Seeking solutions to the refugee crisis
by Thalif Deen
The 28-member European Union (EU), which was sharply divided over the
Greek bailout financial crisis last year, is facing its biggest test of
unity over the growing refugee crisis unfolding in European borders.
At an emergency meeting in Brussels, the EU hesitantly agreed to
share some 40,000 refugees – mostly fleeing from war zones in Syria,
Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya – but only on a voluntary basis, even as
Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands imposed new border
control measures to ward off the tidal wave of hundreds and thousands of
displaced people flowing into Europe.
The restrictive measures include razor wire fences across land
borders and pronouncements by some Eastern and Central European
countries that only Christians will be welcomed, triggering strong
condemnations by the United Nations.
Conscious of the spreading crisis, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
will be hosting a meeting of world leaders on the margins of the General
Assembly session – to specifically discuss international migration.
The meeting is scheduled to take place on Sept. 30 immediately
following a meeting to approve the UN’s new socio economic agenda for
the next 15 years: Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targeted to be
achieved by 2030.
And of the 17 SDGs, Goal 16 is on international migration.
Vulnerable people
Ben Phillips, Campaigns and Policy Director at ActionAid told IPS
that governments need to remember that what they have called the migrant
crisis is first and foremost a crisis suffered by vulnerable people who
flee their homes as a last resort.
“The response of too many governments has been to protect borders and
neglect people. But it cannot be solved with higher walls. Most
governments’ responses to date have tended to be brutal, panicked and
ineffective even in their own terms. They need urgently to shift to a
smarter, kinder, approach.”
The Secretary-General has already appealed to European leaders “to be
the voice of those in need of protection” and to quickly find a joint
approach to the refugee and migration crisis that shares
responsibilities equitably, as Germany and Austria continue to welcome
thousands of people fleeing their war-torn homelands.
He has also spoken by telephone with several European leaders to
discuss the migration crisis.
Recognizing the challenges that large-scale refugee and migration
flows pose to Member States, the UN chief appealed to the leaders to be
the voice of those in need of protection and to quickly find a joint
approach to share responsibilities equitably.”
The Secretary-General also commended the leaders for having voiced
concern about increasing xenophobia, discrimination, and violence
against migrants and refugees in Europe.
“He hoped that any manifestation of these phenomena would be
addressed firmly and without delay,” he said. Ban is expected to meet
with EU leaders when they arrive in New York to address the General
Assembly beginning September 28.
Phillips told IPS that ActionAid has called upon governments to
address three key challenges: “Governments need, firstly, to respond in
the spirit of the solidarity and welcome that has shown by ordinary
people; secondly, to tackle the specific vulnerabilities faced by women
and girls travelling across borders; and, thirdly, to address the root
causes driving the mass movement of people, through sustainable
solutions to conflict, inequality and climate change.”
National security
“The spontaneous acts of kindness shown by human beings helping human
beings offer a ray of hope, and show that once again the power of the
people is stronger than the people in power.”
He also said ActionAid, which is working on the ground across the
world to support people who have fled, has seen first hand the damaging
consequences of governments’ dehumanising response and failure to
address the root causes driving the mass movement of people. Asked
whether the new law in Hungary that would allow the government to arrest
migrants and imprison them is a violation of international humanitarian
law, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters “I think one of
the points that’s clearly needed — and that’s exactly what the High
Commissioner for Refugees said — is that we need to have comprehensive
measures that apply throughout Europe.”
“A situation where different countries at different borders have
different procedures creates chaos, both physical, as well as legal
chaos.” He said it is clear that those who are on the move, whether they
be refugees or migrants, have rights. Countries also have
responsibilities towards their own citizens in order to ensure national
security.
“But, it is clear that international law, especially as it relates to
refugees, needs to be respected.
And more importantly, people, migrants, refugees, need to be treated
with human dignity and I think that has been lacking in some places,” he
added.
Dujarric also said migration with a “small m” has existed ever since
we as humans were able to walk.”
“I mean, populations move, have always been on the move. The issue is
that Member States need to deal with the migration flows in a way where
we avoid forcing, whether it’s refugees or economic migrants, into the
hands of criminal gangs, which is what we’re seeing across the
Mediterranean and in Asia in the Andaman Sea, where there are no proper…
enough proper avenues to deal with the migration issue — even with
economic migration issue”.
And that’s one of the reasons, he said, the Secretary General will be
bringing Member States together as part of goal 16 which talks about
international migration, “but for that, we need a dialogue between the
countries of origin, the transit countries and the destination
countries.”
“And sometimes they’re the same. You know, different people migrate
to different countries,” he added.
-IPS
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