Introduction

This volume in the Blue-Ribbon series brings together scholars, former refugees, a social worker, and an internationally recognized artist in mural painting. Conflict and Forced Migration: Escape from Oppression and Stories of Survival, Resilience, and Hope is timely.

It is headline news that forced migration due to conflict, persecution, and violence is a world-wide human catastrophe in which over 68 million people have been displaced. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) currently reports (the numbers change and are getting worse) that one in every 110 people are forced to flee their homes and that someone is forced to flee their home every two seconds. Over 40 million are internally displaced persons (IDPs), people who have fled their home but remain in their home country. Over 25 million are refugees, people who have forsaken their homes and homeland. They have crossed their country’s borders seeking safety and refuge. For example, since the civil war in Syria began in 2011, over six million Syrians are IDPs and over five million are refugees. That’s 12 million people, half of Syria’s population. People who flee to escape from violence, war, and persecution, abandon all they have, many times at a moment’s notice.