Unwanted refugees in Europe

Conflict, persecution and starvation; these are the common factors that drive people from their homes, forcing them to make the well-nigh impossible decision to abandon their lives as they know them and seek refuge in a strange country.

The United Nations has reported that more than 60 million people are refugees. Many are in extremely difficult situations, displaced from previous or ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa. The war in Syria has been the single largest driver of refugees in the world; more than four million Syrians are displaced beyond its borders. The majority have fled to neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.

For many decades Europe’s borders have been under pressure as a result of economic migration; now the continent has a new phenomenon in migration, with economic, political and humanitarian reasons behind so many people knocking at the door. That is why Europe is reacting nervously to the current refugee crisis.

According to Zygmunt Bauman, a Polish sociologist: “There are two crucial values without which human life is simply inconceivable. One is of security, a measure of security, feeling safe. The other is freedom, the ability to self-assert, to do what you really would like do and so on. They are both necessary; security without freedom is slavery. Freedom without security is complete chaos, where you are lost, abandoned and you do not know what to do.”

Whether in the Middle East or Africa, there is a constant lack of security and freedom that has caused ongoing conflicts. Hence, many who live there find themselves lost and incapable of acting with certainty or assurance.

Many who have fled to Europe from Syria are not fleeing from hunger but from the insane ravages of war. They are people who, yesterday, were happy and proud of their homes and their position in society; some of them are very well educated and were financially comfortable. Homes, family, jobs and positions in society have been lost or forfeited in a bid for a safer life elsewhere.

So, what of organisations such as the UN and the EU; do they have any firm solutions to this current refuge crisis? Apparently not; there is much rhetoric but no credible strategic plan to secure stability in Syria and the region.

“Our increasingly divided and desperate European leaders are failing to deliver an effective collective response to the escalating refugee crisis,” claims former Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt. “Instead of devising a strategy to protect those fleeing the barbarity of Assad, Islamic State [Daesh] and the Russian air force, EU leaders are obsessed with devising a system to ‘stem the flow’; in other words, to push desperate refugees back into the Aegean sea.”

The number of Syrians arriving in the EU seeking international protection continues to increase. However, their number in Europe remains low compared with the number of Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries like Turkey, where almost three million are living, more than in any other country. Many Europeans believe that their own countries have taken considerably more Syrian refugees then they actually have.

Image: The Telegraph

Historically, Turkey has acted as a “humanitarian sponge” by absorbing the plight of surrounding countries and providing a safe haven for countless people, regardless of their religious, ethnic or linguistic backgrounds. “Having adopted an open-door policy towards Syrian refugees in 2011,” explained President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “we now host nearly 3 million Syrian nationals from diverse ethnic, religious and sectarian backgrounds. In the past five years Turkey has allocated $10 billion to provide Syrian refugees with free healthcare, education and housing.”

Why has this crisis been so difficult for the EU to deal with? With a population of 500 million and a gross domestic product of $18 trillion, why is the EU so much less capable of dealing with a refugee crisis than Turkey, which has a GDP of $798bn and a population of 78 million? The real answers to this question would be “an unwillingness to face the reality” and “ignorance of the situation in Syria.”

Instead of finding a real solution to this crisis or helping people who have fled from Syria many European countries are building fences and passing ever-harsher immigration and asylum laws. As a result, violence and deaths at borders are increasing. Furthermore, many right-wing nationalist parties claim that immigration threatens Europe’s national and cultural identity, even though the EU asserts that it was founded on a commitment to promote human rights and democracy.

Slovakia`s leader Robert Fico stated recently that “Islam has no place in Slovakia” in a direct reference to the religious background of most Syrians. He warned that “migrants change the character of our country” and declared that he “wouldn’t allow such change to affect his nation.”

Some East European countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, have responded to refuges arriving at their border with hostility and repressive tactics that blatantly contradict EU principles. As a result, rifts have opened up between EU member states.

According to the Atlantic newspaper, one of the wealthiest residents in a Swiss village is willing to pay a fine to keep refugees out. “We do not want them here; it is as simple as that. We have worked hard all our lives and have a lovely village that we do not want spoiled. We are not suited to take in refugees; they would not fit in here.”

It is clear that, for many Europeans, the prospect of becoming a minority in one’s homeland is seen as a threat and they worry that an influx of refugees will dilute their country’s cultural identity. Far-right nationalist parties have capitalised on these fears, mobilising an anti-immigrant and “anti-Islamisation” agenda; as a consequence, most of the far-right parties across Europe have gained electoral support.

The recent UK referendum on whether to stay in or leave the EU resulted in a surprise “leave” vote. One of the most prominent “leave” campaigners, Nigel Farage, the former leader of UKIP (the United Kingdom Independence Party), positioned his party’s policies to be critical of both the EU and Muslim migration. The timing of UKIP’s transformation and success should come as no surprise. Like its nationalist counterparts across Europe, it uses scare-mongering tactics to attract support, playing on the people’s fears.

One of the most outspoken European leaders, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has justified his anti-immigration by saying: “Those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims… This is an important question, because Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity… Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian?… There is no alternative, and we have no option but to defend our borders.”

In many ways the EU itsef is proof that people can learn from their past mistakes, look beyond their cultural differences and unite as one for the purpose of promoting liberal values, peace, and stability. Unfortunately, the divisive response to the refugee crisis has threatened to unravel decades of progress — and relative peace — in Europe.

The move toward nationalism and isolationism will not be the solution. That route has been used several times in the past and it leads to deeper division and cycles of destruction.  

If Europe comes together with compassion and without the fear that brings prejudice, then it can deliver an effective collective response to the escalating refugee crisis; otherwise last year’s wave of immigration will not be the last. As such, the EU has to accept the situation and, moreover, must come together and find a genuinely robust, lasting solution. It is time for the world to step up and lend a helping hand in order to solve the refugee crisis.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.