A United
Nations report has shed light on the world’s burgeoning crisis of
displaced peoples, finding that a record 65.6 million were forced to
vacate their homes in 2016 alone. More than half of them were minors.
The Office
of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which drafted the
report, put the figure into perspective, stating that increasing
conflict and persecution worldwide have led to “one person being
displaced every three seconds – less than the time it takes to read
this sentence.”
UN High
Commissioner Filippo Grandi called the figure “unacceptable”
and called for “solidarity and a common purpose in preventing
and resolving the crisis.”
However,
what the UN report failed to mention was the role of U.S. foreign
intervention, indirect or direct, in fomenting the conflicts
responsible for producing most of the world’s refugees.
According to
the report, three of the nations producing the highest number of
refugees are Syria (12 million refugees created in 2016), Afghanistan
(4.7 million) and Iraq (4.2 million).
The
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are known to be the direct result
of U.S. military invasions in the early 2000s, as well as the U.S.’
ongoing occupation of those nations. Decades after invading both
countries, the U.S.’ destabilizing military presence in Iraq and
Afghanistan has continued to increase in recent years, with the Trump
administration most recently announcing plans to send thousands of
soldiers to Afghanistan in the coming months. It is worth noting that
each U.S. soldier in Afghanistan costs U.S. taxpayers $2.1 million.
While the
U.S. has yet to directly invade Syria, the U.S. role in the conflict
is clear and Syria’s destabilization and the overthrow of its
current regime have long been planned by the U.S. government. The
U.S. and its allies, particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia, have
consistently funded “rebel” groups that have not only perpetuated
the Syrian conflict for six long years, but have also committed
atrocity after atrocity targeting civilians in Syrian cities, towns,
and communities – a major factor in convincing Syrians to leave
their homes.
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