The Refugee Crisis

9/1/2025

Overview

Millions of refugees are fleeing from danger zones in Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela and elsewhere, creating a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions while solutions remain complex and politically fraught. Join Active Minds as we explore the causes, impacts and global responses to one of the defining humanitarian issues of our time.

Key Lecture Points

  • The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as someone who has been forced to flee his/her home country out of fear of persecution.  The key principle of the Convention is non-refoulement in which a refugee cannot be returned to his/her home country against their will.
  • The United States ratified the UN Convention in 1968 and in 1980 Congress passed the Refugee Act adopting the same language used by the UN to define a refugee.  The Refugee Act also established and funds the US Refugee Assistance Program (USRAP), overseen by the President to facilitate the process of refugee admissions.
  • In January 2025, President Trump suspended USRAP indefinitely, effectively ending the process of asylum in the US with notable exceptions, including the admission of a small number of White Afrikaners in June 2025.  The legality of the suspension of USRAP is being challenged in court.
  • In 2015, Europe was significantly impacted by a flow of asylum seekers, many of them fleeing the Syrian Civil War.  After German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that Germany would welcome over a million refugees, flows of asylum seekers overwhelmed EU countries in proximity to the conflict, particularly Greece.  The flood of refugees placed a burden on the EU system predicated on free movement within Europe.  Since 2015, the EU has sought ways to share the obligation of asylum.
  • Since the 2015 Refugee Crisis, matters have not abated.  As of 2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates there are more than 123 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, a number that has more than doubled in the past decade.
  • As of 2025, 70% of the world’s forcibly displaced persons originate from five conflicts: Venezuela, Ukraine, Syria, South Sudan and Afghanistan.  While the growth of the refugee problem is causing the US and Europe and other nations to close their borders and/or send refugees back, the vast majority of those fleeing their countries are fleeing to neighboring countries like Iran, Pakistan, Colombia and Lebanon.

Discussion Questions

  • What are the potential outcomes (good or bad) of the US restricting access to asylum within its borders?
  • What are the unique challenges that Europe faces in dealing with the global problem of refugees?
  • Given the way in which refugee numbers are escalating even as developed nations (including the US and the EU) are restricting policies on asylum, what other solutions exist to address the problem?

More to Explore

Books for Further Reading

  • Culbertson, Shelly, Louay Constant, Education of Syrian Refugee Children:  Managing the Crisis in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.  RAND Corporation, 2015.  114 pages.  This book examines the education crisis created by the influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and offers strategies to address the problem.
  • Nwadiuto, Buchi. Refugee Crisis in Europe: Desperate Journeys. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015. 130 pages.  The author describes the politics of the current crisis in Europe and suggests how to provide a safe haven for the refugees.
  • Lewis, Corinne.  UNCHR International Refugee Law:  From Treaties to Innovation. Routledge, 2014. 224 pages. This book explores the historical and statutory foundations of refugee law to show how it has evolved and how it has been applied by the UN Commissioner on Human Rights in its work.