Honoring World Refugee Day

For 35 years, my home has been one of the world's major conflict regions, home also to over 10 million refugees and displaced inhabitants. World Refugee Day (June 20) is a time to honor and support these individuals and families who persevere through devastating tragedies.

I have lived and worked with the nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees and now nearly 5 million displaced Iraqis, many from each group now making their homes in Jordan. I have also worked with displaced people from Afghanistan, Colombia, Somalia, and those seeking safe haven during the first Gulf War. I have witnessed first-hand the anguish of those uprooted from their homes -- people who have had their lives threatened, homes bombed, and family members kidnapped or murdered.

The global displacement crisis is both a humanitarian and a security issue. History shows that mass migrations pose a serious threat to regional stability, as we have seen in Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and West Africa. The Middle East is particularly vulnerable as ongoing tensions are further strained by such large scale displacement.

Yet, I have also seen that refugees are a tremendous inspiration. Supporting these vulnerable people not only reduces their suffering, but also brings peace to troubled regions. Despite the pain and trauma they have experienced, refugees and displaced people hold on to the hope that they can someday return home and rebuild their lives. Like all of us, they want to be able to contribute to society, earn incomes, and send their children to school. An investment in refugees is an investment in whole communities and a clear way to promote peace and prosperity.

Over the past few weeks, conflict between the Pakistani government and militants has made world headlines as some two million people have been forced to flee. In December 2001, I traveled to Pakistan with Refugees International and saw refugees pouring over the border from Afghanistan. Today, Pakistanis who seek protection from the current violence have had no alternative but to live in some of the very same camps built for Afghan refugees. Many more are living with families in small, over-crowded homes, struggling to access emergency aid.

Refugees International just returned from Pakistan again this week, where staff members spoke directly with displaced people, aid workers and government officials to ensure that the needs of displaced Pakistanis are not ignored. RI is now steering through the corridors of power providing the most credible information to policy makers on how to resolve this humanitarian crisis.

The world simply must respond more effectively to this crisis than it has to date. The U.S. has been generous, but other governments are lagging and the UN and private agencies are struggling to meet the massive needs. I have taken the initiative to write a letter to the Foreign Ministers of leading Arab and Islamic governments urging them to respond to the need for humanitarian aid to displaced Pakistanis.

Yet, there are also those refugees whose suffering is no longer making frequent headlines. According to the UN, there could be as many as 4.8 million displaced Iraqis, more than half inside Iraq and the rest scattered throughout the region. Many remain reluctant to return home due to continued violence, the creation of ethnically cleansed neighborhoods, and poor government services. Others have tried to return, but found their homes occupied or destroyed.

While we wait for the situation in Iraq to improve, we must continue to help those who cannot go home. We in Jordan have committed ourselves to providing aid and support to this population. The Noor Al Hussein Foundation, which I chair, is providing health care, rehabilitation services, and psycho-social counseling to thousands of Iraqis in Jordan through our Institute for Family Health. We have also expanded the Foundation's services to provide training to Iraqi youth in home business management and livelihood skills. This encourages entrepreneurship and strengthens their potential to earn incomes. These efforts are a small contribution to addressing the challenges these Iraqi families face while waiting to return home, but there is much yet to be done.

Refugees International continues to lead the call to support Iraqi refugees, as well as millions more displaced people fleeing the world's worst crises. The organization's 30 years of experience has contributed to peace and stability and improved the lives of displaced people in countries like Jordan, Iraq and Pakistan. On World Refugee Day, we should reflect on those we have helped. But we must also focus our gaze on how much more is needed to end the vicious cycle of violence and intolerance, and support a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Her Majesty Queen Noor has been a member of Refugees International's Board of Directors since 2001.

Comments

[messy]

" have lived and worked with the nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees—Lisa Halaby"

You mean the ones who tried to overthrow your husband and establish an Islamic republic on "Black September" in 1970?

The Palestinians ceased being refugees when you were a kid living in America.

[canuckgirl]

Queen Noor - I am impressed with all your global causes and commend you.
Our world needs more people like you to help make our world a better place.
You are genuine and a true human rights crusader. I applaud you,.

