In Europe, respectively in Germany, the term “refugee camp” is familiar to only a few people, however they existed in recent German history, after World War II for example or before the turnaround (German reunification in 1990) to host refugees from eastern Germany. In an apparently modern and peaceful time broad levels of the population are not fully aware that especially in developing and emerging nations many people are forced to leave their home country, because they are politically persecuted or wars, starvation or ecological disasters cause them to leave. Refugee camps serve for different purposes, for example as a shelter before the continuation of the journey or as an asylum to apply for a residence permit.
Today in Germany refugee caps are mainly used to sustain asylum seekers and save their existential necessities of life. But the well equipped camps can not be compared with those in troubled areas, where the flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees cause enormous problems. Basic accommodation with food can be sustained mostly, but the overcrowding of the camps can cause serious consequences like outbreaks of pandemic diseases for example. Especially the medical and sanitary aspects mostly can not be fully considered for financial reasons.
National administrations are mainly attempted to make the refugees detention as short as possible. Generic rights, like humane accommodation, the right to work or psychic care mostly come off badly. It has to be respected, that many refugees bring along serious psychic damages, because they were probably raped or had to see family members or friends getting murdered. Furthermore there are many children among the refugees, who had to witness a dramatic and exhausting escape.
Because of these facts it is possible to visualize the background and conditions and to recall the importance of refugee camps. Especially the people in the industrial nations carry a large responsibility, because some of the problems, global warming for example, are mainly caused by them.
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