10 Revealing Facts About Poverty in Hungary

Poverty in Hungary
Hungary is a nation of 10 million people in Central Europe. Even though the country has a very high standard of living, many of its people live in poverty. Here are 10 facts about poverty in Hungary:

  1. According to a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the portion of Hungarian children living in relative poverty has risen from seven percent in 2007 to 17% in 2012. As housing prices have increased, especially outside of cities, it has become increasingly difficult for families to find affordable housing.
  2. Fewer people live in poverty in Hungary than the EU average. While the average number of people living below the poverty line in the EU is 17%, this number in Hungary is 14.6%.
  3. Many young people feel like they have no future in the country. According to a report by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, about half of people between the ages of 19 and 30 would like to work abroad.
  4. As housing prices have soared, more families are accumulating debt. Housing prices have increased by an average of 31% over the past three years. The only European country with quicker rising real estate prices is Sweden.
  5. Almost half of Hungarians–44%–can not afford basic resources. This compares with an average of 19% across the EU.
  6. The highest rates of poverty in Hungary are in the northeastern part of the country. The regions of Ezak-Magyarorzag and Eszak-Alfold have poverty rates above the EU average. The causes of this range from inadequate infrastructure to little economic activity to an insufficiently skilled workforce.
  7. For every 1,000 Hungarian children, 6.1 die before their fifth birthday, according to a report by the Save the Children Foundation. This is above the EU average as well as the rates in countries such as Libya, Bulgaria, Cuba and Macedonia. Since malnutrition is contributing significantly to this abnormally high statistic and hunger is a taboo subject in Hungary, the Save the Children Foundation has started an initiative to provide vitamins, baby formula and medicine to children and expecting mothers.
  8. Recently, more children have been taken from their families due to poverty. The government places children in orphanages and forbids them from returning home to see their parents.
  9. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto believes that digitalization may be the key to reducing poverty. Szijjarto said in a U.N. address that Hungary wants to be a hub for digital innovation. The government plans to reduce the tax rate on internet services and bring broadband with speeds of 30Mbps to all Hungarians by 2018.
  10. The unemployment rate in Hungary was only 4.5% as of the fourth quarter of 2016. This is better than the OECD average and similar to the rate in the U.S.

While Hungarians face several poverty-related issues, from rising housing prices to malnourished children, there is reason to be hopeful as the country’s government and organizations like Feed the Children are aware of the situation and have ideas to solve the problem of poverty in Hungary.

– Brock Hall

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About SARS

SARS
SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, comes from a coronavirus. Symptoms center around the respiratory system can lead to severe breathing problems if the patient goes without treatment. Here are ten facts about SARS:

  1. The first widespread case occurred in late 2002 in the Guangdong Province of the Republic of China. The delayed health response led to a global spread of the disease on par with the Ebola epidemic of 2014. The final statistic from WHO showed over 8,000 reported illnesses and more than 700 deaths.
  2. The disease was hard to diagnose due to its irregularity and similarity to pneumonia. Until 2000, cases of SARS were considered rare. Therefore, medical treatment of the virus was scarce, especially in developing countries where the spread happened fastest.
  3. Of the 194 countries that are the Member States of WHO, only 64 of them have efficient alert and response plans for unusual and rare disease outbreaks.
  4. The disease might have originated in animals. A report from the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific Region showed that “the palm civet in southern China may have played a crucial role in this respect and that the close relationship between animals and humans seems to have been a likely precondition for the virus to jump the species barrier.” A solution to preventing the initial infection of humans with SARS is to halt unhygienic veterinary and animal husbandry practices that are common in these areas.
  5. In Singapore, 76% of infections occurred in a healthcare facility. Additionally, SARS infected 42 percent of those were health care workers; 49 nurses, 13 physicians and 22 other specialists. Among the healthcare workers, there were no cases among laboratory workers or pathologists.
  6. The source of the Taiwanese outbreak was a 42-year-old laundry worker in a hospital who continued to work despite showing symptoms of SARS. It took 6 days for professionals to diagnose SARS.
  7. The epidemic in Taiwan was mainly due to the health care system’s poorly-executed response.
  8. In October 2012, the National Select Agent Registry added the SARS-associated CoV to its repertoire. The Registry handles the regulation and possession of bacteria, viruses and toxins that pose a potential threat to the public. The addition of the virus to this list ensures maintenance of a national database as well as inspections of objects that may possess, use or transfer SARS-CoV.
  9. SARS is no longer a large-scale threat, due to the global response and the willingness of countries to share their medical information with other countries to quickly control and eradicate the virus.
  10. Future outbreaks are still possible since the virus lives in wild bats and civets. Fortunately, since the end of the epidemics in 2004, there have been no reports of human cases.

