Alex Betts, director of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, wants to break down myths around refugees. “In order to help them, we need to confront so many misconceptions: which is that refugees have to be a potential burden to their host country.” Looking at economic models that have been set up in refugee camps in Uganda, Betts argues that our misconception about refugees is resulting in a loss of a productive and beneficial labour force - as well as a chance to help those fleeing from potential persecution.
“We need to see it as an economic issue,” he explained at WIRED2016. “They have skills and talents.”
As an undergraduate, Betts travelled around, expecting to be faced with a sense of pity at the communities of refugees. In fact - he was astounded at the talent and resourcefulness of the displaced communities. “Awe and inspiration hit me - I met people like an Iranian Olympian who taught me table tennis, but over half of the world's refugees are in protracted exile”
However, this talent is not used by western Europe. “As I travelled, that challenge replicated all around the world. Refugees were denied the right to work.” Currently, the model to deal with refugees is based on an outdated system drawn out of the Cold War, that attempts to make sure nobody fleeing persecution should be sent back to their home country. “The institutional framework is stuck in a time warp. The inability of the world to update its model is leading to inconsistency. The refugee model is failing”
Betts went on to explain the situation where refugees are not being given the right to work in the countries they migrate to. “In Turkey, less than 10 percent of refugees receive any assistance from international NGOs - they essentially have to help themselves. There are three choices for refugees: encampment, urban destitution or dangerous journeys.”
“I want to suggest that it can be very different - there’s one country doing this rather differently. It’s pioneering in the refugee area - and that’s Uganda. It gives them the right to work and freedom of movement. It gives us the chance to explore what happens when you give refugees basic freedoms.”
Betts found that these refugee camps disproved many of the western concepts. There was a thriving market with imported goods and competition. There was a computer games parlour. There was even a transportation company.
Collecting data from this area, Betts and his colleagues challenged fundamental myths about refugees.
That refugees are economically isolated. “They’re not. They were part of the global economy”
That they are an inevitable burden. “In Kampala 20 percent employ refugees in the local area”
Refugees are economically homogeneous - "In fact, there’s huge diversity"
Technologically illiterate - "Refugees often use SMS technology. 89 percent in urban areas use phones and where Wi-Fi was available it is widely used"
Refugees as dependent. “You have to make ends meet. We saw refugees who created a social enterprise making a female sanitary product”
Their data also showed the main factors that contributed to the success of a refugee: regulations, education, occupation, years in exile and gender.
These kinds of basic human freedoms need to be extended to refugees in western Europe, and we need to stop seeing refugees as burdens. “Most host states are not like Uganda. What does the model mean for other countries? We can empower both refugees and citizens in their host countries.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
