By Aena I.
People are fighting wars all over the world. Whether the disputes are about land, religion, or politics, innocent people are getting caught in the crossfire. Why must so many lives be lost over such trivial and insignificant disagreements?
Right now, there are so many crises happening in the Middle East, especially Syria. ISIS, a bloodthirsty terrorist group is trying to gain power in the country, and civilians are fleeing in search of safety and opportunity. Their goal is to create division and chaos all over the world. No religion teaches killing, ISIS is fueled by evil, not Islam.
According to CNN, a Syrian becomes a refugee every 15 seconds and the number of refugees rose from 230,671 to over 2 million in a year. There has been an increase of nearly 1.8 million people over the past 12 months. Additionally, 4.25 million people have been displaced. UNHCR said, "more than 6 million people have been torn from their homes in the country. More Syrians are now forcibly displaced than is the case with any other country."
The refugees say, ‘We’ve come this far, we have walked 200km’. Some of them haven’t slept for nine days, and they say they can’t go back, they don’t have a home to go back to in Syria.
A CNN article states, “Syria is hemorrhaging women, children and men who cross borders often with little more than the clothes on their backs." It is heartbreaking to think that these people left their homes in search for a new and better life, only to find themselves in the same, or even worse, situation than they were before.“They’re saying, ‘We’ve left one war zone to find ourselves in another – where are our human rights?’
I have the same question- where is the humanity? Human beings are being treated in such an unacceptable and inhumane way. it is despicable to think that the refugees are being denied access to shelter, food, and sanitation because of irrelevant differences. Humans are not being treated like humans anymore. There is so much inequality and there is nothing being done about it.
This photo shows the scene after a government warplane crashed in the center of the town of Ariha, in the northwestern province of Idlib, Syria, Monday, Aug. 3, 2015. (AP Photo)
Why are these innocent people suffering? What have they done wrong?
The Syrians who are being rejected by multiple countries and living on the streets don’t have access to medical care, food, and many other necessities. Many of them have serious injuries that cannot be cured due to their lack of resources.
As Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
If this bloodshed continues, there might not be a chance for peace. We need peaceful leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi again to put an end to this global hatred and violence. Our own Eleanor Roosevelt created the declaration of human rights and she should be an example for the world at large.
© 2016 Aena Iqbal. All rights reserved.