SARS is no longer an imminent health concern, but reflecting on this outbreak can help prevent the spread of another viral outbreak like this. Training medical facilities in how to handle highly infectious diseases like SARS and open communication between health professionals around the globe is key to preventing the spread of such diseases.

– Taylor Elgarten

Photo: Google

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Heart Ailments Top List of Common Diseases in the Philippines


Heart ailments are still the most fatal and most common diseases in the Philippines, according to the country’s Department of Health.

Called the “silent epidemic” by former Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have topped the list of most common diseases in the Philippines over the past few years, responsible for 15 to 20% of reported deaths annually. In some years, these numbers are significantly higher. In 2012, the National Statistics Office reported that half of the country’s deaths stemmed from cardiovascular causes.

The most common of these ailments is coronary heart disease. Other heart ailments such as angina, atherosclerosis, hypertension and congenital heart disease have also been rampant among Filipinos.
Heart diseases can lead to other complications in vital organs, which makes the commonness of heart conditions alarming.

The Department of Health has estimated an increase in the number of kidney disease incidences from 10 to 15% annually starting in 2013. The trend coincides with increases in reported hypertension cases. Hypertensive patients are more likely to develop kidney complications.

Analysts trace the cause of these diseases to two main factors: growing urbanization and a general unawareness of public health issues. As cited in a 2015 study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the quick development of high-paying industries and subsequent rapid economic growth have given Filipino consumers more purchasing power than ever before. Yet this growth has not always necessarily translated to a shift toward healthier options or awareness of healthier food alternatives. Fast food consumption is higher than ever before, with 25% a week according to Nielsen.

The Filipino government acknowledges the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among the citizenry and has put in place several strategies and plans to combat the increase in cases. The Health Department has begun its efforts to remove CVDs from the top of the list of the most common diseases in the Philippines by targeting the most basic of social groups, schools, as a starting point for training, research and propagating information regarding the possible consequences of unbalanced diets and unhealthy life choices. The agency hopes that the chances of Filipinos adopting high-risk behaviors and habits that lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases will be diminished by informing citizens in their early years.

Other Health Department actions include the continued development of a framework for an integrated chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) registry system, which enables patients to access government programs more easily and train national hospitals for its operation. It has also established a national coalition on the prevention and control of NCDs. Its future plan of action involves the full implementation of the integrated NCD registry system and the development of service packages for patients, among many others.

– Bella Suansing

Photo: Flickr

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On Improving Water Quality in Bulgaria

Water Quality in Bulgaria
Bulgaria is a European country with a population of over 7.1 million. There is a history of unsafe drinking water throughout the country. Bulgaria has imposed heavy monitoring and various bans to help improve the situation. While the water quality in Bulgaria hasn’t always been up to par with other nations around the world, the nation has made some positive gains over the last few years.

Despite having 60 rivers flowing through the country, Bulgaria’s freshwater sources are scarce. The largest river is the massive Danube River, which travels through much of Europe, flows through 470 kilometers of Bulgaria. Rivers provide a potential source of clean water that could improve the water quality for Bulgaria’s citizens and in the near future.

On top of some of the problems already present, drought has ravaged the country, and the demand for drinkable water has increased. Scientists have forecasted additional droughts in the coming summer. Additionally, multiple heat waves continue to hit Bulgaria as the summer progresses.

Many districts in Bulgaria have had ongoing issues with low-quality drinking water. In 2012, 18 of the 28 Bulgarian districts reported contaminated drinking water. Water quality continues to be the worst in the southern districts of the country, most notably the district of Pazardzhik. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2012 that the district was well over the set limit of multiple contaminants.

Since joining the European Union in 2007,  the nation has issued bans for four sources of drinking water in Bulgaria due to poor water quality.

The future of Bulgaria depends on cleaning up rivers and waterways, as well as improving water retention. In addition, Bulgaria is working towards developing water treatment facilities around the country.

Water quality in Bulgaria varies throughout the country, but with proper infrastructure and treatment, there is potential for all of Bulgaria to have access to clean drinking water.

