european refugee crisis - september 2015

Refugee

Any Person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country -UNHCR

Total Number of forcibly displaced people around the world

38.2 Million

19.5 Million

Out of Displaced People Around The World

IDPs Refugees

Major Source Countries of Refugees

Children below 18 years constitute more than 51% of total refugee population ©UNHCR

Mediterranean Refugee CRISIS

Real Or Exaggerated?

Refugees that have landed on European Borders constitute less than 2.5% of total refugee population around the world

• Iran- 0.98 Million • Pakistan- 1.51 Million

• Turkey-2 Million• Lebanon- 1.15 Million

Top Refugee-Hosting Countries in the World

86% of World’s Refugees are hosted by Developing Countries

But Wait Do Not Hate Europe Yet

Gulf Cooperat

ion Council

Kuwait

Bahrain

QatarOman

Saudi Arabia

UAE

As of now, GCC countries haven’t taken in a single refugee. They are not signatories to UN Refugee Conventions (1951; 1967)

Where is the Mediterranean sea and which routes do refugees take?

Europe

Africa

Asia

Lesbos

Kos

©IOM

Major Landing Points Into Europe

More than 475,000 refugees and migrants have crossed Mediterranean so far, this year At 3000 people each day, more than 200,000 have landed on the shores of Europe since July

That’s more than the number of people that arrived in entire 2014

The Human Cost

©IOM

Refugees often drown while trying to cross the sea in highly unreliable boats & dinghies Also fall prey to various diseases and actions of smugglers in transit

Desperate Refugees often try to cross the Mediterranean by getting in touch with highly exploitative and dangerous smuggling networks

Various networks operating across Eastern Europe, Turkey & North-Africa charge as high as $10,000 to smuggle the refugees into Western Europe

Women, Children and men often fall prey to human traffickers, who subject these vulnerable people to forced labor, prostitution and other forms of servitude

On several occasions, smugglers sexually abuse the refugees, both women and men, in the course of transit and threaten them with violence or abandonment if they do not heed to the smugglers’ demands

Smuggling

Due to a fair probability of interception and detention by EU’s border-patrol agencies,smugglers often use low-quality boats and, to maximize their profits, overload them, causing shipwrecks that result in the loss of hundreds of lives

The coffins contain bodies of refugees who died when their boat sank off the Italian coast of Lampedusa in October 2013

It’s extremely hard for the emergency crews to detect the locations of boats in distress because the nature of travel is stealthy

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “each year, migrant smuggling from East, North and West Africa into Europe generates about USD 150 million in revenue for criminals” (UNODC, 2014).

The Mint of Refugee Smuggling

Abu Hamda, a smuggler from Syria earned around 2 million USD during the last half of 2014. Hamda smuggles refugees from Egypt to Italy. Some of his clients were on a ship that sank near the coast of Malta in September 2014. 300 people lost their life in that disaster (Guardian- January,2015)

So far this year, moving refugees and migrants across Mediterranean has earned smugglers more than 30 Million USD (AlJazeera)

Why Now?

The answer to this lies in the composition of refugees All the Source-Countries have been riddled with War, Human-Rights Abuses and frequent droughts for decades

©HRW

Also, there is not enough food, space and opportunities for refugees in their previous host countries like Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Libya

Europe’s Response

Divergent Responses from Governments and citizens

Dumping the Refugees

Governments of Southern & Eastern-European states seem to be in a hurry to get “rid” of refugees. One country hurriedly dumps them into another country and so on

Role of EU’s Border Patrol Agency - Frontex

Frontex has dedicated Operation Triton for the rescue of refugees and migrants from Mediterranean during disasters or shipwrecks. It also intercepts refugee-smuggling boats, crossing EU waters and detains the people and smugglers onboard

However, Triton Operates at one-third of the resources that Itlay used to spend on its, now suspended, Operation Mare-Nostrum. Under Triton, the patrol-squads don’t proactively look for the sinking boats .They only respond to distress signals

Pro-Refugee Countries

G e r m a n y

G R E E C E

I t a l y

S E R B I A

C R O A T I A

A U S T R I A

Germany has largely adopted an open-door policy towards refugees

German interior ministry expects that around 800,000 refugees will enter its borders till the end of 2015

Germany has also suspended the Dublin Regulation for Syrian Refugees

Under this regulation, asylum seekers can only apply for asylum in the first EU country they enter. This discriminatory rule can prevent many refugees from reuniting with their families who have already taken refuge or settled in various EU countries

Revised Resettlement Plan put forward by European Commission on 14th September in Luxemborg

Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia vehemently opposed this proposal

But, sadly, this response only came after Alan Kurdi’s Body washed onto the Turkish coast of Bodrum. Alan, alongwith his mother Rehana and Brother Ghalib drowned while trying to reach the greek island of kos

As soon as the picture of Alan’s lifeless body circulated around the internet, it created an international outpour, compelling EU to act

Hungary, alongwith Czech Republic and Slovakia, are at the forefront of anti-refugee rhetoric and act with hostility towards refugees

Hungary recently built 2 barb-wired fences to keep out refugess. A 175 Kilometer long fence along its border with Serbia and a 40 Kilometer long fence along its border with Croatia

Here is what Right-Wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Obran said at a recent press conference

Possible Solutions

Addressing the root causes that lead people to dispossession from their indigenous lands – Wars, Conflicts, Occupations and Environmental Degradation

More countries should come forward to help the existing hosts like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, more in terms of resettlement than finance

Multiplying safer channels for refugees to enter EU Not create unnecessary impediments in accepting asylum applications so desperate people don’t turn to smugglers and put their lives in danger

Treating refugees with empathy when they land on European shores. Not treating them as aliens, Not Stereotyping Non-Refoulement