In a world where nothing is constant, where legal travel between countries is perhaps easier than it ever has been in modern times (certainly for short-term travel for business and tourism) and for all our every increasing multi-ethnicity, we see a worrying global increase of tribalism and nationalism.

Intolerance is the name of the game - stereotyping and scapegoating of minorities. Talk of:

Building walls (to prevent Mexicans from entering the USA)
Putting up fences to keep people out (some in European Union countries Ref [1] - contrary to EU law)
Or to keep people in (according to the UN and US Officials some 1m Uyghurs, who are predominantly Muslim, are in long-term detention in ‘re-education camps’ in Xinjiang, China [2])

provide real examples of the challenges facing people seeking to build a future or even just to live their lives.

Huge numbers people are seeking safety, refuge and asylum because of war (e.g. Iraq and Syria), oppression and persecution (e.g. Myanmar) whether political, ethnic or religious, or as a result of natural disasters and famine. Some are facing this in the aftermath of external interference from foreign powers who sought regime change (e.g. in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya) without any clear ideas about what would follow. According to the UN there are 65 million uprooted from their homes due to violence and persecution with conflicts displacing 12m Syrians, 7.7m Colombians, 4.7m Afghans and 4.2m Iraqis [3].

Others are economic migrants - skilled or otherwise - who are understandably “seeking a better life for them and their families” [4].

Yet more, who are vulnerable, are being preyed upon by unscrupulous criminals, trafficking people around the globe: facilitating modern slavery [5]. Economic hardship perpetuates bonded labour (although illegal in many countries [6]) providing cheap effort, including child labour, where debts have little hope of ever being repaid [7], [8].

Receiving Countries Are Ill-Equipped Or Unprepared To Receive Migrants

The European Union (650,000 asylum seekers in 2017 [9]), Bangladesh (700,000 Rohingya refugees [10]), Jordan (737,000 refugees and asylum seekers [11]), Lebanon (>1m Syrian refugees plus hundreds of thousands of Palestinians [12]), Turkey (3.9m refugees [13]) and many other countries are experiencing unplanned and uncoordinated people migration on an unprecedented scale. This has huge implications for national budgets, with its associated drain on finite resources, to provide even basic shelter, food, medical support and other forms of short and long-term aid. A notable exception was the approach taken by the German Government as it welcomed large numbers of refugees and asylum seeks from the Middle East and North Africa [14]. Conversely the USA has vastly reduced the number of people being accepted as refugees [15].

Although the situations are dire in many of the countries people are fleeing from, the places they are seeking to reach are not without their challenges:

The ‘developed world’ is still trying to recover from the financial crash of 2008 and 10 years on many people and countries are more indebted now than they were then [16].
Negative interest rates (inflation greater than the majority of interest bearing investments) erode people real savings.
Money printing (Quantitative Easing [17]) by governments continues apace, devaluing currencies in the long term.
Wages that have not grown in real terms for the majority of low and moderately paid workers [18].
The challenges of under-funded State and private pensions [19].
The lower number of births in many countries will impact GDP and the burden of looking after older generations (Japan, China, UK and others) [20].
The demand for state healthcare provision in many countries is outstripping the ability to fund this with an impact upon waiting times and the nature of the services provided.

These factors present little hope that things will change for the better for most people in relatively stable countries, let alone those who are at the margins of existence.

In marked contrast we see a small minority who have riches beyond the wildest dreams of most [21]. There are regular reports highlighting an increasing divergence between the most wealthy and the most impoverished in terms of wages and the value of assets owned [22], [23], [24].

Where countries are receiving migrants and asylum seekers what should governments be doing? Many such folk are often corralled into permanent ‘camps’ where facilities are basic and conditions harsh. Most (if not all) are not permitted to work - even if they have professional skills and qualifications - and could contribute to the society that is sheltering them (even if on a temporary basis until their immigration status is determined). This is a source of stress for those individuals and can lead to a cycle of depression that brings additional costs for their care and places extra burdens on health and other services.

Where does this all lead? And more importantly what should be the response of people of faith (particularly Christians) to the question “Who is my neighbour?”

