The migration crisis has become one of the biggest global crises today. Millions of people have become refugees and displaced due to wars in countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Libya, or have fallen into poverty and misery. The epicenter of this immense crisis is currently Syria, where the number of people who have fled their country and sought refuge in other countries has surpassed 6 million, with about half of them being children under the age of 10. Millions more are internally displaced within their own country or are searching for a way to escape their current situation and cross borders. This often involves a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea towards European countries, and has already claimed the lives of thousands of men, women, and children.

On the occasion of June 20th, World Refugee Day, let’s take a look at the issue of refugees and the crisis that has brought fundamental changes to the lives of millions of people and has affected global policies.

Migration is the act of moving humans from one place to another, in order to improve their living conditions. People move towards places with better living conditions due to factors such as war, famine, unemployment, poverty, insecurity, natural disasters, political issues, etc. These places offer better health and education facilities, higher income, greater security, and more political and social freedoms.

One form of migration is seeking asylum. “Asylum seeker” is defined, according to current treaties, as someone who is afraid of being tortured or persecuted based on their race, religion, membership in certain social groups, or political beliefs, and has fled their country and is unable to return. Or, due to fear of torture and persecution, is unwilling to return to their country and subject themselves to current protection laws in that country.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives for political reasons, government oppression, war, famine, and unemployment, with no possibility of return. Millions of people risk their lives in the hope of a better future, crossing seas or difficult mountain passes and illegally crossing borders, to reach a safe shore. According to statistics from the United Nations Refugee Agency, only 6.2 million refugees live in camps and settlements. Many of them spend two or three generations in these camps. They are born there, grow old there, and die there.

For example, Palestinian refugees have been living in neighboring countries’ camps for nearly 60 years without any clear prospects for their own and their children’s future.

Millions of people around the world live as refugees and migrants, and this number is increasing every day. With climate change and destruction of natural habitats, many areas are no longer habitable, especially those that rely on farming and animal husbandry for their economy. This is one of the factors that forces the inhabitants of these areas to migrate in order to survive. Many lands in the world today are becoming depopulated.

The crisis of “migration” is a problem and a consequence of devastating wars. On the other hand, the economic control and destruction of land by certain governments has also plunged millions of people into poverty and misery, leaving them with no choice but to migrate.

Another issue is the increasing complexities of the global economy. In a report published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in April 2015, it was stated that the World Bank, through imposing neoliberal policies, cutting or reducing welfare budgets, seizing lands and dams, supporting companies and governments that endorse invasion, murder and torture, and investing heavily in “irreversible and unprecedented” social projects, has played a major role in the expansion of global poverty. And of course, not only the World Bank, but other financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank have also played significant roles in this matter.

Two-thirds of the world’s refugees come from five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Somalia. The neoliberal policies in Iran and the trend towards privatization have led to high unemployment rates among workers and lower classes, and the devastating poverty that is currently imposed on the lower classes of society. On one hand, the oppressive political atmosphere in the country and on the other hand, the growing number of Iranian immigrants leaving their country for other countries have led to an alarming increase in the flow of migrants.

Furthermore, the unsuitable situation of refugees living in Iran, who are not granted even the most basic human rights and suffer from extreme poverty and widespread deprivation, has led many migrants who have spent their entire lives in this country to make the decision to migrate again and seek refuge in countries where better economic and human conditions await them. The refugee crisis, which has turned into a major crisis today, is the result of the invasion and military intervention of regional and non-regional countries, as well as the growth of radical Islamic movements in these areas.

But what is the response of governments to this great crisis that they themselves have played a major role in creating?

Only in the past year, we witnessed the movement of tens of thousands of refugees from Central American regions towards North America on foot. The heartbreaking scenes of their encounter with the governments of Mexico and America created an even more tragic humanitarian tragedy.

