Settling on credible solutions to the European Union’s refugee crisis
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Version 0 of 1. Like many others, we have been disappointed and ashamed at the inability of the UK and other EU governments to produce any convincing proposals to deal with the “migrant crisis” (Razor wire and prison: the wrong response to the refugee crisis, Editorial, 26 August). Instead of strengthening fences and blaming others, we could learn from the response to the massive refugee flows after the 1914-18 and 1939-45 world wars: “Nansen passports” for the displaced and temporary camps throughout Europe and the Middle East. Some positive proposals: 1) The most obvious short-term measure now required is a Europe-wide agreement to resettle in northern countries more of the refugees arriving in Greece and Italy. 2) The UN high commissioner for refugees could coordinate a network of temporary camps in countries to accommodate those now entering Europe in flight. 3) Refugees and migrants who are seeking to join relatives already established here or in other Europeans states should be allowed to do so.4) The Disasters Emergency Committee could launch an appeal for immediate funding to assist these proposals.5) We should expand upon the German initiative regarding Syrian asylum seekers by allowing refugees to be assessed where they are, and before allocation to countries.6) The EU and the UN could coordinate relevant international and NGO agencies to deliver these purposes. 7) We should discuss the challenge presented by this “crisis” to the self-image of British and European society as civilised, tolerant and universally respectful of human dignity.Tom Hadden Queen’s University Belfast and University of KentJohn Fitzpatrick University of Kent • Thousands of refugees are pouring into Greece and Italy every day, desperate to escape from war-torn countries, terrorism and atrocities unimaginable by most of us. I am in no doubt that this will continue in the long term, and it is indeed one of Europe’s biggest challenges. During the second world war my grandmother took in a child evacuated from Holland, fleeing from persecution. Countries and communities worked together to come up with solutions. My grandmother didn’t hesitate to accommodate the child. She didn’t question how she would manage. Like many people in her community, they pulled together and not only helped each other but also people from other countries. They did the right thing. I absolutely agree with Natalie Nougayrède (Merkel is right: the migration crisis will define this decade, 21 August) that each of us must look closely at ourselves, and remember our collective past. We as individuals have a moral obligation to urge our leaders to do the right thing and save people in need, for this will be Angela Merkel’s bigger challenge. How do you rally Europe’s leaders when I suspect there will be so much opposition at home?Maria PowellWimborne, Dorset • You are right to highlight, in your 26 August editorial, the different attitude of Britain to migrants, which is in sharp contrast to Germany. I was on holiday in Germany recently and the local newspaper in Lübeck where I was staying reported that they were planning to accept around 3,000 migrants in the next year, in a town of around 200,000 people. There was none of the prejudice found in much of the British press, just acceptance that it was part of the town’s civic duty to share in helping with a European-wide problem. It is sad that Britain, which once welcomed refugees from Nazi Germany, is now outdone by that country in its tolerance to people seeking asylum.Ian ArnottPeterborough • Your editorial (One regime’s brutality and the roots of Europe’s migrant crisis, 20 August) has provided an incisive and timely reminder of the despotism led by President Afwerki of Eritrea. His reign of terror was categorised by July’s UN commission report as likely to constitute “crimes against humanity”. It has led thousands of desperate Eritreans to risk their very existence to seek a better life elsewhere. According to UNHCR, while 60,000 Syrians crossed the Mediterranean between January and October 2014, 35,000 people from the much smaller state of Eritrea made the same perilous voyage – and Eritrea is not racked by war. UN sanctions have been imposed on Eritrea, which is often described as Africa’s North Korea. The analysis that Eritreans are being trapped into what amounts to enslavement by a