“The umbrella term migrant is no longer fit for objective when it comes to describing the horror unfolding in the Mediterranean“, Barry Malone, the online editor of Al Jazeera English, explained in a blog post. There is a general consensus that the current asylum system is broken, with growing anti-immigration protests and arguments about which country is responsible for dealing with migrants.
Advertisement
British Prime Minister David Cameron landed in hot water last month when he spoke of a “swarm” of migrants crossing the Channel.
Germany has called for other European Union states to take in more refugees, saying it could not go on absorbing a disproportionate share of the thousands of asylum seekers arriving in the bloc. Restoring internal border controls would allow countries such as Belgium to distinguish between EU and non-EU immigrants. However recent developments reveal that the UN is faced with challenges emanating from the “daily extinction” of many people through various human activities.
The umbrella group European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has called for EU countries to relocate 70,000 asylum seekers from Greece within a year, double the insufficient numbers agreed by governments for both Greece and Italy in July. If we want to help them, we need to change public attitudes by humanising refugees.
Last week, 49 people died in another boat’s hold after inhaling poisonous fumes, and on Wednesday 21 people are thought to have died after a dinghy with 145 on board got into difficulty, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. “They were then completely relieved to have arrived safely”, the 34-year-old photographer told German-speaking news site Speigel. He justifies his position by arguing, among other things, that his country expects a fresh wave of refugees from Ukraine, where the civil war between the Western-backed Poroshenko regime and pro-Russian rebels has intensified. Desperate people, fearing for their lives and fleeing the war-ravaged regions of the Middle East and North Africa, confront a bitter ordeal.
This disparity is made worse by the economic crisis that Greece is undergoing at the moment.
An undetermined number of bodies were also recovered and taken to shore.
Sadly, negotiations towards some sort of quota scheme are failing to make headway.
“Having seen the scenes on Thursday and Friday, the efforts put in place now to make the situation better are very encouraging”, she said. Eastern European countries, in particular, argue that their relatively low per capita GDP means they should be exempt. Others, however, are concerned that while Al Jazeera’s move may be well-intentioned, it also runs the risk of oversimplifying the crisis even further. Countries neighboring conflict areas are reaching their maximum capacity to absorb any more refugees. There are also concerns that some may be terrorists.
Austrian experts are performing autopsies on the victims: 59 men, eight women and four children.
What about securing the coastline?
This is against EU rules, which impose the obligation on the first country of entry to process asylum claims. However, while the EU has restarted naval patrols of the Mediterranean, in response to a massive outcry over drownings, it has not followed through on promises to destroy the boats of the people smugglers.
Advertisement
Echoing comments from Orban that there “is a clear link between illegal migrants coming to Europe and the spread of terrorism”, Czech president Milos Zeman said in June that “by accepting the migrants, we strongly facilitate Islamic State’s expansion to Europe“.