– Brendin Axtman

Photo: Flickr

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10 Women Who Have Helped Fight Global Poverty


Female leaders play a critical role in helping to end global poverty. Emphasizing the need for equity, education and improved health care services, these women have used their minds and resources as means for bettering the conditions of the world. Here is a list of 10 women who have helped fight global poverty.

Michelle Obama
Recognizing the necessity of educating girls and women around the world, Michelle Obama has continually advocated on behalf of the world’s poor. Citing education as a leading contributor to fighting global poverty, Michelle Obama has suggested that, by giving girls and women access to schooling, global poverty can be ended. In 2016, she launched a Twitter campaign entitled #62milliongirls, seeking to raise awareness regarding the number of women who remain uneducated. That year, with funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, she announced plans to provide $100 million for education efforts. Her efforts to emphasize education have managed to hinder the perpetuity of poverty throughout the world.

Angela Merkel
The current chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel provided Global Citizens with a straightforward message prior to the G20 Summit. She stated that the G20 group of major economies has “a shared responsibility to enable people worldwide to live in dignity.” Suggesting that the interconnectivity of the world established through the Internet and economy links people now more than ever, she emphasized sustainability and development. Merkel has established an ongoing desire to reduce poverty and conflict by teaming up with African nations to create stability. When she was declared Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2015, one of the main reasons cited was her tremendous generosity with refugees, having provided one million with refuge.

J. K. Rowling
Another of the most influential women who have helped fight global poverty is J. K. Rowling. She is a tremendous advocate on behalf of the world’s orphans, demanding that they receive more help than they were once provided. The author of the Harry Potter series established the Lumos Foundation, which works to help millions of children worldwide to regain their right to a family in the face of poverty, disability and minority status.

Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey does tremendous work for girls globally. Like Michelle Obama, Oprah values the role of education in improving women’s quality of life. As a result, she has funded a number of organizations that seek to grant women additional rights worldwide, including Women for Women International and Girl Effect. Women for Women International has assisted over 462,000 marginalized women in unstable, war-torn nations. Girl Effect prides itself on creating a new normal, where girls previously living in poverty are empowered through technology and safe spaces.

Melinda Gates
One of the two leaders of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates has made incredible strides toward ending global poverty. Emphasizing the need for quality healthcare and education in order to end poverty, Gates has used her organization to help provide children in poverty with exactly that. In particular, for many communities around the world, the Gates Foundation has provided financial tools to the poor, taught farmers how to increase production sustainability, helped women with family-planning, increased college completion rates and combatted infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV and polio.

Angelina Jolie
The recipient of the 2005 Global Humanitarian Action Award for her work with the U.N. Refugee Agency and refugees themselves, Angelina Jolie epitomizes global advocacy. Supporting 29 charities, including the Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan, the Clinton Global Initiative, Doctors Without Borders and the U.N. Millennium Project, Jolie has done unbelievable work in terms of ending global poverty. In 2016, Jolie worked to bring light to the ongoing need to help Syrian refugees.

Cindy Levin
Cindy Levin is another one of the most influential women who have helped fight global poverty. Seeking to engage children and stay-at-home parents in global child survival, she works to teach grassroots volunteers to fundraise through an organization known as RESULTS. In October of 2012, Levin traveled to Uganda with the U.N. Foundation’s Shot@Life Campaign, personally meeting mothers living in poverty. On that journey, she accompanied UNICEF to health programs days, which provided vaccines and AIDS testing to people living in the area.

Ellen Gustafson
Sustainable food system activist, author, innovator and social entrepreneur Ellen Gustafson has given TED talks about the necessity of using food as a means for ending global poverty. The creator of the ChangeDinner campaign, she seeks to change the food systems at dinner tables and in schools around the world. She is now a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Ertharin Cousin
The former executive director of the World Food Programme, Ertharin Cousin has been fighting global hunger since 2012. Using innovative tactics, Cousin implemented a program called “forecast-based financing.” The program utilized weather models to identify droughts prior to their occurrence in order to emphasize proactivity. Ultimately, the goal of this program was to enable countries to grow enough food before disaster hit, saving both money and lives.

Jacqueline Novogratz
Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder and chief executive officer of an organization called Acumen. Acumen prioritizes the voices of the world’s poor, using them as a compass for eliminating poverty. By creating the organization, Novogratz helped make significant strides in emphasizing what the poor truly need.

