Social and Economic Impact of Large Refugee Populations on Host Developing Countries IV

by: Goh Ying Xian
   
     The article “Social and economic impact of large refugee population on host developing countries” is published by The United Nation Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 6 January 1997. The article is the outcome from the discussion of Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme. UNHCR is the agency that mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. UNHCR aimed to protect the rights and well – being of refugees. UNHCR also ensures that the refugees exercise the rights to seek asylum in another State.


     The article basically discusses how the refugees influx impact not only the social, but also economic and political of the host country. Refugees are those persons who have been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster. The article claimed that poorest countries have the highest population of refugees. The article also claimed that influx of refugees will put the conditions of economy, service and amenities of those countries in a more severe condition and may affect the development of the host country.


     It is observed that the purpose of the article would be to inform readers of the huge impact that brought by the influx of refugees if we do not handle them in a proper way. The writer targets the public group who concerned about refugees issues and to provide more information about impact of refugees to the society.


     In terms of structure, the article begins with the example on the “Emergency Assistance to Rwanda” to introduce the point of view that how refugees influx affect the country in multiple aspects. The introduction is related to what is happening nowadays and hence able to catch readers’ attention. When it comes to conclusion, the article restated that the cost that needed to pay in order to provide the asylum to the refugees. However, the article encourage the international community to play their role to support those country that keeping refugees, so that the development of those countries will not be affected seriously by the refugees.


     Language-wise, it is observed the article was written in a manner that good transition and good structure sentences were used. The article also uses numbering and numbered the points in order. This makes the readers easier to read and have a clearer picture on the whole topic the article is trying to convey. The language is simple and hence, it is suitable for the reader groups from various fields. The writer writes with a tone of impersonal objective. The tone creating a serious atmosphere which makes the readers concern on the topic that the article is trying to present. The choice of word makes the writing straight to the point and the information that wishes to convey is easily accessible. The article s arranged in such logic way which makes the reader to think according to the analogy.


     The article uses various rhetorical functions to put forward its points. The article use exemplification to clarify its topic. The article uses ample examples such as refugees in Nepal, Tanzania and Mozambican to illustrate the conditions of the refugees. For example, the article written that “…in Ngara, in the United Republic of Tanzania, the recent refugee influxes meant that the local population was outnumbered by a ratio of approximately 4: 1…” clearly shown that the great refugees influx that lead to the imbalance in ratio of the locals and refugees that might affect the normal living of the locals.


     The article also uses causes and effect as the rhetorical function to explain the point. The article had shown that multiple cause that lead to the various effect. The article stated various reason that causes refugees influx such as, the poverty of the country, the economic, environmental and social situation as well as the political difficulties in particular countries. The impacts of the influx are refugees outnumbered compared to locals, economic straining, limited service and infrastructure, damage to the environment and harm one country’s development. The use of cause and effect is an effective way to present the idea id a more organised way with chronology.
Besides, the article also uses process as one of the writing techniques to show how something happens. For example, economy restriction may cause the refugees to become poor. Hence, they are forced to migrate to another country which will lead to refugees’ influx. The consequence of influx is that the refugees are outnumbered compared to the locals and eventually affecting the routine of the locals.

     In a nutshell, the article proved to be well-planned as it achieve is target of spreading information on the impact that brought by the influx of the refugees. It was easy to understand the flow of the article as the article is organized using numbers provided with ample data, yet keep simple use of English. This way of presentation allows the reader to think logically about what is happening if we do not handle the problem properly. Overall, the article is well written.