A Once Unthinkable Proposal for Refugee Camps
Tens of millions of people have been forced to flee their home countries in recent years to escape war, famine, deadly persecution, or natural disaster. These refugees spark political controversy wherever they arrive in large numbers. For that reason, governments in Europe, North America, and Oceania have differed in how many refugees they are willing to resettle. Even Angela Merkel, who helped make Germany the Western country with the biggest population of recent refugees, found that the public’s openness was quickly exhausted.
Countless thousands suffer. They drown while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. They die in the Sahara Desert. They die trying to cross into Mexico. They are kidnapped and sold into slavery. They die at home because they are too poor to attempt escape. With no foreseeable end to the flow of refugees determined to reach wealthy countries, where voters are growing less rather than more willing to welcome them, more tragedy is assured. And liberal humanitarians concede that their reform efforts are not working.
Amnesty International lamented last year:
The UN Global Compact on Refugees … failed to deliver meaningful change,” Amnesty International lamented last year. , which aimed to improve the international community’s response to mass forcible displacement, was notably unambitious: a shameful blueprint for responsibility shirking. The Compact will not change the situation for newly arrived in Bangladesh, or a generation of Somali youth born in refugee camps in Kenya, or refugees stuck in
