No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis

Syrians crossing the Mediterranean in ramshackle boats bound for Europe; Sudanese refugees, their belongings on their backs, fleeing overland into neighboring countries; children separated from their parents at the US/Mexico border--these are the images that the Global Refugee Crisis conjures to many. In the news we often see photos of people in transit, suffering untold deprivations in desperate bids to escape their countries and find safety. But behind these images, there is a second crisis--a crisis of arrival. Refugees in the 21st century have only three real options--urban slums, squalid refugee camps, or dangerous journeys to seek asylum--and none provide genuine refuge. In No Refuge, political philosopher Serena Parekh calls this the second refugee crisis: the crisis of the millions of people who, having fled their homes, are stuck for decades in the dehumanizing and hopeless limbo of refugees camps and informal urban spaces, most of which are in the Global South. Ninety-nine percent of these refugees are never resettled in other countries. Their suffering only begins when they leave their war-torn homes. As Parekh urgently argues by drawing from numerous first-person accounts, conditions in many refugee camps and urban slums are so bleak that to make people live in them for prolonged periods of time is to deny them human dignity. It's no wonder that refugees increasingly risk their lives to seek asylum directly in the West. Drawing from extensive first-hand accounts of life as a refugee with nowhere to go, Parekh argues that we need a moral response to these crises--one that assumes the humanity of refugees in addition to the challenges that states have when they accept refugees. Only once we grasp that the global refugee crisis has these two dimensions--the asylum crisis for Western states and the crisis for refugees who cannot find refuge--can we reckon with a response proportionate to the complexities we face. Countries and citizens have a moral obligation to address the structures that unjustly prevent refugees from accessing the minimum conditions of human dignity. As Parekh shows, there are ways we as citizens can respond to the global refugee crisis, and indeed we are morally obligated to do so.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Turbulence Introduction: A Tale of Two Refugee Crises Part I: The First Crisis - The Crisis for Western Countries Chapter 1: Understanding Refugees Chapter 2: Moral Obligations Or Why We Should Help People Even if We Don't Like Them Chapter 3: Reasons For and Against Accepting Refugees: A Philosophical Overview Part II: The Second Crisis - The Crisis for Refugees Chapter 4: Refugee Camps and Urban Settlements - The Problem We Have Created Chapter 5: The Price We Demand for Asylum Chapter 6: Structural Injustice Conclusion: What Should I Do? What Should We Do?

About the Author :
Serena Parekh is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University in Boston, where she directs the Politics, Philosophy, and Economics Program (PPE). Her primary philosophical interests are in social and political philosophy, feminist theory, and continental philosophy. Her most recent book, Refugees and the Ethics of Forced Displacement, was published with Routledge in 2017. Her first book, Hannah Arendt and the Challenge of Modernity: A Phenomenology of Human Rights (Routledge), was published in 2008 and translated into Chinese. She has also published numerous articles on social and political philosophy in Hypatia, Philosophy and Social Criticism, and Human Rights Quarterly.

Review :
"Parekh...provides a valuable introduction to contemporary refugee issues, avoiding the jargon of the international refugee regime in favor of an informal, almost conversational approach...Her argument is indeed a moral one, that everyone must help ensure 'minimum conditions of human dignity' for all people. Since refugees are outside their own origin country, it falls to the more economically developed countries in the world to ensure those minimum conditions for them. The developed countries, she points out, 'are in a position to easily help,' as she calmly debunks the supposed dangers that refugees bring, whether in monetary costs, human security, or cultural coherence. Her description of the hazards in seeking asylum, the 'last hope' for many refugees, is appropriately grueling. Importantly, her discussion includes vivid case examples from the journalistic literature that underscore the pain, loss, and uncertainty of being a refugee...Highly recommended." -- CHOICE "...[Q]uietly potent... The moral case for helping the world's refugees, solidly grounded in facts." -- Kirkus "This is an excellent book, accessible to ordinary citizens and valuable for philosophers as well. It provides a clear overview of the moral questions raised by refugees and explains effectively why it is important not to view this topic solely through the lens of immigration to Western states. It links this philosophical analysis to compelling narratives about the lives of refugees. No Refuge shows why all of us are responsible for the plight of refugees, why we have a duty to address this issue, and what we can do about it." -- Joseph H. Carens, University of Toronto "In this must-read book addressing one of the most urgent injustices of our age, Serena Parekh offers an empirically-grounded philosophical exploration of responsibilities towards refugees. Written with great clarity and sensitivity, this is real world philosophy at its finest. Now, more than ever, we need work like No Refuge. It demands a place on everyone's reading list." -- Sarah Fine, King's College London "No Refuge is an important contribution by a leading theorist on the pressing topic of displaced persons. Everyone from concerned laypeople to scholars who study the global refugee crisis will profit from Serena Parekh's excellent book." -- Christopher Heath Wellman, Washington University in St. Louis "Through first-person accounts of the dehumanizing conditions refugees endure, [Parekh] works to clarify the challenges for Western countries who provide asylum and the dangers faced by those who seek and cannot find it." -- Publishers Weekly "... [Q]uietly potent... The moral case for helping the world's refugees, solidly grounded in facts." -- Kirkus