Clearly, women who have helped fight global poverty play a large role in beginning to combat the issue. While male, female and gender non-binary leaders continue to contribute significantly, it is still incumbent upon governments to provide funds to help address the problem. Only by ensuring that each of these entities works in tandem can the world truly ensure that poverty comes to an end.

– Emily Chazen

Photo: Flickr

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Fighting Non-Communicable Diseases in Brunei

Fighting Diseases in Brunei
Brunei is an incredibly small country that shares borders with Indonesia and Borneo. Some of the top diseases in Brunei include various cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases. These non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a widespread issue for countries in The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN focuses on improving political and international economic relations to improve the stability of Southeast Asia. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Brunei comprise the organization.

Brunei’s Ministry of Health is working to promote the prevention and treatment of these diseases. The ministry is concerned because the prevalence of these NCDs has paralleled the economic growth of ASEAN countries. Consequently, they called a meeting in 2013 with the health sector of ASEAN. Together, the two groups established goals that will attempt to control NCDs in the region by 2025.

For 30 years, NCDs have been among the most common diseases in Brunei and have been the leading cause of death. The government launched the Brunei Darussalam National Multisectoral Action Plan, which is working towards reducing NCD mortality rates by 18% by 2018. This is part of the larger goal to reduce mortality rates from NCDs by 25% before 2025.

This action plan includes five main goals to combat common diseases in Brunei. They aim to reduce tobacco use, promote healthy diets, increase physical activity, identify at-risk individuals and improve NCD treatment. With these goals in place, Brunei expects to see a reduction in the rate of diabetes by 1 percent before 2018. Diabetes is a major issue in Brunei, where 62% of people are overweight.

These programs have been successful thus far. The World Health Organization (WHO) created the NCDs Progress Monitor to track the progress of ASEAN countries. According to the WHO, Brunei has made the most progress in terms of fighting NCDs out of all ASEAN countries. The WHO has highlighted Brunei’s progress in particular areas, including drug and alcohol counseling, tobacco usage warnings and public awareness programs.

Although there is still potential for further progress, this report from the WHO indicates that Brunei is moving in the right direction to combat NCDs.

Photo: Flickr

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Top Diseases in Belarus

Top Diseases in BelarusBelarus is a relatively large country in Europe with a population of 9.5 million people. The life expectancy in Belarus is 71 years with females living longer than males. Understanding the top diseases in Belarus is key to improving preventative care and medical assistance available to the citizens. The top 10 diseases in Belarus have remained the same over the last decade.

Ischemic heart disease is the most prevalent disease and has risen almost 9 percent in the last decade. Males are more likely to have heart disease later in life than females. Cerebrovascular disease has also maintained its position over the decade as the second-most prevalent diseases. However, it has seen a decrease of just about 5 percent over the last decade.

Belarus has the highest mortality rate due to cardiovascular diseases in Europe. There are other countries around Europe where the impact of heart disease is much lower. Places like Norway, France and the Netherlands all have relatively low rates of heart disease. Studying healthcare and government initiatives of these countries could help Belarus fight these disease on the home front.

Since 1983, cardiac rehabilitation has been routinely used by doctors in Belarus after a cardiac event. In 2016, 53 percent of patients underwent rehab to strengthen their heart back to working condition. The opportunity to monitor patients and control the rehab process with newer technology is working to bring people back to healthy lives after a cardiac event.

More of the top 10 diseases in Belarus include three different types of cancers. Lung cancer is the only cancer that is in the top five. The other two types of cancer are colorectal and stomach cancer.

Alzheimer’s disease saw an increase of 37 percent over the last decade and jumped from eighth on the list up to fourth.

The main risk factors for the top diseases in Belarus include diet, high blood pressure, alcohol and drug abuse and smoking. Many of these risk factors can be controlled with preventative measures. Controlling even a few of these risk factors could drastically reduce the number of cases of heart disease and cancers.

Belarus is still feeling the effects of communist rule under which healthcare was severely neglected. However, there is a very large number of doctors, about 42,000, relative to the size of the population. There is also emergency care available. The country has 834 hospitals and more than 100,000 beds.

The top diseases in Belarus are similar to the rest of the world, with heart disease as the leading cause of death. Focusing on controlling risk factors and increasing preventative care could help to decrease the prevalence of these diseases and increase the life expectancy for Belarusians.

