The roots of Europe’s refugee crisis

It was in pursuance of narrow political objectives that Western powers entered West Asian territories and destabilised them. They cannot now absolve themselves of all responsibility

Released in 2013, Elysium, a movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, was appreciated worldwide for highlighting socio-political and class dimensions related to migration. In this science fiction, the rich discard the poor on earth in 2154, and settle down in an advanced and sophisticated space station called Elysium. Earth is depicted as having several problems: it has no healthcare facilities and suffers from a high crime rate. As a result of this, its residents dream of entering Elysium one way or the other. For them, going to Elysium is a way to end all their miseries. But it isn’t such a simple task — the ruling class of Elysium is averse to the idea of sharing their prosperous space with the poor beings from earth.

The situation in and around the borders of Europe remind us of this film. The international community, for reasons beyond comprehension, opted to remain discreet about the European refugee crisis, but in reality this is one of the biggest human tragedies in the making in this decade. Statistics point in this direction. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 3,50,000 migrants and refugees have tried to cross the Mediterranean sea into Europe. Almost 2,600 refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea from January to August 2015 alone. Most of them are from West Asia, particularly from the war-ravaged countries of Syria, Iraq and Libya; many are also from the disturbed areas of Africa. According to the the IOM statistics, a substantial number of refugees are also from Afghanistan and Pakistan, moving for reasons similar to their West Asian counterparts — Afghanistan is caught in an unending civil conflict and Pakistan’s socio-economic condition is continuously deteriorating. This is what makes people flee their own countries to other parts of the world, in search of peace, employment and stability.

Freedom from conflict

Europe is the most preferred destination for the people from these fragile regions as it is economically prosperous, socially secure and has better immigration laws. In other words, Europe is like Elysium. But this does not mean that this mass migration is only to explore the greener pastures of Europe; it is also due to adverse circumstances in the home country that are not within the control of the common people. Endless conflict has ruined the social, political and economical structures of some countries in West Asia, making it impossible for people to have a secure livelihood. On the other hand, faced with a situation of a heavy influx of refugees, Europe is unwilling to welcome people into its territory. European countries are increasing security patrolling around the Mediterranean Sea and in border areas, in order to check the infiltration of refugees. Due to this increased surveillance, refugees are being pushed back, but sadly most of them cannot return to their unsafe and war-torn countries. This situation of being neither here nor there is leading to a big humanitarian crisis, demanding immediate international attention.

To find a solution, we also have to critically examine the role of the Euro-Atlantic powers because they have been the main drivers of this present crisis. West Asia in the past was not like this; despite illusive democracy, there was political stability and economic activities flowed quite smoothly. But due to having an abundance of energy resources, West Asia was and is geo-economically extremely relevant for the U.S. and its allies, most of them being the European powers. It is because of this that Euro-Atlantic powers used coercive tools for prompting their narrow political-economic agendas in this region after the end of the Cold War. As a result, Iraq is in ruins, even though it does not possess any weapons of mass destruction. Libya was bombed by NATO in 2011 after getting sanctions through the United Nations Security Council Resolution, 1973, and is currently a battleground for different ethnic groups fighting to capture political power. There is enough evidence to prove that on the pretext of supporting pro-democratic forces in Syria, western powers ended up helping the radical groups, providing necessary fodder for the birth of the deadly Islamic State. Afghanistan, also one of the known battlefields of the Cold War, was deserted by the West after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. But it was revisited post-9/11 by the Euro-Atlantic powers to destroy Al-Qaeda’s terror network. Yet, even after the death of Osama bin Laden, political instability continues in Afghanistan, with the prospect of civil conflict ceasing in the near future seeming quite bleak.

Even if we ignore larger political economic questions of international relations, it will not be inappropriate to blame western powers for the present crisis. Their irresponsible acts for achieving narrow political objectives have destabilised West Asia, and now European countries cannot turn their backs to the problems of the refugees. The sheer number of people escaping from disturbed regions to Europe is massive, and pushing them back to their homeland will only aggravate the situation. These refugees will be vulnerable to attacks by warring groups and we cannot strike out the possibility of them even joining these groups for survival. The European Union has unveiled a refugee quota plan to address the crisis, but is already facing opposition from eastern members, with, for instance, the Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka stating that his country will not be compelled in any manner to accept a quota and that such a system “won’t work”. Thus, far more coordination between the EU and the international community is essential to resolve the crisis.

In this regard, it is also crucial for the EU to involve the U.S. Similarly, the stable countries of West Asia should be contacted to provide some respite to these refugees. Any negligence now will prove costly not only for Europe but for many other countries of the world.

(Dhananjay Tripathi is assistant professor, Department of International Relations, South Asian University, New Delhi. Email: dhananjay@sau.ac.in)

Keywords: migrants, refugee crisis

Source: The Hindu, 15-09-2015