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Express Tribune
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Privilege, justice and kindness
Later this week, on Friday June 20th, many institutions and organisations around the world that work on refugee related issues will commemorate the World Refugee Day. The idea of the World Refugee Day started in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention. This year we find ourselves in the midst of several challenges. On one end is seemingly endless conflict in many parts of the world. On the other, there is a greater concern about the future of institutions that focus on the issues facing refugees and migrants - including structures within the UN system. UN High Commission for Refugees is facing serious cuts, and some recent reports indicate that the entire office dedicated to health and migrants within the World Health Organization may disappear altogether. Facing these headwinds, arguments by individuals and institutions are being put forward about why we should care about those who are forcibly displaced due to conflict, persecution, xenophobia and climate change. A common argument is that refugees are good for the economy. That they contribute to job creation, they work hard, and they do work in sectors that other 'locals' may not be interested in. These arguments are often backed up by economic data. I have never been a fan of this line of thinking. I worry that this argument reduces our humanity. If we only look at who is good for the economy, should a refugee who is an elderly person, or a child, or has some disability be crossed off our lists? Is our empathy tied exclusively to who is 'productive' and 'good for us'? I was traveling in South Africa last week and have been thinking about the issue of privilege and justice. At a museum in Durban, I was reminded, again, about the injustice and horrors of apartheid. Alongside countless Blacks, Indians and coloured persons of South Africa who stood up against the evil system, there were also white citizens from all sectors of society who were privileged, not subjected to the racist laws, and in principle could have benefitted from the segregationist system. There were church goers, among the Dutch Reform Church in South Africa, who found the position of their church to be morally indefensible and stood up for justice and human dignity. These people, alongside their black, coloured and south Asian community members, paid a very heavy price for their moral compass. Their struggle, and their rejection of the privileged system that was ensuring their economic success, was not in vain. In a divided world of exclusion and injustice for many who suffer, but stable, enabling and fertile for those of us who are privileged, the museum reminded me once again to ask ourselves - what does justice and human dignity demand of us? Are we brave enough to stand up for a fairer world? Does our privilege deny others their basic humanity? Perhaps there is a different way to think about forced displacement. Whether or not one has technically been a refugee or not (since the term has a specific legal connotation), we all have benefitted from the kindness of others in difficult times; others who owed us nothing, or did not ask if we would be good for their financial future. Many of us have had family members or loved ones who had to leave a home, a town or a country overnight. Think of the partition, 1971 or many other events of the past. These loved ones were helped not just by family, but by strangers - who did not have to help them, but they did anyway. Those who helped gave up something - their time, their money, part of their home or something else. But their sacrifice, small as it may have been, was not in vain. It saved an individual or a family from harm. History reminds us that no one knows when one may have to flee their home and leave in the middle of the night. And should that happen to us, how would we want to be treated? What kind of a world would we want to live in? Maybe we should ask ourselves, what is stopping us from creating that world?
Hindustan Times
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Politicians and diplomats come out in support of Foreign Secy Misri after online attacks
Politicians and former diplomats came out in support of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri after the veteran Foreign Service officer faced significant trolling on X, a social media website. Misri - who has served as Foreign Secretary since 2024 - was attacked online after delivering a statement on late Saturday night on Pakistani violations of the newly agreed ceasefire deal. In his statement, Misri outlined that Pakistan had violated the agreement just hours after it came into effect on Saturday and stated that the armed forces were responding to the violations. Misri also added that India would respond firmly in the event of further violations. However, India did not back out of the ceasefire deal. Following this, Misri faced significant criticism with several X users attacking the Foreign Secretary for not taking a harder line on Pakistani ceasefire violations. Misri's daughter Didon Misri - who is based in London and works at global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills - was also criticised online for providing legal support to Rohingya refugees. However, according to her professional profile, Didon Misri works in the field of investment treaty and international commercial arbitration. Misri has also advised the Indian government on a number of international arbitration matters. According to persons aware of the matter, Didon Misri briefly interned with the UN High Commission for Refugees in Myanmar during her years at law school in India. Her duties involved providing research support to the UNHCR, which dealt with a number of international humanitarian issues at the time - including the subject of Rohingya refugees. Following this social media firestorm, Misri locked his X account which has been active since before he became Foreign Secretary. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi came out strongly in support of Misri after this incident. 'Mr Vikram Misri is a decent and an Honest Hard working Diplomat working tirelessly for our nation. Our civil servants work under the executive. This must be remembered and they shouldn't be blamed for the decisions taken by The Executive/or any Political leadership running Watan E Aziz,' Owaisi posted on X. Former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao also took to social media to defend Misri. 'It's utterly shameful to troll Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and his family over the India-Pakistan ceasefire announcement. A dedicated diplomat, Misri has served India with professionalism and resolve, and there is no ground whatsoever for his vilification . Doxxing his daughter and abusing his loved ones crosses every line of decency. This toxic hate must stop—stand united behind our diplomats, not tear them down,' Rao wrote on X. Misri joined the Foreign Service in 1989 and has served as India's Ambassador to China and as Deputy National Security Adviser.
