Saturday

1st Apr 2023

Opinion

EU leaders must show conscience on refugees

  • Miliband is a former UK foreign secretary who was, in 2010, also tipped as a potential EU foreign policy chief (Photo: Chatham House)

One hundred and forty thousand desperate people have already crossed the Aegean Sea in flimsy boats to Europe this year. Thirty five thousand of them are trapped in Greece, in limbo, with no way forward or back.

Thirteen thousand people are in tents on the Greece-Macedonia border, in pouring rain. A further 2,000 are stranded in Serbia. Fourteen people were killed by a train while sleeping, exhausted, on a railway track in Macedonia. Two people froze to death crossing the mountains in Bulgaria.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • International Rescue Committee vehicles (in yellow) in Chad in 2011 (Photo: ec - Audiovisual Service)

These are the numbers that define Europe’s refugee crisis. On top of the million people who arrived last year they represent a challenge to Europe’s compassion and competence. 

It is clear what European leaders want to achieve in Brussels this week. They want Syria’s neighbouring countries - Turkey but also Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq - to continue holding the majority of refugees from Syria.

They want to create incentives for refugees to stay in these countries. They want to undercut the smugglers who profit from refugees’ desperation to get to Europe, and who have only benefited from border closures to date.

These are reasonable goals. European governments have recognised that they need to help pay for these goals and help to organise them.

But if this is what they want, the proposed ‘one in, one out’ system between Greece and Turkey is not the silver bullet. It may in fact create a perverse incentive for more not fewer refugees, aided by smugglers, to attempt the dangerous journey across the Aegean.

If the number of refugees the EU accepts is based on how many survive the journey and are then returned to Turkey, and if Turkey understandably wants the EU to take more refugees, then what is the incentive for Turkey to stop refugees making the journey?

International law is also clear. Laws on asylum say that anyone fleeing conflict and persecution has the right to claim asylum and to have their claim considered on an individual basis, regardless of country of origin, date of arrival and many other criteria.

Forcibly removing people from Europe en masse, and with different treatment for Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, does not fulfil this basic legal obligation.

It is also not clear what happens to those who are returned to Turkey. It would not be acceptable for them to be sent onwards to war torn countries of origin where they may not be safe.

The rights of refugees, and the responsibilities of states to support them, were hard-won gains after World War II. The distinction between refugees fleeing for their lives and economic immigrants seeking a better life is important and worth preserving. It speaks to fundamental issues of fairness and responsibility and it can be policed. 

As long as the war in Syria continues, and as long as Syria’s neighbours do not have sufficient support to host refugees, desperate people with no other options will keep coming to Europe.

But while the refugees face impossible choices, European leaders do not. There are four things they can do.

Sea rescues

First, stop so many people drowning by ensuring that all agencies involved in sea operations have adequate training and support to rescue boats in distress, and to humanely receive refugees who have made traumatic journeys.

This includes all agencies abiding by their legal obligations to take boats in distress to the nearest safe port, whether it is in Turkey or in Greece, which Nato needs to clarify.

At least 400 people have already perished in the sea this year and the EU must ensure that this is stopped.  

Safe passage

Second, press ahead with schemes to ensure safe, legal and orderly passage for refugees fleeing to Europe. Voluntary admissions programmes, humanitarian visas and resettlement schemes directly from outside Europe are the only humane option for vulnerable people fleeing Syria and seeking safety within Europe.

This is not a pipe dream: There are viable options and EU proposals. The US, Canada and Italy have already made such schemes work.

Relocations

Third, strengthen mechanisms for relocation of refugees within Europe, to ease the situation in Greece (and Germany).

We know the Dutch Presidency has been working hard at this. Ireland, Norway, Italy are stepping up to the mark and showing leadership, offering to take their fair share and help the EU towards the 160,000 relocations agreed.

We are encouraged by the actions of these countries and hope to see others step up.   

EU money

Fourth, disburse the €700m pledged by the European Commission on 2 March quickly and effectively, to help meet the humanitarian needs of those who will not be able to leave Greece quickly.

Assessments by the International Rescue Committee last week have found urgent protection and sanitation needs on the Greek-Macedonian border, not least for women and for children, many of whom have no adult relatives with them.

No-one is saying there should be blanket entry to Europe. Those who don’t qualify for asylum, having had their claims heard fairly and the safety of their countries of origin established, should not stay in Europe.

The real choice facing European leaders is not whether people continue to flee to Europe or are stopped by borders. It is whether they allow inhumane, disorderly and illegal arrivals of refugees to continue, or succeed in agreeing a humane, orderly and legal alternative.  

Two years ago Pope Francis lamented the “globalisation of indifference”. This week Europe’s leaders can show that globalisation has a conscience, and a competent one at that. 

David Miliband is former UK foreign secretary and now president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, an international charity based in New York

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

EU-Turkey plan: no refugees on Greek islands

According to a new deal discussed Monday, Turkey would take all migrants who crossed illegally into Greece, while the EU would take Syrians directly from Turkey among other new concessions.

EU unveils €700m refugee fund with Greece in mind

The EU commission plans to spend up €700 million on refugee aid in member states over the next three years. "This assistance, to a great extent, will go to Greece," a senior official said.

EU-Turkey refugee deal doesn't add up

The EU-Turkey "one-for-one" resettlement deal doesn't make sense and won't work. But at least it puts the principle of resettlement in the fore of EU policy.

Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?

More than 50 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, large parts of its transport network and industrial capacity, around 150,000 residential buildings damaged or destroyed. The bill is between €378bn to €919bn.

Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?

As autocracies collapsed across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Albanians had high expectations that democracy and a free-market economy would bring a better life. But Albania's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been uneven and incomplete.

Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?

As autocracies collapsed across Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, Albanians had high expectations that democracy and a free-market economy would bring a better life. But Albania's transition from dictatorship to democracy has been uneven and incomplete.

The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant

An unprecedented component of this announcement has received less attention: the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin's commissioner for children's rights. Lvova-Belova is accused of deporting and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Latest News

  1. EU to press South Korea on arming Ukraine
  2. Aid agencies clam up in Congo sex-for-work scandal
  3. Ukraine — what's been destroyed so far, and who pays?
  4. EU sending anti-coup mission to Moldova in May
  5. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  6. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  7. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  8. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains
  2. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  3. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us