The migrant
crisis in Europe has been dominating headlines lately, mainly due to the sheer
number of immigrant flooding over onto the continent. Europe has always drawn
people seeking safer and more prosperous regions. Africans and Middle
Easterners frequently try to gain entrance and Visas to European nations in
search of better jobs and living conditions. It was an issue of contention years ago, but
the civil war in Syria and the destabilization in the Middle East due to the
ISIS and following the Arab Spring has exacerbated the trend until Europe finds
itself overwhelmed. There are over 4 million people displaced just from Syria,
the majority of which have been taken in by very poor nations such as Jordan,
Lebanon, and Iraq, Egypt, and the slightly better off Turkey. These countries
are not able to handle such an influx, due to their small size and lack of
funds. In these countries, the Syrians live in refugee camps and are unable to
legally find jobs and are often unable to access even the most basic education.
Obviously not content with this, they are searching for a better life elsewhere
in nations that are able to support them. While a logical area for these
refugees may be the Gulf States, these oil-rich countries are refusing to help.
Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and the UAE have not offered any
kind of resettlement and have put into place complicated and expensive
application processes in order to deter Syrians from trying to gain asylum. Since
the only countries capable of hosting the immigrants are refusing to help, the
Syrians and other migrants are crossing the sea into Europe. This is a
dangerous journey, and thousands of lives have been lost when run down,
overcrowded, ships led by inept captains have capsized. Those that survive
arrive in Europe, where they are shepherded from camp-to-camp, and country-to-country.
A quota system is being worked on, but
not all of Europe has accepted it, and some are openly rejecting it. Germany, which is the favored destination due to its generous social programs, is already holding hundreds of thousands, and cannot continue to shoulder the burden alone. Sadly, the US is essentially refusing to help, and has pledged to take in just
10,000 refugees this year, which will hardly make a dent in the problem. The US
application process also takes 18 months to complete and is highly inefficient.
Overall, Europe is on its own in trying to resettle so many refugees and
economic immigrants. It is going to be an expensive and painful process in the
years to come, and there is always the looming threat that extremists are pretending
to be migrants in order to gain access to Europe. This fear, exasperated by
attacks this year in France and other countries, help turn people against the
immigrants. No one knows what will happen next, but it is clear that something
must be done to help the refugees and those simply seeking a better life.
Since 2014 when Syria’s armed
conflict intensified, with increasing bloody government attacks on civilians,
human rights in Syria have only declined; at the same time, those who flee
Syria in search of peace are often only met with further human rights violations.
The Syrian government has been accused of abducting civilians and torturing
detainees that often die in detainment. During warfare, the government has persisted
in dropping illegal, highly explosive bombs that are “in defiance of UN
Security Council resolution 2139 passed on February 22.” Groups that are
against the government commit similar crimes, and even have been accused of
using child soldiers. Therefore it is
evident that both those for and against the Syrian government have violated not
only many core human rights treaties, such as the convention proclaiming the
rights of children of 1989 (which bars children from armed conflict), but even have
violated pre-UN documents, such as the Geneva convention of 1863 (which limits
the brutality of warfare), along with more recent UN resolutions. These are just two examples of violations of
international human rights law by the Syrian government and anti-government
militias, so it is obvious why so many citizens have fled to take refuge in
other countries. However, life as a
Syrian refugee in Turkey, Iraq, and other neighboring countries can be a life
without support and without important resources, such as medical services. In refugee camps, there is more structure,
however families can begin to feel trapped and crowded in such
circumstances. Recently, in the news, we
have seen many Syrians attempt to make the long journey to European countries,
which can be dangerous and harrowing in and of itself. Once the refugees make it to European countries
such as Hungary and Greece, they are unwanted; for example, the Hungarian
government, overwhelmed by refugees in recent weeks, has given up trying to
stop people from crossing its border, despite its attempts at building an
actual razor-wire fence, and constant anti-immigrant sentiment. Even in the
developed world, they are unable to handle the amount of refugees, and often
governments resort to inhumane and inexpensive methods of handling Syrians.
There is a certain degree of Islamophobia at work here, considering almost all
of the Syrian refugees are Muslim, and there has been some hostility recently
in Europe towards the Islamic faith.
Some countries outright have barred Muslims from entering, but others
are more indirect in their rejection, allowing refugees in but sometimes detaining
them unfairly for days on end.
Discussion Questions:
1) Whose responsibility is it to help the Syrian refugees?
2) Should the migrants be expected to assimilate or should Europe accommodate them?3) Does the US have a right to place its security over the safety of Syrian refugees?
4) Are the Gulf States obligated to accept Syrian refugees? Economic immigrants?
5) How much should a fear of extremists and terrorists influence domestic immigration policy?
Sources for further reading:
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/130008668021/the-island-we-landed-on-was-called-samothrace
By Emma Ritz and Emily McBride
By Emma Ritz and Emily McBride
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