Express Tribune
28-04-2025
- Health
- Express Tribune
Our history, our humanity
It was the last week of April, fifty-four years ago, when the head of UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan met with the Secretary General of the United Nations, U Thant in Bern, Switzerland. The meeting agenda was the rapidly changing situation in South Asia. As many as 100,000 refugees were crossing what was then East Pakistan, into India every day. A new humanitarian crisis was unfolding at an astronomical pace. As a result of the meeting between Prince Aga Khan and the UN Secretary General, for this first time in its history, UNHCR became the 'focal point' for all UN assistance for a particular crisis. The mandate of UNHCR as a 'focal point' was not simply aid delivery, but also coordination with local governments of Pakistan and India and international mobilisation of aid. The refugee crisis went unabated for months to come, and by December 1971, there were approximately 10 million refugees who had been displaced and needed support. In the months that followed the April meeting, there were plenty of political gestures, and manoeuvres from all sides. There were statements and counter-statements, accusations of mistreatment of refugees and nefarious goals. But caught in the middle were millions who were in a miserable condition. The UNHCR archives and reports of workers on the ground talk of immense suffering of poor people. Given the unsanitary conditions in the camps, diseases were rampant. Repeatedly cholera outbreaks were particularly acute. One British journalist noted, "Cholera is a horrible and humiliating way to die. The only mercy is that it is comparatively quick. The cholera wards are two buildings behind the main hospital block. There are no beds. The patients lie on metal sheets covering a concrete floor." Further down in the report, the same journalist painted an even bleaker picture: "Those who still can fan themselves weakly; those who are too far gone to do so are black with flies. There are men and women of all ages." While the journalist talked about men and women, the real impact was actually on young children. In an article published about the camps by a team of public health practitioners in the journal Lancet, it was reported that nearly 4,000 children died in one camp alone (the camp population was approximately 170,000). Estimates suggest between three hundred thousand and half a million people died in the camps before February 1972. I am quite certain that most Pakistani students would have never heard of this refugee crisis that impacted citizens of their own country, that still remains among the largest that the world has seen since the Second World War, and was by far the largest in the second half of the twentieth century. While the numbers here are mind numbing, the real point is not the numbers. The point is why we are not thinking deeply about our own past and choosing to stay ignorant. I consider myself among the ignorant as well. It was not until I looked in the archives of UNHCR (while working on a different project), and came across the papers of the public health workers in the camps that I learned about the human suffering of these refugees. But I do not want to stay ignorant anymore. My journey to learn about the challenge in those camps is far from over. Beyond the statistics and reports, I am still looking for more personal accounts of the lived experiences of those who were in the camps. I am quite aware that there are many different political perspectives on the events of that period, but I am also certain that most people, if given the opportunity to read and reflect, would find it in themselves to feel the pain of those who were forcibly displaced and became homeless, hungry and sick. I am confident that reading about the lives upended, of moments of loss, grief, fear and anxiety will make us care about others more. As episodes of forced displacement or forced repatriation happen all around us, may history, empathy and bonds of humanity, and not realpolitik, guide us!
