Noah D. Arney

Tag: refugees

  • Thoughts on the Syrian Refugee Crisis

    I thought I’d take a look at the countries who are hosting the most Syrian Refugees. So with a quick skim of news reports and Wikipedia I have this.

    These are the countries that have brought in the most Syrian refugees by percentage of their population:
    Lebanon (22%)
    Jordan (10%)
    Macedonia (10%)
    Serbia (4%)
    Greece (4%)
    Turkey (4%)
    Kuwait (2%)
    Qatar (2%)
    Croatia (1.5%)
    Sweden (1%)
    UAE (1%)

    The honorable mentions are:
    Germany (almost 500,000)
    Egypt (130,000)
    and surprisingly
    Saudi Arabia (75,000)

    Remember that the next time someone says that the middle eastern countries aren’t pulling their weight. Saudi Arabia has even brought in more than three times more refugees than Canada’s 25,000 (four times if you’re determining it as a percentage of population).

    And the US? 3000 refugees. That’s lower than any other developed country except for Japan (refusing to take any), Israel (refusing to take any), China (refusing to take any), India (they’ve taken in about 50) Czech Republic (holding the few they have in prisons and under investigation for human rights violations), & Finland (though they’ve accepted 20 times more refugees by percentage of population than the US).

    Think about that a bit.

  • Canada’s Response to the Refugee Crisis

    This post has been percolating for over a month now. So sorry it’s a bit long but I like giving facts and doing my best to not misrepresent people. I don’t often include Bible verses on my blog but today I am.

    Matthew 25:34-36

    Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

    A few weeks ago I asked my local MP (the Honorable Ed Fast) about Canada’s response to the war against ISIS and the refugee crisis that has been made immeasurably worse because of it. I agree with MCC on this in that a lasting solution needs to be a non-military solution that removes or reduces the reasons for radicalization and works toward peace. I was concerned that the Prime Minister seemed to be advocating for more military action because of the refugee crisis.

    His response was:

    “With respect to the Syrian conflict, let me correct you by saying that the Prime Minister has not advocated for MORE military action (as you have suggested) but for a balanced approach which includes three pillars: humanitarian assistance (of which Canada is one of the world’s largest donors), military intervention and resettlement of refugees. We do not have any plans to increase our military presence in Syria and Iraq.”

    (more…)