The issue of immigration was one of the main focuses of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. His strict policies towards undocumented immigrants and his tough stance against those who enter the US without a visa, primarily through the shared border with Mexico, resulted in the separation of thousands of children from their families and their transfer to temporary housing centers (which some former officials compared to concentration camps). This policy also led to the deployment of the US military and National Guard to protect the borders from immigrants, allocation of millions of dollars for building a wall along the Mexican border, and so on. The majority of these immigrants are from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

In Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the violent behavior of governments towards refugees and the suppression of violence by the police, months of wandering and displacement across borders, without any clear prospects for crossing and reaching safer lands, living in temporary shelters for months and even years with the bare minimum of living conditions, and being repeatedly detained and returned to the countries they have passed through, have caused severe mental and psychological crises for many refugees in these countries, some of whom have even resorted to suicide. Border fences, several meters high and several miles long, have been reinforced and erected by governments in Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Britain (in the Channel Tunnel area), and other countries.

Many of the refugees living in the camps on Australian islands have been living in the most difficult and inhumane conditions for years, like prisoners behind closed doors. They are not even allowed to leave the camps in many situations and are subjected to suppression and harassment by local natives instead of the police. The Australian government has no responsibility or commitment towards those who have risked their lives and crossed the seas to reach a land they thought would offer them a place to live.

In Turkey, thousands of refugees are employed as cheap labor. Refugees from countries such as Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan, who are even deprived of social services in many situations, are not allowed to travel to other cities without police permission and are condemned to live in cities and villages designated for them. These cheap laborers are forced to endure all kinds of terrible pressures, humiliation, and insults from their employers in order to survive, and in the end, many employers do not even pay them the meager wages they had agreed upon. These refugees have no government or social support and no clear path to leave the country and reach a safe and stable country, leaving them uncertain about their future.

In Europe, right-wing parties with anti-immigrant policies are also currently reviving fascism, and unfortunately, we are witnessing more and more of these parties gaining power and winning seats every day. Their main slogans and political focus are on the issue of immigrants. The leaders of these countries use refugee-averse and refugee-fearing policies to portray refugees as the cause of social and economic crises, such as increasing crime rates and unemployment. On the other hand, they use this same atmosphere to pass and implement the most conservative economic policies.

In Iran, the situation of refugees is much worse than many other host countries. The settlement of Afghan immigrants, in particular, is prohibited in many cities and provinces of Iran. Many immigrant children do not have identification documents and are not registered; as a result, they are deprived of education and end up on the streets, joining millions of child laborers and street children.

Afghan people in Iran are deprived of employment in many professions and can only work in jobs that offer very low wages. They are not even allowed to own a house, land, or even a car. The Iranian government officials, however, are not satisfied with just this. They sacrifice many Afghan immigrants to advance their regional development policies and, with promises and threats of rights and residency, they force them to join the Fatemiyoun Brigade for a one-month training period and send them to the battlefields in Syria. Many of these soldiers are underage children.

Governments believe that with the “iron fist” policy and the construction of long walls with heights of tens of meters, dispersing the army and oppressive forces to deal with refugee caravans, imposing strict laws, imprisoning, deporting, mistreating and economically and socially depriving refugees, or even shooting at caravans of thousands of people, they may be able to respond to these problems. But what will they do with millions of refugee caravans?

Today, the bitter and tragic product of decades of global economic policies has reached beyond borders and barriers. For years, hungry and impoverished masses, oppressed and without a future, have been caught in war-torn and repressive societies, with environmental refugees and nations under the rule of military, religious, and fascist dictators, crossing seas, mountains, oceans, and plains on foot to reach another land for survival.

Policies based on racism and nationalism, profit-driven policies of employers to exploit cheap labor, are only short-term solutions to this global crisis.

This time, unlike the past, it is not a wealthy minority who are armed and powerful, but a vast majority of the workforce that is in motion. If in the past the powerful were able to conquer the world and establish a new government and economic system in other lands, this time it is the barefoot, hungry, and impoverished who, with empty hands and relying only on their labor, go to become the owners of other lands. They go to leave behind the terrifying memories of war, bloodshed, hunger, and fear that these powerful have imposed on them. They do not go to accumulate wealth and plunder the belongings of another nation, they do not go to force the indigenous inhabitants of other regions to migrate and establish a new government, they go in hopes of being given the opportunity to integrate into the new society.

In this new path of migration, the world will not be plundered as before. These migrants come from lands that have now fallen prey to war.

Of course, what is most concerning in this situation is the rise of fascism. The saturation of cheap labor and the disruption of market balance can lead to another holocaust. That is why attention to the refugee crisis and the immense global refugee crisis must become one of the important, serious, and vital issues for all humans seeking to establish a just and free world.