Usean refugee crisis
The Usean refugee crisis was a humanitarian disaster in the wake of the Ulysses Impact Event in July 1999. Numerous civilians that survived the planetfall lost their homes, forcing Usean countries to relocate them. The effects of the refugee crisis on the Federal Republic of Erusea led to the country instigating the Continental War in 2003.
History
After Ulysses made planetfall on July 3, 1999, the countries on the Usean continent were inundated with civilian refugees displaced by the impacts. Despite Stonehenge's best efforts to mitigate the destruction, the damage was more extensive than the countries had anticipated; more than one million Usean civilians had become refugees almost overnight. The countries placed quotas on how many refugees each would admit based on a variety of factors.[1]
The crisis worsened in April 2000 when Erusea announced it would tighten its restrictions on visa applications, effectively blocking all foreign refugees. The Erusean government released a statement deeming it impossible to accept any more refugees while managing recovery efforts in its economic state. Erusea's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frederick Updike, asserted that the country had already taken in around 200,000 refugees and could not meet other countries' expectations to admit even more. He claimed that Ulysses affected Erusea more than any other country, killing tens of thousands of people just in the capital, Farbanti.[1]
As the number of people gathered at Erusea's borders neared 600,000, Erusea called for NGOs to relocate them to other countries. Some NGOs ignored this, resulting in many refugees dying or falling ill as well as an increased crime rate in the border camps. United Nations Commissioner Guggenheim requested other Usean countries to expand their acceptance rates, but few responded. Instead, most countries began to boycott Erusean exports.[1]
In the summer of 2003, Erusea launched a surprise invasion of neighboring San Salvacion and commandeered Stonehenge. Erusea took the UTO personnel stationed at Stonehenge into custody and seized all military equipment at the base. This incident rallied the members of the Continental Nations' Economic Alliance to reform into the Independent State Allied Forces.[1] Open war soon broke out between Erusea and ISAF and lasted until September 2005.[2]
The refugee crisis continued through and following the war. In 2008, the Osean Federation invited the Federation of Central Usea and Erusea's provisional government to the G7 Summit. Usea's ongoing refugee crisis was one of the topics discussed at the summit.[3]
Trivia
- The events of the refugee crisis became a major plot point in Ace Combat Infinity, in which the autonomous region of Iyuli suffers similar economic problems related to an influx of refugees.