David Quinn
We have a responsibility to ease the burden on countries that are immediate neighbours to war-torn regions, writes David Quinn
Europe is currently embroiled in the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War. It has been precipitated by the collapse of authority in Libya, and in large parts of Iraq and, of course, by the long and savage civil war in Syria.
The collapse of anything properly resembling a functioning state in Libya means the country has now become a throughway for Africans who are really economic migrants for the most part, not refugees (although some are) and are attempting to enter Europe illegally.
So long as the would-be migrants are willing to risk passing through the anarchy Libya has become, and pay the people-smuggling gangs, there is no government in existence that can operate proper border controls.
The danger now is that Libya will be used as a throughway by more people fleeing from war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. This is because the EU in the last few weeks has arrived at a deal with Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of refugees through Turkey and into the EU, starting for the most part with Greece.
Foreign aid
Turkey has been home for the last few years to several million refugees, mostly from Syria. Partly because the Turkish government has been unhappy with the paltry amount of foreign aid being sent its way by the international community to help them cope with the number of refugees, they have been happy to let the refugees pass through Turkey on the way to a hoped-for better life in Europe.
The deal between the EU and Turkey is intended to stop anyone from by-passing the normal refugee application process. If a person arrives in Greece legally, they will be waved through. If not, they will be sent back and replaced with someone who has gone through the proper legal channels. This is supposed to incentivise going through the proper channels and cut down both on the numbers entering Europe illegally and the numbers risking their lives by crossing the sea in often unsafe boats in order to make it to Greece.
It is into this controversy that Pope Francis stepped last weekend. He visited the Greek island of Lesbos which is very close to the Turkish coast and therefore has been one of the main places where refugees are arriving.
He told the refugees: “I want to tell you that you are not alone. In these weeks and months, you have endured much suffering in your search for a better life. Many of you felt forced to flee situations of conflict and persecution for the sake, above all, of your children, your little ones.”
He went there with Orthodox Christian leader, Patriarch Bartholomew.
Most dramatically, he brought 12 refugees back with him to the Vatican, all of them Muslims. Why were none of them Christian given the particular vulnerability of Christians (and other religious minorities) in Syria and Iraq? The answer the Vatican gave is that none of the available Christians had their paperwork in order.
Genocide
While the Pope has repeatedly denounced the targeting of Christians by Islamist militants, calling it ‘genocide’ in some cases, he also wanted to tell the world that Europe must open its door to all refugees, regardless of religion. Eastern Europe has been inclined to take in only Christian refugees, if anyone at all.
This, of course, gives rise to the question; what does a proper and humane refugee policy look like? This is not an easy question to answer.
Sweden and Germany have both operated extremely generous refugee policies, basically opening their doors to anyone from a war-torn region. However, both countries now believe they cannot cope with the numbers and so have moved to a more restrictive policy. This is what has prompted the deal between the EU and Turkey.
Ireland, for its part, is being less than generous. It has promised to take in only 4,000 refugees over the next few years. Britain is – proportionately – even worse, agreeing to take in only 20,000.
However, even these small amounts are leading to complaints that ‘charity begins at home’. Ireland already has a big problem with homelessness. Shouldn’t we solve that problem first before bringing additional people into the country? The same complaint is being made in Britain and elsewhere.
Final analysis
In the final analysis, of course, this is really a complaint against immigration policy generally. There has been a huge amount of migration into Ireland over the last decade and more, mostly from Eastern Europe. A third of rent supplements, for example, go to non-nationals.
It is inconsistent, to put it mildly, to complain about the paltry number of refugees that are due to come into the country while not raising a complaint about the vastly greater numbers coming into Ireland from other EU member-states.
This is not to make an issue of migration from other EU States, incidentally. It is simply to point out the inconsistency and the lack of ‘joined-up’ thinking.
Pope Francis clearly believes that EU policy towards refugees is ungenerous and he is correct about that.
He could easily point out that tiny Lebanon has taken in a number of refugees equal to about a third of its native population. That would be like Ireland taking in 1.5 million refugees almost overnight. Lebanon is far from being a rich country.
On the other hand, people are right to worry about the failure in some cases to integrate Muslim populations into their host communities. Some Muslims, of course, have not wanted to integrate and have deliberately kept themselves apart. This has helped to feed Islamic extremism and the killings we have seen on the streets of Paris and Brussels recently.
Would a possible way forward be to grant temporary refugee status to those who flee war? This is the approach of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the refugee crisis which has been commendably generous.
She said in January: “If there is peace in Syria and Isil is defeated in Iraq, we expect you to return to your homelands, with the knowledge of what you have received from us.”
From the point of view of the countries they have fled, this also makes perfect sense. How is a country like Syria supposed to be rebuilt if so many people have left it never to return?
Therefore our refugee policy has to have two aims; it must give people refuge who have left war-torn regions and therefore help to relieve the burden on countries that are immediate neighbours to those regions, like Lebanon and Turkey.
But it must also be aimed at rebuilding those war-torn regions afterwards and that means resettling most of those refugees in their home countries afterwards.
This is the best way, in my view, of answering the Pope’s call.
