Refugee Crisis: Global Responses

This essay examines the diverse responses of countries to the influx of refugees, analyzing the reasons behind accepting or rejecting refugees. It explores the economic benefits, such as boosting the labor market and stimulating economic growth, as seen in countries like the US and Kenya. Conversely, it highlights the concerns of countries like Britain and France regarding economic competition and social integration challenges. The essay also discusses the security implications, arguing that accepting refugees can undermine terrorist organizations like ISIS by depriving them of recruits and providing valuable intelligence. Finally, it acknowledges the challenges faced by poorer nations in absorbing large refugee populations due to limited resources and infrastructure. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significant economic contributions of refugees as innovators, investors, consumers, taxpayers, workers, and entrepreneurs.

Countries have different responses towards accepting refugees. Discuss different reasons
why countries may want to take in refugees or stop refugees from entering the country.

According to the UNHCR statistics the globally displaced population by the year end 2015 was
found to be 65.3 million and this was the highest number recorded after the World War II.
Refugees can be defined as per UNHCR standards as the individuals that include the people
recognized under the 1951 Convention connecting with the Status of Refugees, (UNHCR,
2016) the people who flee conflict or persecution (European Stability Initiative, 2017). With this
rapid rise in refugee population this essay will analyse how different nations respond to
accepting or stopping refugees from entering their country and the reasons for doing so.
Refugees offer economic boost to the host nations as mentioned by well-known economist
Jeffery Sachs. He says that refugees have positive impact as the people leave desperate situations
and find better economic conditions. Like in case of US it gains when refugees arrive, as they
add on to the skill base and the labour market (Casteel & Cheng, 2017). In a city like Utica the
educated refugees are turning out to be active members in the labour force and the city likes
these educated refugees as they have stopped the economic decline of the city (Solman, 2016). In
case of Kenya the refugees are considered to be an active force for the Kenyan economy. Both
the goods as well as the livestock markets in Kakuma along with the Dabaab refugee camps
stand out as the largest as well as the most vibrant economic ecosystems across the region
Kenya or any other nations adopts refugee friendly policies because they think that refugees
acts as empowered economic actors by making bigger contributions to local as well as national
marketplaces along with the economies. They also help in creation of better jobs while
increasing the productivity as well as wages of the local workers stimulate both international
trade as well as investments; boost growth, innovation as well as enterprise and enhance the
capital returns (LeGRAIN, 2016).

Germany welcomes refugees due to demographics as it has rapidly aging people so they
welcome foreigners so that it can ease the fast decline in population. On the other hand Sweden
government has taken the largest influx of refugees in Europe although its population is not
decreasing. Britain on the other hand shows reluctance in attracting foreigners or refugees as it
will be Europe’s most populated country by 2060 because of immigration along with higher
fertility rates (Noack, 2015). Britain is reluctant because it fears economic competition and it is
concerned about accumulation of large number of foreign born migrants. ON the other hand
France is also cautious about refugees settling in the country as there is persistent rift within the
society. The country is constantly on high alert due to series of terror attacks and there is a rift
between the growing immigrant population and the white majority in France. Hungary although
showing a demographic decline of 5.8% announced that it will accept only Christian refugees
and no Muslims (Kingsley, 2015) .
Refugees are good in terms of host nation’s security as stated in the article the refugees in US
undermine the recruitments done by ISIS. Accepting the refugees is very nice action that US can
take as a humanitarian standpoint and it will also be good for America’s security. By accepting
the refugees it will deprive the ISIS from the human resources as the group many relies on
population that is being exploited by them. Moreover it has been seen that the refugees counter
the ISIS propaganda regarding the United States. Thus if US accepts the refugees with open arms
it will straight away undermine the strategy adopted by ISIS. Moreover by accepting the Syrian
refugees the US can easily gain access to the valuable intelligence against the ISIS (Bier, 2016).
The Report “Front Struggle to Resilience: The Economic Impact of Refugees in America”
indicates the entrepreneurship rate of refugees outshines that of the immigrants and they

contribute in quite meaningful manner to the economy both as taxpayers as well as earners (New
American Economy, 2017).
Some of the countries refuse to take the refugees as they consider them to be the liabilities for
the economy, whereas some of the nations like Germany accept refugees as they consider them
to be an opportunity that will help in economic growth. Some countries like Germany think that
by accepting refugees they will bring economic gain as it is undergoing severe demographic
issues like shirking population and issues like aging. Therefore immigrants will help Germany to
fill up the working age population as well as help in stabilising the state pension system with
large number of Germans retiring. Moreover refugees also play very crucial role in creation of
new jobs. Mostly it is seen that refugees who get displaced in neighbouring countries that are
poor have to suffer discrimination as well as disadvantage. The reason being the poor countries
have to face bigger challenges in absorbing them like in care of Ethiopia, Iran , Jordon, Lebanon
, Pakistan etc., as the refugees are large in numbers and there is lack of infrastructure in these
countries (HAtton, 2015).
This study conducted by The New American Economy, comprehensively indicates how the
refugees make a major contribution towards the economy of The United States. It gives a better
insight into the economic contributions made by the 3.4 million refugees. This analysis of
refugees and their arrival in the countries like US, Kenya etc. That instead of acting as drains for
the communities, they show higher rate of participation in the form of labour force by refugees.
Thus the Syrian refugees will acts as a great help in enhancing the national security for the
United States in protecting it against the terrorist groups like ISIS. Thus the above analysis
indicates that refugees contribute to a great extent to the economy of the host nation by being an
innovator, investors, consumers, taxpayers, workers along with becoming entrepreneurs.

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