[brianmathewkowalchuk]

Queen Noor, I salute you. And there are not many I salute. May your courageous soul be always filled with the obvious love you have for mankind. There will always be naysayers, but, don't let them divert you from protecting those who have not, those who must rely on others to grant them mercy and shield them, however slightly, from the dark forces. Peace, not only to you and all the refugees, but to us all who must live in this world of constant sorrow. Lift up your eyes to the eternal light, which is not earthbound, which has no name, and is there for those who seek strength of character as the only true salvation.

[Lifer2006]

You and your husband are a great inspiration. Thanks so much!!

[James Dowaliby]

Queen Noor is an inspiration to us all - as she has been to the Hashemite Kingdom, Princeton University, Concord Academy, and the myriad educational institutions and advocacy programs she supports across the globe. Hers is a magic legacy, but one that demanded hard work and immense courage of her, her husband and her family.

My grandfather (born of Lebanese parents who immigrated to Brooklyn in the early 20th century), would tell stories in reverent tones otherwise reserved for Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, of a young man in Jordan who walked calmly back down the steps upon which his grandfather had just been assassinated, picked up his hat blown off in the melee, replaced it on his head - all the while staring down his grandfather's killers - before turning slowly and walking back up the stairs.

My grandfather also spoke of Najeeb Halaby, was himself an inspiration, especially to Americans of Syrian and Lebanese descent. An amazing man who worked his way up in this country, Halaby helped found Pan American Airways, helped save the American University in Beirut, was somehow instrumental in the Lebanese Pavilion at the 1996 New York Word's Fair, and raised a daughter to be Queen.

Honour is due - not so much for the past, valiant though it was and remains today - but for the current and continuing work of the King Hussein Foundation, the Noor Al-Hussein Foundation, and the day-to-day work of Queen Noor.

Besides, who else would have knighted Stephen

[MsIrisMG]

Wish you could have finished your thought...­it was very informative and interesting! Darn these word limits!

[Dredd]

As it turns out in the big picture, humanity is a refugee, so to honour refugees is to honour the big picture.

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/06/ecocosmology.html

[Balzac]

Slurp.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

Very good article, your majesty.


Jordan itself is an example of constructive progress and development in the Middle East.

[friedfish2718]

I see few are talking about the occupation of Jordan.

The current king of Jordan cannot be seen as legitimate since the original home of the Hashemites
is in the Arabian Peninsula (Hejaz), not Jordan. The king of Najd named Ibn Saud annexed the Hejaz in 1925 and the Hashemites were placed in Iraq and Jordan by the British.

Black September (1970) was all about the House of Hashim suppressing the autonomy of the Palestinians in Jordan.

[Hanna Atallah]

seriously restudy your history and facts who, ever you are.

[MsIrisMG]

Who cares, really?

[hmargret]

Leadership is alot of the problem. There would be no refugees if leadership worked for the people.
it's like everyone is shocked about starvation, but the leaders and wealthy do token efforts to stop it.

[Chuck Denk]

Queen Noor, the world needs more people like you. People and organizations that are compassionate and dedicated to helping refugees. Listening to Angelina Jolie's comments about some of the refugees who have been helped, about the refugees who could have been very productive citrizens whose lives were cut short; it just breaks my heart to think about what might have been. Those whose lives were cut short, needlessly, could have been akin to a Mohatma Ghandi or an Albert Schweitzer. It's impossible to know exactly how high of a price has been paid. Regardless of potential value, each and every refugee is a human being who deserves food and shelter. The more we can prevent the promotion of xenophobic behavior by government leaders (be it ethnically or theocratically motivated), especially by those who are charismatic, all the more we will be able to prevent what is probably the main cause of people becoming refugees.

[Mares]

Jordan, an extremely wealthy country doesn't give money to help refugees, rather it expects other countries to do that instead. Jordan treats what few refugees that have gone there, horribly and with neglect. Queen Noor needs to address that, before attempting to chasten others to do what she clearly doesn't care to do herself. She should demand that Jordan cease wasting obscene amounts on toys for Arab royalty, on man made ponds they race jet skis and boats on, race horses, designer clothing and luxury cars and jets and use those resources to help the poor.

