ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: As many as 175 million people in the world are living as refugees, which is double the figure than that in 1975, the World Disasters Report revealed.

The report was launched by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

This ever-increasing number of refugees in turn will encourage organized crime and put forced migrants at greater risk. And, if the wealthy countries restrict asylum applications, less wealthy ‘front-line’ states — such as Iran or Pakistan that have hosted millions of refugees for years — will be tempted to do the same. One solution to reduce the pressure on the Northern asylum systems could be to issue economic migrants with work visas, the report added.

At present, 175 million people now live outside their countries of birth. Many are economic migrants, who may be fleeing poverty and severe deprivation. They are also an important development resource for their home countries, remitting about $80 billion per year to developing nations (compared to $50 billion in world aid), the report said.

But, while many opt to migrate, tens of millions are forced to flee life-threatening conditions at home. Largely unprotected by international laws and institutions, their plight is a forgotten disaster.

The 1951 UN Refugee Convention protects only those who have crossed an international border and have a ‘well-founded fear of being persecuted’ if they were to return home. In this category there are currently about 16 million refugees worldwide.

But, many more, who flee war, natural disaster, violence or destitution are not usually considered refugees. Those who cannot cross a border remain ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDPs), numbering about 25 million worldwide. Their safety remains a major concern, since simply reaching them is often very difficult.

An estimated 25 million more people have become ‘environmental migrants’, fleeing natural disaster or displaced by development projects such as dam or road building. Up to four million fall victim each year to human traffickers.

The plight of millions of forced migrants raises serious ethical and legal questions. The Refugee Convention’s narrow definition fails to protect those who cannot prove they would suffer ‘persecution’ at home.

While Convention refugees clearly deserve international protection, far larger numbers of forced migrants remain vulnerable and under-protected. The UN has developed guiding principles to help IDPs, but no UN agency is mandated to help them. National governments are technically responsible, but millions go unaided.

Meanwhile, asylum policies in the developed world seriously compromise the security and rights of refugees and migrants. Australia, for example, refuses boat arrivals of migrants and sends them to other Pacific countries for processing.

Those seeking asylum in the North are routinely hampered by strict visa requirements, ‘carrier’ sanctions and very slow processing of claims.