Daily Times

The civil war has displaced almost a third of Syrians. It has caused a worldwide crisis, one that has particularly affected the member states of the European Union. According to the UNHCR hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers have made arduous journeys risking their lives to find shelter and livelihood in Europe. In desperation of not having legal means to migrate, many have had to rely on human traffickers. Much of the rest of the world including the members of the European Union played a role in destabilising the region and therefore carry part of the global responsibility to counter the crisis. But the proximity of the crisis to European countries necessitates a greater responsibility to act on moral grounds as to not turn away refugees dying by the tens of thousands on its very shores. Though migration is seen as a risk that must be maintained there is increasing demand for the member countries to do more from a moral standpoint. History would not look favourably unto the European Union if it continued to avoid dealing fairly with this crisis.

President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker appealed to the conscience of the member states that at one point they all have a history of being refugees. The appeals were very personal as the President of EC addressed the audience in his first State of the Union in 2015 to imagine themselves being stranded with their own children. He discussed the fact that countries like Lebanon, that has about just one-fifth of the wealth of European countries, their refugees make up 25 percent of their population.

Around the world countries such as Pakistan have the second largest number of refugees in the world while struggling with terrorism and political instability within own borders. How so can a much more prosperous and peaceful Europe not do its part? President Juncker asked his audience, “We can build walls, and we can build fences. But imagine for a second if it were you, your child in your arms…there is no wall you would not climb, no sea you would not cross…” The fact that such an appeal needed to be made years after the Syrian civil war and amidst a humanitarian crisis had already taken place shows the results of inaction.

The appeal also came only after global outrage was already palpable as the disturbing and powerful image of three-year-old Syrian boy AylanKurdi, who had drowned to death circulated on social media and was picked up by media around the world making it all the more necessary for Europe to respond. If the EU were to be relevant, it had to deal with the crisis on its shores and borders. In response to the refugees dying in the Mediterranean, the European Commission devised a “European Agenda on Migration” to tackle problems in a collective manner. It devised a “Humanitarian Resettlement Scheme” to assist the member states to stop the humanitarian crisis by promising to take in 160,000 refugees to relocate. The Commission came up with quotas for each member state to deal with issues of asylum and the refugee crisis.

Though the EC wants to be seen as making the right decisions and taking the moral high ground, clear obstacles stand in the way of implementation. The commission stressed legislation for common asylum standards to respect the dignity of refugees and also to respect international laws.European Commission Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, spoke out against the bloc, “…for having so far admitted only 12,000 of the 160,000 Syrian and other refugees required to be relocated from Greece and Italy to other EU countries by September this year.” Though migration is increasingly seen through the lens of danger, there is increasing demand for the member countries to do more. Yet the EC was mainly relying on peer pressure of other member states to implement its legislation.

The Commission is now warning members states to step up to their promises or risk financial consequences. The European Commission last month threatened to fine countries that did not do their part in taking in refugees.

Another obstacle is the courts. The European Court recently ruled against the case of a Syrian family ruling that member states were not obligated to grant visas to asylum seekers. The increasing number of immigrants coming to its borders have brought with it many fears of a changing Europe. There is especially much resistance from Eastern European countries whose populations are against Muslim immigration. Hungary announced last month it is building a second fence along its border with Serbia that will be patrolled by guards along with what some call a detention facility. All this will be incurring up to a $130.7 million increase in its budget which clearly shows the reluctance with which Hungary sees the refugees. Poland called for only Christian refugees. This is while many refugees continue to be stranded in Greece and Italy.

With this comes the critical issue of managing border security. A deal with Turkey was made out of panic which allows Greece to return all “new irregular migrants”.In return, the member states have promised Turkey will “increase resettlement of Syrian refugees residing in Turkey, accelerate visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals, and boost existing financial support for Turkey’s refugee population.” But Turkey is already the largest host to refugees, with 2.5 million externally displaced persons within its borders.

Europe has now seen the greatest number of refugees since WWII, but that doesn’t mean it’s done its share. Federica Mogherini, Vice-President of the European Commission, said the word ‘crisis’ has been abused to make the problem seem impossible to solve. “We can, and we must repeat once again…that refugees must be welcome. This is a strong position that the European Union has and will continue to have. And at the same time, without any contradiction, on the contrary, and with some complementarity, we can and must say that the pain and the deaths caused by smugglers have to be stopped.” “Legally” may be a keyword as human trafficking is a big issue but the goal is to stop unchecked refugees, yet often they are the most desperate ones in need of shelter. There is a contradiction here. What is the win-win solution that Mogherini speaks of? But it also shifts responsibility. She talked about shared responsibility and a global governance of human mobility in partnership and towards obtaining the sustainable development goals of the UN. Civilians must qualify to be a refugee, which is a lengthy and complicated process for that fleeing war and terrorism.

Some argue the EU made it nearly impossible for refugees to enter legally as it is often difficult if not impossible for refugees to contact embassies.

At the same time, Syria, Libya, Iraq continue to be conflict zones which have been destabilised by recent wars and foreign intervention, which created a power vacuum and made space for groups such as ISIS to control large parts of land and abuse and torture the population. This means the refugee crisis is not going away and implementation will continue to be a problem for the EC.

The conscience of Europe may now play a greater role in the world if the United States and Britain retreat from their position of global leadership. With this comes greater responsibility to show results if it is to bring others onboard and to be taken seriously.  The EC migration chief plans to tell the United States that regardless of the travel ban put in place by Donald Trump, they must continue to take in refugees. Compared to many European countries, the United States has done less per capita in taking in refugees. It has not had the best record of taking in refugees, at one point in its history striking down a bill that would have allowed 20,000 Jewish children to be allowed into its borders. Such monumental mistakes of the past should not be repeated. Similar to the rhetoric now with Syrian refugees was the rhetoric of President Nixon who feared Nazis would infiltrate into the country.

The European Union was itself constructed to wash away the sins of the past and unite Europe to abide by laws, common interests, and to stand on a moral high ground as a continent based on good will and humanitarian values. This attitude of inclusiveness and benevolence which is supposed to be the essence of the EU must also be reflected in its response to the refugee crisis not just through talk but with concrete action.