Storella Highlights Refugees’ Plight in Interview on International Migrants Day

Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy Ambassador Mark C. Storella said that forcible migration is one of the mega-phenomena of our time in a live interview on the France 24 TV station December 18, 2024.
Interviewed on International Migration Day, Ambassador Storella said the number of forcibly displaced in the world has increased dramatically, with 33 million forcibly displaced in 2014 ballooning to 117 million last year.  Over half of the world’s refugees come from just four countries:  Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela and Ukraine.
This surge in forcibly displaced has provoked enormous generosity, including by poor hosting countries and from international donors.  But it has also provoked a populist reaction which we see in the EU and the United States, but also in other countries including India, Turkey and elsewhere.

Asked about the implications of the fall of the Assad regime, Storella said that Syrian refugees have expressed optimism about their prospects to finally go home.  And there is already a debate in the EU and some neighboring countries over whether it is time to send Syrian refugees back.  But Storella noted that the standard for refugee returns is that they should be voluntary, safe and in dignity and that there are still many unknowns in Syria to tell now whether that standard can be met.  Storella also said that not all refugees are treated equally, as some refugees in crises that are in the news like Ukraine receive much more assistance than those in far flung locations, including many in Africa.

Ambassador Mark C. Storella was a United States Foreign Service Officer for over three decades serving as Ambassador to Zambia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, and Dean of the Leadership and Management School of the Foreign Service Institute. Storella is a recipient of the Presidential Rank Award, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Excellence in Service Award, the Thomas Jefferson Award presented by American Citizens Abroad, and several Department of State superior and meritorious honor awards. Learn more about Ambassador Storella on his faculty profile.