cruel and oppressive regime deserves to be supported by all who understand that concession to such forces is surely wrong in principle and fails to influence in practice. If supporters of Afwerki object to the narrative provided by the Guardian, the UN, and others who have to rely on the testimony of those escaping the country, the remedy is in their own hands: the rulers should open Eritrea, end reporting controls, release the countless political prisoners, and make the liberation they won – and many of us actively supported – meaningful, instead of the travesty that it is now.Glenys KinnockLabour, House of Lords • Is it not an irony (Analysis, 25 August) that 26 years after the rest of Europe looked on and hailed as champions of liberty those seeking a better life as they scrambled in their thousands through the Hungarian border fences, the razor wire goes up once again, unashamedly to halt the flow in the other direction. Clearly the world is divided into the “right” and the “wrong” sort of refugee.Paul RoperHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire • Your correspondents are right to point out that western interventions abroad have usually had deplorable results (Letters, 22 August). However, it is important that the root cause of the refugee crisis in north Africa, and south-east Asia, is not overlooked: global warming. Rising sea levels have devastated Bangladeshi rice fields, bringing mass starvation. The accelerating desertification of the Saharan region (now estimated to cover a third of Africa) is having the same effect. Crop failures lead to hunger, and then to migration, overcrowding, poverty and desperation – breeding grounds for conflict and extremism. If global warming continues, the scenes we see now will be repeated round all the populated world. If this isn’t a call to action, what on earth is? Fay MarshallBrighton • Alongside the so-called migrant crisis across the European Union is an evolving moral disaster. Repeated migrant boating tragedies, where hundreds of lives are lost with each capsize, and the escalating desperation in Calais have been greeted with a noticeable decrease in solidarity and empathy from EU policy leaders and citizens. It seems we are increasingly having to justify what should be a given: a refusal to abandon the most vulnerable. We must all recognise that every individual migrant is part of a worldwide narrative of conflict, disasters and threats of persecution that have made their homes uninhabitable. Many of our fellow citizens have found themselves in similar situations in the past and more recently. Our consciences should be disturbed further by how most refugees are accommodated, not by the EU, but by lower-income countries. This reflects the sad moral state of our European Union. The EU has, of course, finite resources, but this suffering offers opportunities for us to shape the world into a better home for all humanity. To avert the unfolding moral and humanitarian disaster we must acknowledge and act upon our obligation to provide humanitarian assistance that ensures shelter, safety and dignity for each refugee.Dr Ayesha Ahmad UKMr Andrew Akampurira UgandaProfessor Vilhjalmur Arnason IcelandDr Sheena M Eagan Chamberlin USADr Murat Civaner TurkeyDr Caroline Clarinval SwitzerlandProfessor Michel Debacker BelgiumProfessor Ignaas Devisch BelgiumProfessor Michele Landis Dauber USAProfessor Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow SwitzerlandMr Vilius Dranseika LithuaniaProfessor Heather Draper UKProfessor Jonina Einarsdottir IcelandProfessor Eugenijus Gefenas LithuaniaProfessor Niklas Juth SwedenAssistant Professor Peter Kakuk HungaryProfessor Eleni Kalokairinou GreeceProfessor Pinchas Halpern IsraelDr Ghaiath MA Hussein UKDr Kararina Komenska SlovakiaProfessor Dusanka Krajnovic SerbiaDr Donal O’Mathuna IrelandProfessor Pierre Mallia MaltaDr Jay Marlowe New ZealandDr Daniel Messelken GermanyDr Signe Mezinska LatviaDr Goran Mijaljica CroatiaDr Elysee Nouvet CanadaDr Emilomo Ogbe BelgiumDr Teresa Sarmento Pimentel PortugalDr Aivita Putnina LatviaProfessor Vojin Rakic SerbiaMr Rob Ranisch GermanyDr Joanna Rozynska PolandDr Johan von Schreeb SwedenProfessor Jackie Leach Scully UKDr Kadri Simm EstoniaDr Chesmal Siriwardhana UKProfessor Jan Helge Solbakk NorwayProfessor Peter Sykora SlovakiaDr Behnam Taebi NetherlandsDr Lars Ursin NorwayProfessor Emanuele Valenti SpainDr Vina Vaswani IndiaDr Marcin Waligora PolandDr Shlomit Zuckerman Israel |