The Wire

With the ongoing ‘war on terror’, the proliferation of nuclear arms, global warming and abject poverty – what’s in store for the growing number of refugees world-wide? Today, there are over 20 million people who have been forced to flee their country because they fear persecution, and possibly another 25 million who haven’t been counted in this figure because they’re a transient population. Economic and environmental refugees aren’t even included in the refugee definition because they’re not persecuted, but these people are still forced to flee their country just to survive. According to Dr Eileen Pittaway, the Director of the Centre of Refugee Research, there are more refugees in Asia than there are in Africa, and unrest in the Middle East means it may not change for a while. However, evolving global power relations mean that in 50 years there’s no telling which country refugees may be fleeing from, currently powerful countries like America included. Elissar Mukhtar spoke to Dr Pittaway and asked her to predict what the greatest cause of refugees would be in 50 years time.