ABSTRACT

‘Refugee’ is an internationally accepted legal term to describe someone needing protection from another country because they are being targeted by authorities or other groups involved in an organised violence campaign in their own country. Refugees are diverse ethnically, including people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds, both women and men. The problem of the world's refugees is among the most complicated issues before the world community. Contemporary conflicts have put a massive pressure on the credibility and smooth functioning of world’s ruling apparatus. Regional and interstate conflicts have contributed to the large number of human displacements and mass migrations across the globe. As such the world is witnessing an era of massive refugee crises. A refugee crisis is a humanitarian crisis which should be addressed on humanitarian basis. Social work as a profession offers much services to refugees. The values of social work, acknowledging principles of both social justice and the dignity and worth of each individual person, likewise enables social work to focus on the importance of ensuring that responses to refugees as are well considered and appropriate. This paper looks into the contemporary refugee crisis world over and the outcome of such crisis and how social work as a profession is responding to these refugee crises.