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1 People have been driven from their homes by wars, unjust treatment, earthquakes, and hurricanes throughout human history. The reality of forced migration is not new. Nor is awareness of the suffering of the displaced a recent discovery. How to protect and assist those who have been forced from their homes, however, is under serious reconsideration today. This book aims to advance that discussion by addressing questions raised by the growing number of persons who have been driven from their homes and by our increased awareness of their suffering. A high level of migration is one of the dramatic characteristics of the growing interdependence of today’s global situation. One of the most notable manifestations of growing global interconnections is the extraordinary movement of people across the borders of nation-states. Today about  million people live in countries where they are not citizens. Many of these people have moved voluntarily in pursuit of better lives for themselves or because of links with family. Many others have moved involuntarily. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that at the end of  there were a total of  million persons in the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes. These include more than  million people who are refugees as officially defined by the  United Nations (UN) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees—persons who have had to flee across an international border because of “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” Often the source of this persecution is the government of their own country. The responsibility to protect these refugees remains a central legal and moral duty in our time. We have recently become newly aware of older forms of displacement that go beyond that of refugees as defined by the  Convention, and new kinds of displacement have been developing in recent years. These raise additional questions about the scope of responsibilities toward displaced people. Many people are on the move because of conflicts and wars brought about by intergroup and intrastate conflicts . Some of these conflicts are due to struggles over political power or economic resources. Others are, at least in part, cultural in nature. Resistance by traditional Introduction Human Rights and New Challenges of Protecting Forced Migrants David Hollenbach 2 David Hollenbach and non-Western cultures to the global spread of Western values and lifestyles has been one of the stimuli for the growth of some forms of religious fundamentalism and even terrorism. Among those displaced by conflict there are many who do not fall under the Convention definition of a refugee. These include  million people internally displaced within their own countries by war. Another  million have been internally displaced by human rights abuses or natural disasters. Much additional migration is brought about by economic pressures that lead many to move in search of work that will provide a better life for themselves and their children. While it is true that the economic aspects of growing global interdependence and economic integration have been accompanied by a decline in the percentage of humanity living in poverty, there continue to be very large numbers of extremely poor people in the world. The most recently updated figures from the World Bank tell us that in  there were . billion people living in extreme poverty (on less than $. per day). This is down from . billion in , which is progress, to be sure. But more than half the people of the African continent are still living in extreme poverty, no lower than in . Where poverty exists at this level it is hardly surprising that people leave home in search of a better life. Whether such migration should be called voluntary can be questioned. Extreme economic pressures such as malnutrition and the threat of starvation can drive people to migrate as surely as political and military threats. Further, increasing numbers of people are driven from home by environmental pressures such as the growth of deserts, rising sea levels, and destructive weather. These environmental changes are in significant part caused by human actions such as the cutting of forests, the use of fossil fuels, and development-oriented projects. People displaced by environmental change, like those forced from home by conflict or economic need, do not fall under the internationally accepted definition of refugees . The multiple causes that drive people from their homes are often interwoven and mutually reinforcing. This makes it more difficult to identify the cause of displacement and...

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