We Should Have Seen This Refugee Crisis Coming
There are some things we can never know: The grief of a Syrian father as he finds his three-year-old son lifeless on the beach; how it feels to leave your home and community behind in the dark of night, knowing you may never return, with nothing but the need to keep your family safe from harm.
But we should be able to know when and where the next migration will occur. We should be able to predict how many people it will affect and the impact on surrounding areas. We have the technology—right here, right now—to create a new, agile, insightful model that will predict mass migrations and help us better serve displaced families even before they are displaced. We can do all this now. And we must.
Over the past few weeks I have watched along with the rest of the world as the refugee crisis reached a fever pitch in Europe, fueled primarily by the war in Syria, with thousands of desperate refugees breaking the levees established by an international community determined to keep them confined. I watched as they ran across the Hungarian border and resolved to walk 155 miles to Austria where they might have the opportunity to be treated with the compassion and respect they deserve as innocent civilians fleeing years of violence and persecution. As a first-generation Syrian American and advocate for refugees and civilians in conflict, I understand some of the obstacles involved in trying to escape a war. The heartbreak of witnessing my family become refugees and being helpless to stop it is indescribable. The international community must increase accessible, secure pathways to safety for those that seek it—but let’s put aside the fact that of course policy changes could alleviate many of the challenges refugees face. If Policy and Technology were two mischievous children, Technology is who I would be shaking my head at with a disappointed look saying ‘From you, I expected more.’ That’s the thing about innovation—there is no precedent for creativity.
We are in the midst of the largest refugee crisis on record, one that is still growing. The UNHCR estimates that there are approximately 60 million people displaced worldwide with 42,500 newly displaced each day. A migration of comparable magnitude has not been witnessed in 70 years, since the end of World War II. Many things have changed since then—innovation has been infused into nearly every aspect of modern life—with the exception of our response to mass migrations and refugee situations.
http://www.wired.com/2015/09/able-predict-refugee-crisis/