By Kato Mukasa
By the end of 2024, the number of people forced from their homes worldwide had reached a record 123 million. That is more than the entire population of Japan. Put simply, one in every 67 human beings on Earth is now a refugee, asylum seeker, or internally displaced person. Behind this staggering figure lies one truth: no one abandons their home lightly.
The refugee crisis is not an abstract problem. It is a family running through the night with nothing but a bag. It is a farmer watching floodwaters swallow his land. It is a mother weighing whether to risk the sea or starve at home. It is also a global story — a mirror showing us what happens when war, poverty, climate change, and bad politics collide.
It’s a story about me, a Ugandan lawyer, a human rights activist fleeing home to save my life because regime operatives think I am a threat if left at liberty. I write this article passionately because I am one of the victims and I have helped victims that find themselves in such a situation.
Why People Flee
There are three engines driving today’s refugee crisis.
First are the wars. Sudan’s brutal conflict has displaced millions within a single year. Syria’s war, entering its second decade, continues to uproot entire communities. Ukraine’s war has forced millions into neighbouring countries. War shatters the foundation of home, leaving people with no choice but flight.
Second is climate change. Droughts in the Horn of Africa, cyclones in Mozambique, and floods in Nigeria are uprooting families in their millions. In 2024 alone, 65.8 million new displacements were recorded globally — most linked to natural disasters. For many, the slow violence of climate change is as deadly as bullets.
Third is bad politics, often worsened by outside interference. Dictatorships, corrupt elites, and foreign meddling turn fragile states into failed ones. As a Yoruba proverb reminds us, “When the drumbeat changes, the dance must change also.” People flee because their leaders fail to change the drumbeat of governance.
Africa at the Frontline: Uganda’s Story
Contrary to the images on Western television, most refugees do not end up in Europe or America. They stay close to home, often in the poorest countries. Two-thirds of all refugees live in neighbouring states, and nearly three-quarters are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.
Uganda has become a global example. With 1.8 million refugees, it is Africa’s largest host. Most come from South Sudan, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet Uganda has chosen a rare path: it allows refugees to work, move freely, and even cultivate land. The Refugees Act of 2006 gives displaced people dignity and self-reliance. As the Kenyan saying goes, “When the roots are deep, there is no reason to fear the wind.” Uganda’s roots in humane policy towards refugees give hope in a storm.
But generosity alone cannot sustain millions. Funding is dangerously low. Humanitarian agencies warn that without more support, even Uganda’s progressive system may collapse. During my work as a human rights lawyer in Uganda, I saw at firsthand the challenges many refugees go through especially atheists running away from Islamic states. Besides, Uganda’s government can only provide what they can and many refugees live with unmet needs.
Elsewhere in Africa, Chad now shelters over a million Sudanese, Kenya’s camps are bursting, and Ethiopia is straining under pressure. The truth is simple: Africa is carrying the world’s load, yet receives far too little support. This may shock you but it’s true – there are very many Ugandan refugees in Kenya, Sudan and Zambia yet little is said about them. Credit is given to Uganda’s regime for hosting refugees when hundreds of Ugandans are fleeing their mother country to become refugees in deplorable refugee camps in Kenya, Sudan and Zambia.
Europe Under Strain
In Europe, the refugee debate has redefined politics. In 2024, over 912,000 people applied for asylum in the European Union. Germany received the largest number — about 230,000 — while France processed 158,000, Spain 167,000, and the Netherlands 32,000. Denmark took just 2,300.
The EU has responded with a new Pact on Migration and Asylum. It promises faster border screening, more solidarity between countries, and swifter deportations where claims fail. Yet beneath this attempt at order lies unease. In the Netherlands, reception centres overflowed to the point of legal intervention. In France, tough new immigration laws were partly struck down by courts. Spain wrestled with a backlog of cases, especially in the Canary Islands where unaccompanied minors arrive in large numbers. Germany expanded border checks, bowing to political pressure. Denmark pursued controversial plans to process asylum outside its borders.
Europe’s struggle is not just legal. It is emotional, cultural, and moral. Refugees remind Europe of its own contradictions — a continent built on both human rights and colonial conquest. As a Shona proverb puts it, “The axe forgets, but the tree remembers.” Europe may forget its past, but those displaced by conflicts partly rooted in global geopolitics cannot.
Britain’s Bitter Debate
The United Kingdom has become a stage for some of the harshest refugee debates. In 2024, it recorded more than 108,000 asylum claims. Laws like the Illegal Migration Act and the proposed Rwanda deportation scheme stirred fierce controversy. By mid-2024, the new government abandoned the Rwanda plan, replacing it with a new deal with France — a “one in, one out” pilot: for each migrant returned to France, a vetted refugee from France would be relocated to the UK.
Yet beneath the legal wrangling lies something more corrosive: rising racism. Reports of anti-Black discrimination and xenophobia have increased. Britain hosts fewer refugees per capita than Uganda or Turkey, yet public discourse paints an image of “invasion.” This mismatch between perception and reality threatens to tear at Britain’s social fabric. “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you,” warns an African proverb. But Britain’s greatest enemy in this debate may be within: fear and prejudice.
America’s Sharp Turn
In the United States, the refugee story shifted dramatically during the Trump years. Admissions were slashed to historic lows: only 18,000 in 2020 and an initial cap of 15,000 in 2021. The 2017 “travel ban” barred many from Muslim-majority countries, while Title 42 expulsions during the pandemic stripped thousands of their right to seek asylum. America, once proud of its Statue of Liberty promise — “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” — became a fortress. Even today, refugee debates polarize Washington.
What It All Means
The refugee crisis is not just about refugees. It is about governments, citizens, and humanity itself. Governments feel pressure on housing, healthcare, and education. Citizens worry about jobs, safety, and cultural change. Refugees, above all, long for safety and the chance to rebuild.
Uganda shows that integration works when refugees are given rights. Germany demonstrates that faster asylum decisions bring order. The EU pact reveals that regional solidarity, though fragile, is possible. Books like Paul Collier’s Exodus argue for balanced systems that neither fling open doors nor bolt them shut. The evidence is clear: chaos breeds fear, but humane order builds trust.
Lessons for the Future
Wars must be ended, or at least contained, through diplomacy and peacebuilding. Host countries like Uganda and Chad must be properly funded, or they will buckle. Safe and legal routes — resettlement, humanitarian visas, family reunification — must expand so people are not forced onto death boats. Asylum decisions must be swift and fair. Integration must start from day one. And governments must stand firmly against racism, for no policy succeeds in a climate of hate.
As the Akan proverb says, “The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” Ignoring refugees will only fuel instability for all.
Conclusion: Choosing Humanity
The refugee crisis is not a storm that will pass. It is the new climate of our century. We can let it drown us in fear, or we can learn to live with it in dignity. Refugees are not numbers, nor invaders. They are part of our shared story, forced from home but not from humanity. I am part of this story; I share the pain in it all and I have learnt my lessons the hard way.
Thankfully I have been loved and supported by a few people in the UK but I worry about those refugees without support. Let’s us all be more humane; refugees are not your enemy. History will not remember the barbed wire or the angry speeches. It will remember whether we chose compassion over cruelty, order over chaos, courage over fear. Refugees do not ask for pity, only for the chance to stand again. And as another African proverb reminds us, “When you take away the chains from your brother, you free yourself too.”
The real crisis is not their movement. The real crisis is our response.
By Kato Mukasa