[Hanna Atallah]

first, you are confusing Jordan with the gulf region.
second, Jordan is a country with no oil and little natural resources, even water is scarce. our GDP is solely from services and tourism.
third, the government is struggling to provide to its people, whether education wise or infrastructure wise but it is doing great regardless as we have a lot of Jordanians who need the basics in life let alone helping refugees which it is doing the best it can do at the moment regardless.

hope you check your facts next time from more than one source and try avoiding rumors.

[MsIrisMG]

If this is true, then it makes the Jordanian's government's willingness to accept refugees at all instead of sending them back because "we can't afford you" quite astounding. I know it's probably a strain on everybody, but I commend your government for being so welcoming.

The former Queen, as well as her stepson and his family seem like good people.

[JerseyBob]

I'm currently enrolled in "Middle East Mosaic: People and Civilizati­ons." The course promotes understanding of the richness of the Middle East in the context of its environment and unique historical events. It peeks at a large history from the bottom up, from people and the lands they call home. I would suggest most in the west haven't a clue -it's far away. Well, it isn't that far. Our sons and daughters are casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran is on your television now by dint of current technology.

Queen Noor's memoir "Leap of Faith" was referred to in class and perhaps half the class had read it. Linda Pappas Funsch, who teaches at Hood College and Frederick Community College energetically delivers this course which opens many doors of inquiry.

Queen Noor is to be commended for her advocacy for the displaced persons of the Middle East. They are not far away at all.

[juliaizen]

Dear Queen Noor

Almost everyone is a "refugee", in the sense that few of us reside in the same places we once did, for whatever reason. My mother fled Berlin and the Holocaust, in the middle-of-the-night in 1936. My beloved friend Salwa and her family were forced to flee Palestine due to the incursion of European Jews, and the subsequent occupation. Aside from superficial differences, our stories; the stories of all "refugees", are the same. We may be "refugees" from a particular place, but we are all human beings who remain citizens of the world. Therefore, as you are doing, let us support all "refugees" in trying to create a new life, a new world.

[LateBoomer2]

So true, Juliaizen. My mother's parents were refugees from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. They knew if they stayed they and their children would just be cannon fodder in the wars that were inevitably coming. Even my father's father, who came from England, was probably fleeing total lack of opportunity for the relative abundance of the new world.

We are all refugees, or descendants of them. Let us follow Queen Noor's wonderful work and example. Thank you, Queen Noor.

[Eres]

Your parents or grandparents refugee status is non-transf­erable...a­s you sit comfortably in your safe home typing your post from your laptop luxuriously considering if you'll dine on steak or salmon for dinner this evening. You've heard about it read about but you know nothing of the misery of beig displaced at the barrel of a gun. Cold, hungry, sick, mourning, hungry.

My god Westerners are so arrogant and clueless.

[skippypicasso]

You are correct in your statement that no one born in a refugee camp or born to refugees from other generations can claim the status of refugee. Thank you so much for clarifying that.

[admarx]

Unless you are an Arab born in the Mandate of Palestine 2 years or more before Partition (everyone else in the world must have lived in their area for at least 10 years). That's how 750,000 becomes the 6 million "refugees" she talks of. And the world is silent on the 1 million Jewish refugees (according to the normal definition) from Arab lands. A majority of Israelis come from these families. I am not denying the suffering of the Arab refugees, but I am decrying the double standard.

[David Gallaher]

Putting the focus on refugees is the key to peace in the world. Thank you, Queen Noor, for leading the way. But, as is the case with ANYTHING, government is not the appropriate vehicle for dealing with refugees. Governments will only "warehouse" them, as the US penitentiary history proves.
You said:
"The global displacement crisis is both a humanitarian and a security issue. History shows that mass migrations pose a serious threat to regional stability, as we have seen in Palestine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and West Africa. The Middle East is particularly vulnerable as ongoing tensions are further strained by such large scale displaceme­nt."
"Stability" is irrelevant. Stability is what governments always enforce, which is why refugees will continue to suffer until governments get completely out of the "refugee business."
Peace....

[Whitley2009]

Queer Noor,
You are one classy lady. You will be condemned if you do and condemned if you don't. It will be very difficult for you to please everyone. You have, however, thus far demonstrated a great deal of intelligence and human compassion in attempting to deal with some very complex problems.