The real refugee crisis

A few weeks ago, many of our communities were convulsed by protests and violent disorder. Much of this was fermented by inaccurate posts on social media alleging that the murder of several children in Stockport was committed by an asylum seeker. Asylum and immigration has long been a major issue here; it was a key theme during the 2016 Brexit referendum. News coverage does not always illuminate the issue. Over 80 per cent of the people who claim asylum in the UK are eventually granted it. This figure alone calls into question the idea that we are somehow being overwhelmed with ‘bogus’ asylum seekers.  

We are not the only country facing these issues and the resulting social tensions. In fact, when people are internally displaced, they usually flee to neighbouring countries, or to other parts of their own country. During the civil war in Syria, its neighbour Lebanon, a country the size of Wales, took in over a million refugees. If we are struggling to deal with thousands of refugees in the UK, with our western level of public services, imagine how a smaller, developing country with a history of chaotic government must be coping.

Did you know that, in sub-Saharan Africa, around 16.2 million Christians have been internally displaced? Much of the persecution they have faced is from Muslim fundamentalists, including the international group Boko Haram. Most refugees have not travelled to the west; many are living in camps in countries bordering their own, facing shocking conditions, inadequate food and sanitation. The fact that thousands of these people, along with others from countries like Afghanistan, Syria and Iran, reach our shores, does not reduce the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in countries like Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

Now the Christian charity Open Doors has launched a campaign called ‘Arise Africa’, which aims to draw the world’s attention to the plight of these Christians. 26 countries are affected, covering much of the centre of Africa from Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the east, and as far south as Mozambique. In 2014 only 12 of these countries were experiencing high levels of persecution of Christians. The problem has increased exponentially, yet most of the world is unaware of it. Journalists do not visit the camps and our news media does not cover them.

The Arise Africa campaign calls upon the international community to ensure that Christians and other vulnerable minorities in sub-Saharan Africa are treated with dignity and respect by:

(1)   Protection: providing robust protection from violent military attacks.

(2)   Justice: ensuring justice through fair prosecutions of the attackers.

(3)   Restoration: bringing healing and restoration to all affected communities.

You can support the campaign via the Open Doors website www.opendoorsuk.org.

These aims are familiar to us at St Mary of Bethany through the work of our mission partners. Amplifying Voices has long sought to bring healing and reconciliation to communities where disinformation has stoked disunity and violence, including in sub-Saharan Africa. One of our other partners campaigns for persecuted Christians, providing practical help to those in particular danger. We believe we are part of a single family of brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, drawn from every nation, tribe and language. What hurts one part of the body hurts us all. Jesus calls us to be concerned for the last and the least among our brothers and sisters, for those suffering for their faith and denied a voice or a stake in their future.

Christians in wealthier parts of the world can help our displaced family in many ways. Get informed and add your voice to those campaigning for protection, justice and restoration for them. Tell other people and become an advocate for this work in your own community. Our country has a good record of raising issues of religious persecution on the world stage; British Christians must ensure that our new government continues this. We must also campaign for the UK to send more aid to countries housing internally displaced people, so that the conditions in which they are living can improve, and it may be possible for them to return to their own communities. We can stand for truth in our public life, defending vulnerable asylum seekers in our community when lies are told about them.

A better future is possible for all these troubled countries. At the turn of the century Sierra Leone was engulfed in a bloody civil war. Today it has built a lasting peace and is on a journey to development, in a context where Christians and Muslims coexist peacefully as neighbours. This remains fragile, with endemic poverty and an ever-present risk that corruption will poison the government and impoverish the people. Sierra Leone is one of many African countries which are building a better future for their people. Just as British Christians will want to be well-informed when it comes to internally displaced people throughout Africa, we also want to resist the simplistic idea that ‘Africa=poor and corrupt’ and ‘west=wealthy and honest’. When we commit to praying and acting for the most vulnerable people in our world, we continue our mission to be Jesus to those around us.