– Brendin Axtman

Photo: Flickr

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A Brief Guide to Activism on YouTube

Activism on YouTube
Most of the millennial generation might remember the splash that “Kony 2012” made on the Internet, a video about Joseph Kony forcing child soldiers to fight his wars for him in Uganda. Regardless of the resulting conduct of the filmmaker, the film was a digital phenomenon, shared from every social media platform known at the time. There’s no mistaking the amount of awareness that the video generated. Kony 2012 was one of the first and most viral examples of activism on YouTube.

While bingeing on Netflix or finding the latest funny videos on YouTube can waste the day away, platforms such as YouTube also provide a unique space for creativity, art and passion that can easily be tied to activism and global issues. Whether it is a specific person or an organization, a YouTube channel can be the means to a movement. Below are some channels to get started with bineging on activism on YouTube:

  • Jacksgap: While this channel isn’t currently active, all of Jack and Finn Harries’ previous videos remain online, detailing their work and travel to support different charities and issues. Their videos showcase a blend of art and activism that is very well done. Jack Harries is currently traveling in Somalia to study the effects of climate change on the impoverished country.
  • The Uncultured Project: Now a charity, this is a channel run by Shawn Ahmed, designed to raise awareness about global poverty, initially while traveling around Bangladesh. He focuses his videos on a problem as well as a solution. Ahmed sends pictures to donors so they can see the direct impact of their donations.
  • Vlogbrothers: Brothers Hank and John Green, the latter being a famous young adult author, achieved their YouTube success with the idea of Nerdfighteria, which fights the stigma of “the nerd.” However, they also created the Project for Awesome, a way for their subscribers to advocate for charities by making their own videos.
  • Engage by Uplift: This channel advocates against sexual violence in all of its different forms. It seeks to educate and raise awareness for the various aspects of the issue and calls its viewers to action in every video. In terms of activism on YouTube, this channel is upfront and consistent.
  • Tyler Oakley: Oakley focuses on LGBTQ activism by working with The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention. Besides its activism on YouTube, his channel includes plenty of fun and light videos as well as collaborations with other users to keep viewers entertained.

While this is certainly not a comprehensive list, this list provides a basic starting point for seeing what activism on YouTube has to offer. Social media is a major part of life in modern society, and these channels have used it to make a change.

– Ellie Ray

Photo: Flickr

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Understanding the Main Causes of Poverty in Timor-Leste

Causes of Poverty in Timor-Leste
After almost three decades of Indonesian occupation, Timor-Leste gained its independence in 2002. The widespread violence during the years of occupation has taken its toll, however, and, since independence, the nation has striven to rebuild. Despite these efforts, Timor-Leste remains one of the world’s poorest nations, with an estimated 42 percent of the population living in poverty. Before investigating methods by which this issue can be alleviated, it is important to understand the main causes of poverty in Timor-Leste.

  1. Much of Timor-Leste’s economic infrastructure became severely damaged during the years of Indonesian occupation. This has negatively impacted many of the country’s essential services, such as healthcare, agriculture and education. The lack of infrastructure has further exacerbated the country’s food insecurity. With many people reliant on harvested crops as their primary source of food, large amounts of these crops have been improperly allocated or are traded on the black market, compounding the issue of hunger.
  2. Timor-Leste faces challenges from its surrounding geography. The country’s uneven terrain makes both farming and water-gathering difficult, with only 30 percent of arable land currently used in farming. Around 70 percent of the nation’s population lives in rural areas and are reliant on agriculture as their primary food source. However, they are faced with the challenges of tackling the wet and dry seasons. Natural disasters also make this difficult, with floods and droughts the cause of large losses. As a result, many families who are reliant on farming are only able to produce enough food for eight months of the year.
  3. Food shortages contribute to a large number of illnesses and diseases in Timor-Leste. Malnutrition is widespread, and proper health care is hard to come by, particularly for those in rural areas. Maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, and 45 out of every 1,000 children are expected to die before their first birthday. Of those who survive, many are stunted due to poor nutrition.
  4. Water and sanitation also create problems for health care. Of all Timorese, 300,000 do not have access to clean water, with large numbers of the population using public taps and unprotected springs to get the water they need. Additionally, 700,000 people are without adequate sanitation. The lack of these basic facilities enables disease to spread, resulting in unnecessary deaths, particularly of young children.
  5. Education attainment levels in Timor-Leste are low, with a lack of literacy among the population being particularly problematic. Prior to independence, many of the country’s schools were destroyed and teachers were in short supply. A 2015 UNESCO report found numerous challenges facing the education system. Dropout and attendance rates, particularly those of girls, is one of the key issues the country is facing.
  6. One of the primary reasons education is a major cause of poverty in Timor-Leste is the direct impact it has on employment. While more than three-quarters of Timor-Leste’s workers are employed within the primary sector, employment outside of this area is limited. The country’s educational issues prevent the development of a skilled workforce, which hinders the ability of the government to function effectively. This skill gap is particularly problematic for Timorese youths, where educational inadequacies have led to a 40 percent unemployment level. Further compounding this issue is the lack of job creation outside of government, with the private sector only able to create an estimated 400 jobs per annum.
  7. While Timor-Leste receives foreign aid from a multitude of sources, questions have been raised as to whether aid has delivered any observable results. Policies of donors may not necessarily be in line with what is best for the country, particularly when focused on the public versus private sector. Despite this, a recent government report shows that critical areas of health, agriculture and education are receiving significant investment through foreign aid. As some of the primary causes of poverty in Timor-Leste, further investment in these areas may enable at least a small alleviation of the poverty facing the country.

