Refugee

Refugees from Syria, let me call them the way current media puts it although I find them as survivors, were pouring into Europe until the tragedy in Paris, that rocked the European union to a decision to temporarily halt the influx of immigrants from the war torn nation. Germany, the leader of the block, held a larger share of the pie as the largest share of Syrian requests for asylum in Europe followed by Sweden, France, United Kingdom and Denmark also gave in their support for the asylum seekers. While United States lead the funding with the largest share of aid to the Syrian refugee crisis, the amount that accounts to almost 31% of the total aid donated to United Nations by various nations for this crisis. Australia and Canada have also pledged support by taking in the extra immigrants fleeing the conflict in the Middle East; however they were way behind Europe in supporting the crisis. Why Europe is more predominant in their support to this grave crisis, particularly the very ones mentioned above among which a few had even branded their country refugee-friendly?

Humanitarian concerns, the brooding image of the body of child Aylan washed up on the shores of turkey in the early September, the horrific death of refugees while trying to cross the Mediterranean fleeing the war torn area, the extraordinary images showing more and more refugees dying in their desperation to flee persecution and reach safety, did create shock ripples across Europe to the extent that Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany  in mid-September jumped on the bandwagon, saying her country could absorb every legitimate refugee who wanted to come. As Germany set example, the other European countries followed suit and all of a sudden Europe became really concerned in the case of fleeing refugees. In fact, the conflict in Syria has displaced 12 million people creating the largest wave of refugees to hit Europe since the World war II.

But as the present crisis hits headlines across the globe, where was Europe when due to the persecution of the Burmese government, there were 250000 people displaced from Burma in 1978 or similarly in 2015 when a million burmese became refugees owing to the Junta rule in Burma. Where was Europe when the south Sudanese civil war broke out in 2013 leaving more than 2 million displaced from Sudan. There were more than 5 million refugees in Colombia because of the long-running fight between the government and rebel forces. Between 1976 and 1992, over 5 million people were displaced from Mozambique due to the civil war in that nation.

In my view, Europe should have strengthened the UNHCR (the United Nations Agency for Refugees) and let United Nation play a more vital role to take control of the situation. This would have made sure broader participation of countries from around the world which would result in discussions in various forums, including the reasons for spiraling the crisis although any decisions however would have been vetoed by the permanent members as per their vested interests in the civil war in Syria. Greece, already reeling in an economic crisis, has more than 20 uninhabited islands near to their mainland closer to the Middle East. What would be the difficulty in providing relief shelters to the people (fleeing from the crisis) in one of the uninhabited island and ensure sufficient facilities for food and sanitation, at the same time lend a helping hand to Greece, who i believe, would have readily accepted the offer for leasing their land for this purpose. Of course there would be difficulties and scenario would not be as easy mentioned above, but as we have seen the left party in Greece already shifting their ideology to support Austerity or  various democratic governments trying to co-opt  with new policies that does not have the public support, it would be even easier for these countries to work together to build some sort of temporary relief for the people escaping the war and slowly relocate them to the mainland and in the mean while the politicians could try to win the confidence of their public to undertake the activity of relocation to their respective mainland .

Now let us look in a broader economic dimension to this resettlement crisis. It’s known to the world that the middle east is holding the prestigious World Expo 2020 and the World Cup 2022, Expo 2020 is expected to cost between $6.2 billion and $8.7 billion and almost 175 million dollar for the World cup event. With the imponderable revenue involved in the multi-billion dollar events along with the prospects of holding the Olympics, the greatest sporting event in the world in the near future, all economic focus will still remain in the Middle East for the years to come. This means that the global manufacturing unit for Germany, or the largest furniture retailers of Sweden, Multinational retailers and Power engineering company from France, Banking giants from United Kingdom, Processed food items and machinery from Denmark  for them all the revered market in the forthcoming years would still remain the middle east. Is Europe keeping this concept as their base while opening up the doors to the fleeing civilians from the war, regardless of the fact that there is no effective published plan for the resettlement of the other country’s citizens in their mainland nor has agreement been reached with countries concerning the eventual relocation of those who have lost their homes and lands.

I wish the world becomes a better place in 2016 for all living beings, not just the human beings alone, to live and dwell peacefully in their region.