OPINION

By Simon J. Mone

Did you ever apply to become dark or light-skinned? So why do people of particular group continue to be subjected to different kinds on racial intolerance?

We watch and read a lot of news to do with racism. We think the end of intolerance against humanity is not coming soon.

These are the kinds of sentiments we continue to get, but we hope for some answers. Let us and the people that are supposed to be in charge; of governments, of humanitarian organisations, of regional organisations be held to account. And we hope that answers to racism will be found quickly.

Racial discrimination has been with us for a while. A long time ago, we would watch as bananas are pelted at black players when in action in European Football.

There were a few and cases of attacks on streets as well. And we thought that racial utterances would only be aimed at those elite footballers and with pedestrians.

Now, the emerging issue of the past years is that racism has been brought to another high.

There has been mass movement of the people from areas of turmoil to that of peace. And these vulnerable people fleeing from chaos have come up against attacks. They have never been welcomed by foreign governments.

A few exceptions have been documented. To host communities with compassionate hearts, displaced people deserve support.

The world seems to be less interested in solving the problem of these needy people. Instead of providing assistance, they have made life worse for migrants and compounding their problems.

Since migration started, we are seeing all kinds of xenophobic attack on migrants all over the world.

We are seeing groups of host communities roughing up migrants along streets. They destroy their make-shift shelters, burning them occasionally. We are seeing migrants being stubbed to death.

Others have been shot at by local communities. Many have been suffocated in vans and driven to be damped at unknown locations.

Yet offenders get away with it. What we are seeing is only a bit of the happenings.

A lot has been going on. Local authorities that are expected protect immigrants, shun and mistreat them with the hope of turning them away.

People of this world seem to show lack of compassion towards needy people. And displaced communities cannot get comfort when they arrive at their new destinations.

Orchestrated by some leaders from host countries, it shows how hard eradicating racial intolerance is going to be. Despite worldwide campaigns to respect the rights of displaced people, some high-profile people seem to care less. As they never want to be part of the problem.

Yet the frequency of new arrivals keeps increasing. Like it or not, xenophobic violence in migration is now one of the emerging issues for us to deal with.

We know the international human rights law forbids acts of racial and xenophobic hatred. But having the law in place is one thing. And implementing it is another.

Therefore, if migrants’ rights to security and safety must be protected, states must be seen to do more, to protect everybody against violence, attack and racial discrimination.

States should ensure that their legislation can hand down harsher punishments to offenders. Hardly do we see investigations of cases of attacks brought to a logical conclusion.

Never do we see any deterrent measures handed to those that violate migrants’ rights. We should continue to raise awareness about the right of migrants. And continue to advocate for hosts to embrace migrants.

Only this can make the world a better place to live in. We need to get rid of xenophobia and racism in all forms so that people of the world can live together peacefully. At the moment, the world is taking too long to ensure that this happens. 

The writer  is a civil engineer