With several countries worldwide entering unprecedented times of conflict, economic crisis and instability since 2020, more and more children, families and individuals have had to flee their homelands to seek new lives.
The global refugee crisis has only worsened, with some crises (like Syria) lasting 10+ years, and refugees are in desperate need of housing, health care, jobs, education and more.
Refugees need our Islamic charity more than ever — a phrase that seems to be increasingly true each year, read on to see what they face and how you can help:
The current state of the global refugee crisis
By the end of 2022, the refugee crisis had hit unprecedented proportions due to persecution, human rights violations, natural disasters and more.
At current:
108 million have been forcibly displaced worldwide
52% of those 108 million were displaced from only three countries (Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan)
39% are children (43 million total)
36% (38 million) were taken in by only five countries (Turkey, Iran, Colombia, Germany, Pakistan)
These refugees have lost all access to housing, health care, education and more, and their host countries have had to scramble to accommodate them, despite already having crucial political and economic issues.
The result has been a chaotic existence for refugees and an unstable outlook for their host countries. Every day that this global crisis lasts, more refugees pass away or live lives of desperation.
Two of the worst national refugee crises of the past year have come about due to record monsoon floods in Pakistan and devastating earthquakes and aftershocks in Türkiye.
Pakistan’s refugee crisis
In the final months of 2022, record monsoon flooding hit Pakistan hard and waters covered over one-third of the country’s land mass.
The floods affected 33 million people, damaged more than 2.2 million homes and forced 5.4 million people to rely on heavily contaminated natural water. On top of this, most of the districts affected were already poverty-stricken and their residents lacked access to clean water, food and education.
The aftermath has been a dire situation for both Pakistani and Afghan refugees who fled their hometowns with next to nothing and since the start of the disaster, we’ve been working hard to provide both short and long-term aid to Pakistan.
Your Islamic charity has already given Pakistan’s flood refugees temporary tent shelters, emergency medical supplies, food packages, hygiene kits and more. They and those affected by Turkey’s disastrous earthquakes in the months following face a long road to recovery, and your help has made their situation easier.
Turkey’s refugee crisis
In spring of 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake slammed the southeastern region of Türkiye and bordering Syria, with hundreds of aftershocks which followed.
A total of 15.7 million people in both countries were affected, with over 50,000 dead and thousands more having to flee homes which were turned to rubble overnight. This, along with the growing numbers of refugees having arrived in Türkiye due to the ongoing Syrian Civil War, has proved disastrous and is a massive humanitarian crisis of safety and security. Shelter, food production, water distribution and job security in the southeastern region of Türkiye in particular have been put to nearly a full stop, with no near end in sight.
Since February, we’ve been on the ground providing emergency relief and have also constructed a tent village in Adiyaman, Türkiye, where we’ve been sheltering earthquake victims. Our goal is to continue providing them with access to a school, supermarket, mosque and shelter until they get back on their feet, and we couldn’t have done it without your support.
We can all do something to help our fellow human beings regain their stability. Let’s make sure our brothers and sisters have homes and stable sources of income so they can start newer, happier lives.