A Biblical Perspective

In the early parts of the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to make provision to support the foreigner and the poor in society (Leviticus 19:9-10 and Deuteronomy 24:14-21). He also called on them not to oppress a foreigner (Exodus 23:9) and later on shows his concern for the lack of justice given to them (Malachi 3:5).

Most of us will be familiar with Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), where Jesus is responding to an expert in the Jewish law. The story highlights how a person from a cultural background, that was hated by the Jews, helped an injured man when that man’s own countrymen - and the religious elite at that - passed by on the other side. Jesus’ dialogue with the man culminates with the point that everyone is our neighbour.

All of us live under governments that try to balance a wide range of political objectives and competing priorities. Many countries have positively benefitted from immigration to meet demands for specific skills and from people prepared to undertake roles that nationals are reluctant to do, creating cultural diversity as a by-product. In the UK there is an almost universal aversion to holding waiting / waitress services in high esteem. Some are reluctant to undertake seasonal opportunities in agriculture or other seasonal work. Our National Health Service could hardly operate without the staff recruited from abroad. We also have people in society who for a range of reasons are challenged because of poor physical or mental health, old age, accident or other circumstances and who have to rely on State and local services to meet their basic needs. But is that enough - to leave it to the authorities to address our neighbours’ problems?

Disinformation, division and social media memes contribute to national discontent in many countries experiencing increased numbers of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. This can be exacerbated in areas where large numbers of an ethnic group have naturally been drawn to live in close proximity - such that the original local population either become a minority in their home context or substantially so. Some media can also perpetuate many myths about people’s preparedness to work, that they are getting a ‘free ride’, or reinforces stereotypes of different categories of social class, people groups etc..

In the West, we broadly live in ‘post-Christian’ societies where prejudice, rudeness and an anything goes attitude seems to becoming more widely accepted, especially on (anti) social media (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5). Political expediency seems to take precedence over integrity, fairness and justice and those who are most vulnerable continue to suffer potentially at the hands of bureaucracy seemingly prepared to ‘reject’ or expel people for what sometimes seems to be the most opaque reasoning - even after some have been living for extended periods in the country concerned.

So what does this mean for us practically as Christians?

If we listen to the commands of Jesus there are a range of actions and practices that we should undertake in considering and providing for our neighbours:

Pray for situations and people that you know are facing difficulties (Ephesians 6:18).
Live lives of integrity (Matthew 5:48) - be consistent between our thoughts words and actions in front of our neighbours (and when we are alone too!).
Practice justice mercy and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23) - act honourably in our dealings with others, at home, at work and socially. If you are business owner are you paying a living wage to those who contribute to your success?
Do not judge others (Matthew 7:1-2) - people are diverse in their habits, customs and beliefs and just because they do or say things differently does not mean that they are ‘wrong’.
Forgive/be reconciled to others if we hold anything against them or they against us (Matthew 5:23-24).
Be generous in our giving (Matthew 5:42) - biblically we should give a tithe of our net income for God’s work (where we feel that the needs are greatest).
Do unto others as we would have them do unto us (Matthew 7:12) - this might include volunteering, mentoring someone, discipling them or just being a friend to an older or disadvantaged neighbour.

We are unlikely to be in a position to solve the great issue of today alone, or even as part of a fellowship of believers. However, with God’s help and with the input of the Holy Spirit, we should be seeking to put the needs of others ahead of ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

You might also like to look at this slightly dated report:

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/refugees_and_asylum_seekers_research_report.pdf

[1] - https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/05/24/donald-trump-europe-border-walls-migrants/532572002/

[2] - https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/million-muslim-uighurs-held-secret-china-camps-panel-180810185817270.html

[3] - https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/06/559872-world-refugee-day-un-urges-support-solidarity-record-number-displaced-people

[4] - http://fortune.com/2018/06/23/europe-migrants-eu-immigrants/

[5] - https://www.state.gov/j/tip/what/

[6] - https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsIII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XVIII-4&chapter=18&Temp=mtdsg3&clang=_en

[7] - https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/2018/findings/global-findings/

[8] - https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_575479.pdf

[9] - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_statistics

[10] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_refugees_in_Bangladesh