No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis

by Serena Parekh

Syrians crossing the Mediterranean in ramshackle boats bound for Europe; Sudanese refugees, their belongings on their backs, fleeing overland into neighboring countries; children separated from their parents at the US/Mexico border--these are the images that the Global Refugee Crisis conjures to many. In the news we often see photos of people in transit, suffering untold deprivations in desperate bids to escape their countries and find safety. But behind these images, there is a second crisis--a crisis of arrival. Refugees in the 21st century have only three real options--urban slums, squalid refugee camps, or dangerous journeys to seek asylum--and none provide genuine refuge.

In No Refuge , political philosopher Serena Parekh calls this the second refugee the crisis of the millions of people who, having fled their homes, are stuck for decades in the dehumanizing and hopeless limbo of refugees camps and informal urban spaces, most of which are in the Global South. Ninety-nine percent of these refugees are never resettled in other countries. Their suffering only begins when they leave their war-torn homes. As Parekh urgently argues by drawing from numerous first-person accounts, conditions in many refugee camps and urban slums are so bleak that to make people live in them for prolonged periods of time is to deny them human dignity. It's no wonder that refugees increasingly risk their lives to seek asylum directly in the West.

Drawing from extensive first-hand accounts of life as a refugee with nowhere to go, Parekh argues that we need a moral response to these crises--one that assumes the humanity of refugees in addition to the challenges that states have when they accept refugees. Only once we grasp that the global refugee crisis has these two dimensions--the asylum crisis for Western states and the crisis for refugees who cannot find refuge--can we reckon with a response proportionate to the complexities we face. Countries and citizens have a moral obligation to address the structures that unjustly prevent refugees from accessing the minimum conditions of human dignity. As Parekh shows, there are ways we as citizens can respond to the global refugee crisis, and indeed we are morally obligated to do so.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[José Mendoza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moral philosophy and the Refugee Crisis

This is a very well written and accessible book on the morality of the refugee crisis. It also expands the debate on the ethics of refugees (and migration in general) in a very interesting and non-ideal direction.

[Shirley Freeman]

(I didn't read the kindle edition - read the hardcover) This is an academic book in that Parekh tells you what she going to teach you, teaches you in depth and then tells you what she taught you. It's still fairly accessible but the subject matter is tough because becoming a refugee is tough. Parekh develops the argument that the refugee crisis has more than one level and that western countries focus too much on the first level (resettling the minuscule number of refugees actually allowed in) and not enough on the huge second level (the other 98% of refugees). The current situation is that most refugees have no way of getting refuge - a place where their basic human rights and dignity are supported. Most refugees have three options - 1. living, often for decades, in refugee camps where basic rights and dignity are lacking 2. living, "illegally" in urban centers where dignity and safety are again lacking or 3. hiring smugglers and trying the dangerous choice of seeing asylum in a western country. Parekh makes the argument that western countries have the moral obligation to change the choices for refugees. She offers some possible directions in the conclusion but it would be have been nice to learn more in-depth about some methods that are working.

[Ben Duffield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has maybe been one of the most influential books of my life. The evidence she presents that combat basic common assumptions about the refugee crisis completely shattered my preconceptions about refugees — the whole book felt like getting hit with a bucket of ice water at 5AM. Can’t recommend this book highly enough.

[I love Kimchi Jigae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I randomly selected this book for an academic book review for my Masters’ Course and I am so glad that I picked it. It helped me in truly understanding the refugee crisis. More power to displaced people worldwide.✊🏻✊🏻

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars

I don’t like to write formal reviews for books that I read for school but this book truly touched my heart and opened my eyes eyes.

[Julian Mydlil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Serves as a decent introduction to the injustices of the international refuge framework from a moral/ethical view. For my own purposes, wish it was longer and somewhat more technical though, but that shouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this book as a primer!

[are we there yet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better books I've read recently in that it's well researched, well structured, and cohesive even as it incorporates philosophical theories, which in the hands of a less skilled writer could end up only as a padding that feels out of place.

As far as content, it serves as a good introduction to the refugee crisis and offers practical solutions everyone can try to implement right away. For best results, read this book twice.