THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 37, NO. 13 | OCTOBER 30, 2015
CNS PHOTO/UMIT BEKTAS, REUTERS
Syrian refugees warm themselves around a fire in Ankara, Turkey. The civil war in Syria created what Antonio Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, called “the defining humanitarian challenge of our times.”
‘FEAR HOLDS US BACK’ Catholic Relief Service’s Dr. Carolyn Woo sits down with The Leaven to talk about the refugee crisis that has seen 60 million people displaced By Moira Cullings
Q.
A few weeks ago, a single image of Aylan Kurdi, a drowned Syrian boy on the beach, came to crystallize the world’s refugee crisis. Why has it taken so long, do you think, to get the world’s attention on this issue?
“WE ARE ALL ONE FAMILY. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING HAPPENING TO ‘THEM’ — THIS IS HAPPENING TO ALL OF US.” Carolyn Woo, President & CEO of Catholic Relief Services
A. Why does it take so long? I think because the problem is so
complex — and the solutions are very difficult — that people pass on really taking it up. And it is not enough that one country, for example, takes it up; this is a multi-country coordination, planning. So I think that, until it really hits hard, we’ve been postponing it.
Q.
What is the scope of the problem? We often hear the phrase “not since World War II
Video to accompany this
story can be found at The Leaven’s website: www.the leaven.org.
have there been this many,” but what does that mean in terms of numbers of individuals, countries and continents in turmoil?
A.
It is true this is the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. There are 60 million people who have been displaced. That is about the size of Italy. . . . Of those 60 million, about 20 million are crossing borders, which is what you see with the migrants going from Syria into Europe — these are refugees. There are another 38 million or so who are internally displaced. And what that means is that, like in Ukraine, when Eastern Ukraine experienced the conflict with Russia and the eastern part of the country
— the disagreement and the fighting — [many] moved to the west. It’s no less traumatic, because you cannot take your jobs with you, you cannot take your homes with you. Sometimes, you have no access even to your savings account. People who are on pensions have no access to pensions. They move from the east of the country to the west, which might as well be a completely different culture. So, 60 million — that’s a very large number. That is like one out of six people in the United States.
Q.
We often hear the Syrian flight attributed to the Assad regime’s war against its own people and the rise of ISIS. What are some of the other factors that have led to this unprecedented dislocation? >> See “THE PROBLEM” on page 8