U.S.
Launched and announced earlier this year on January 19th, 2023, the Welcome Corps is a new private sponsorship program that creates a way for everyday Americans to play a welcoming role in resettling refugees throughout the United States (U.S. Department of State, 2023). A collaboration of the Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services has worked to create this pilot private sponsorship program that shifts away from the way previous refugee resettlement in the U.S. has worked. Described as the “boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades” by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, this program works to empower Americans to take ownership in creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for refugees.
The Dangers of Extremism: How Intensifying Alt-Right Movements Specifically Threaten Refugees and Immigrants
From arduous bureaucratic processes to daunting language barriers, a refugee or asylum seeker resettling in a new country faces many initial obstacles. Yet in the midst of these tangible difficulties, there is a less visible, but just as prevalent, barrier: the increasing prevalence of xenophobia and extremist, anti-immigrant ideology in sociopolitical landscapes. Throughout much of Europe and the United States, there has been a rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric in reaction to refugee movements and in conjunction with the increasing prevalence of far-right extremism. This type of isolationist, ultra-nationalist ideology not only threatens the livelihood and wellbeing of migrants globally, but could also signal a concerning turn towards alt-right and populist movements inching closer to the political mainstream.
A Year of War in Ukraine: An Anniversary in Photos
When I was in early middle school I would watch whatever appeared on Netflix in my free time. Looking back on it there was a lot that I watched for seemingly no reason. I watched all of Futurama, which I remember very little of. I also watched all of the 1970s sitcom M*A*S*H, about the Korean War (which I’m still very fond of). However, most of what I watched were documentaries. It wasn’t tied to any one topic, but I watched all of Ken Burns’ documentaries, which were on Netflix at the time. One of the documentaries I watched, and still don’t remember why I did exactly, was Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky.
RefuSHE
This spring semester GRMR is proudly supporting RefuSHE, an organization that aims to empower and serve refugee women and children. RefuSHE’s admirable mission includes educating, protecting, and leading refugee women to offer them a chance to grow, develop, and flourish. Refugee girls and women remain an extremely vulnerable population, with about 76% of women and children refugees in Kenya and 52% under 18.
My Family Story and Parallels to Refugee Stories Today
As is the case for many Palestinians, my family experienced lots of emigration, pain, hardship, loss, displacement, and change since the Nakba, or the Palestinian Catastrophe, in 1948. I want to share this personal account of my family's history through stories I have been told. My family's history has many parallels to what refugees and immigrants fleeing war, or those who are being forcibly displaced, may have had to experience then, and still experience now. I hope to shed light on the strength of not only my family, but all immigrant and refugee families who had to endure hardship in the past, and those who still do today.
An Increasing Issue: Human Trafficking in Migrant Populations
Human trafficking refers to the involuntary exploitation of individuals and can involve sexual exploitation, debt bondage, and forced labor. Although many may not think so, it occurs in every region. Human traffickers attempt to target marginalized communities and vulnerable individuals. Sexual exploitation, in specific, is a growing issue in refugee camps and among migrating groups. Refugees and migrants often lose their community support networks as they are forced to leave their homes and familiar surroundings. Depending on where they flee to, they may or not be citizenship status. Other resources, such as medical support, livelihood opportunities, and legal support, may not be provided. As a result of these conditions, forcibly displaced people are often easy targets for traffickers.
Violence Against Women: A Main Driver of Migration from Central America
Relocating to another country is a momentous choice. For the women and children of Central America, as with all refugees, this migration is no longer a choice but rather a necessity for survival. Since the late 20th century, turbulent political and socioeconomic conditions in the Northern Triangle- comprising El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala- have led to a rise in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Under a system that subordinates and violates women, many view leaving the region as the sole path to a better life for themselves and their families.
Unmasking White Saviors to the Rescue
Last year I watched the film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune about a boy named Paul who tries to protect the desert planet of Arrakis, its inhabitants, referred to as Fremen, and its valuable spice reserves from brutal Harkonnen rule. If you are like me and did not read the book you too were surprised by the amount of worldbuilding reminiscent of Islamic or Arab traditions. Ironically however, none of the main actors portray Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) or Muslim backgrounds; rather, the protagonist communicated as meant to rescue Arrakis’ largely colored Fremen population turns out to be a white male. While Dune and its characters reside in the fictitious realm the storyline is one replicated far too often in the real world.