As a young nation with limited resources, assistance from the developed world is critical to progress in Timor-Leste. Increased foreign aid, focused on the primary causes of poverty in the country, will be a strong starting point to enabling a stable economic future for Timor-Leste.

– Gavin Callander

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Refugees in Singapore

Refugees in Singapore
In recent history, Singapore has had a complicated relationship with refugees. Having been burned once before, Singapore now routinely turns away refugees with the intention of turning the responsibility over to a third party. But should they be doing more to help? Here to help you decide are ten facts about refugees in Singapore:

  1. Following the Vietnam war, refugees known as “Vietnamese boat people” came flooding out of their country to Southeast Asia looking for a safe haven. With this refugee crisis in mind, the Singapore government and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) agreed on a policy that would provide refugees with international protection. Singapore was to be a kind of limbo by temporarily housing refugees in a transit camp while the UNHCR planned for a more permanent resettlement.
  2. However, the number of refugees continuously arriving proved to be too great, and after a 1989 conference on Indochinese refugees in which committee members decided to enact a new policy called the Comprehensive Plan of Action, Singapore’s transit camp suffered greatly. With a new refugee screening policy in place, Singapore continued to accept new entrants, but the entrants were now not guaranteed resettlement, even temporarily.
  3. Singapore’s transit camp was now a place for rejected asylum seekers to gather, many of whom refused to leave voluntarily. The threat of repatriation caused many refugees to protest the UNHCR, go on hunger strike, or even attempt suicide. Singapore government officials, feeling betrayed by resettlement countries and embittered by the whole experience, closed the camp in 1996 and promised that refugees would no longer be allowed in Singapore, even if another country pledged to take them in.
  4. For many years, Singapore held firm to this policy, stopping refugees at coastlines and, instead of taking them in, providing them with food, water and fuel before sending them away.
  5. However, Singapore’s refugee policy has been slowly softening in recent years. In 2009, Singapore’s Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, addressed the problem of Rohingyas searching for, and being unable to find, a haven after fleeing from Burma. A senior minister of state for foreign affairs clarified that Singapore could not accept asylum seekers, but would offer humanitarian aid so that they could depart for another country.
  6. Apart from Singapore’s unpleasant experience with refugees in the past, the government gives one other reason for refusing to accept new entrants into the country: space. Singapore is the second smallest country in Asia and also one of the most densely populated. Refugees would certainly put an extra strain on the country’s infrastructure.
  7. A lack of space cannot be reason alone to reject refugees, as Singapore actually plans to increase its population from approximately 5.5 million to up to 6.9 million by the year 2030. In 2013, Singapore’s Population White Paper projected this growth, arguing that the country’s land area has grown by 23 percent since 1965 and that increasingly stable investments into infrastructure facilities and land capacity make this population growth sustainable.
  8. As of right now, refugees in Singapore are completely unwelcome, joining one of many Southeast Asian countries that refuse to do so.
  9. It may be, though, that Singapore is finally healing from its past experiences with refugees. In 2016, the UNCHR launched a new campaign to appeal to governments around the world to join the fight to end statelessness, with a special chapter dedicated to Advocates for Refugees in Singapore (the AFR-SG).
  10. Singapore is still a long way away from changing its policy on accepting refugees, but with the continued efforts of the UNCHR, the AFR-SG and anybody who takes the time to help, it is possible to move toward finding a home for the millions of people still left stateless.

– Audrey Palzkill

Photo: Flickr