More must be done globally to protect victims of forced displacement

It is titled I have found my home.

Beautifully expressed, it is succinct and powerful in getting a message across about a refugee's journey. Forced to flee to find safety, taking risks of a hazardous voyage, not losing hope, and feeling optimistic about the future albeit with sadness at leaving a place you once called home.

The winds wrestle my tussled hair

As our boat rocks on the treacherous sea.

Our new land in view, our old crumbling under gunfire.

I stumble on the broken ground.

After weeks under a steel roof

Where not even moss grows,

There is news;

The gates creak open and the sunlight floods in,

Washing us with joy,

We are free!

Words like icy water thunder down on my head

Scaring me,

Trying to stop me

But nothing can stop me now.

I have found my home.

We used to live there but now we live here.

Unfortunately, we are living in a time of record forced displacement, at the same time that there is a declining political will to protect vulnerable people.

In a world where over 82 million are displaced and over 26 million people are refugees, all affluent countries need to do more - for example, helping less affluent countries that are supporting refugees, as well as committing to more reasonable numbers of resettlement places.

In 2019, over 1.4 million refugees were in urgent need of resettlement worldwide and only a fraction - around 4.5 percent - were resettled.

There is something seriously wrong with this equation.

And these numbers will only get worse if there is no will to rectify them.

The global community has a responsibility to re-establish the integrity of the refugee protection regime, by working towards common values and greater international cooperation to help protect the most vulnerable.

The worsening situation in Afghanistan has again put the spotlight on the vulnerability of forcibly displaced people and refugees.

It would appear that a very small percentage of people needing help will be saved, leaving many behind who will likely experience displacement multiple times before they find protection and a place to live, if at all.

Day by day, as the world watches this crisis of humanity, it is difficult to even begin to contemplate the future of those men, women and children left behind who will never find their home.