As the global recession reaches the Third World, developing nations have begun to adopt "nationals first" policies.
To relieve unemployment, many governments have decided to evict foreign nationals. Nigeria, Kenya, and Switzerland have all expelled foreign workers. It is likely that other African and Western European countries will soon follow suit.
Immigrant workers have no protection against this policy even though many, such as the Banyarwanda who were recently evicted from Uganda, were born in the countries now seeking to deport them.
Refugees are not safe from expulsion either, although in many cases they have been integrated into their respective countries of asylum. Tens of thousands have been refouled from Uganda, and according to Reuters New Service, Djibouti plans to deport 40,000 refugees back to Ethiopia by February 20.
While there are no easy answers to the deportation of foreign laborers and refugees, as ever-increasing numbers of residents are being forced to flee their countries, solutions must be found.
Cultural Survival would welcome articles or longer manuscripts describing actual or potentially volatile situations of this kind and proposing concrete solutions.
Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc.
