“It is a true miracle”, German political analyst Josef Joffe told Politico. But he too is traveling to Germany where he feels there are more opportunities for work.
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A new Canadian approach to the Syrian refugee crisis overwhelming the Middle East and Europe could see teams of civil servants and security staff deployed into two countries struggling under the weight of the problem – Lebanon and Jordan.
The Obama administration acknowledged Friday that it will be hard to resettle 10,000 refugees in the next year.
The laws of normal politics – and the habit of worrying about uncontrolled immigration, especially from Muslim countries – haven’t been suspended elsewhere.
Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said the federal government should take steps to expedite resettlements, given the scope of the crisis. France made a similarly modest offer. But in the face of the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War, we have chosen to go even further.
SHORTLY before I went to Jordan past year to visit Syrian refugees, I read the country’s response plan: 200 pages of detailed projections and calculations that culminated in a request for $2,991,736,900 (note the precision) to enable the country to accommodate more than 600,000 Syrian refugees, and, importantly, cope with the impact on the communities hosting them. Stringent screening procedures (to weed out potential terrorists, among other things) will impose months of delay on every applicant.
Harper’s comments reflected the growing frustration of those aiding more than 4 million Syrian refugees in host countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.
Save the Children is working to complete a rapid needs assessment on three Greek islands where thousands of refugees are living in informal camps. The government could allow those Syrians to immigrate using temporary residency permits, as well as ease up on refusing visa or other permits to Syrians seeking to come for work or school. “It would also be dangerously naive”.
At the State Department, spokesman John Kirby fought back at criticism that the United States response to the crisis was “some sort of paltry decision or it’s not enough”.
But the biggest economic blows are being landed outside of Europe.
One way for them to play a useful role, if they cannot take in refugees themselves, is to contribute more – which they can easily afford – to various United Nations programs to aid the victims.
The security concerns are obvious, but taking in more refugees should certainly be an option.
“Funding shortfalls in Syria can be the difference between life and death”, warned Stephen O’Brien, the U.N.’s undersecretary-general.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian agency fighting global hunger. At least 700,000 Syrian refugee children are going without an education, according to UNHCR.
That sounds ambitious to refugee advocates such as Reisner, whose experience handling the cases of Iraqis and Afghans, including many who worked alongside USA forces during wartime, shows a system that operates at a glacial pace, with applicants waiting well beyond the average of 18 to 24 months estimated by the State Department. Others, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have given far less: $18 million from Saudi Arabia, for example, against more than $1.1 billion from the United States.
Perhaps we could come up with a more compassionate rhyme, something along the lines of “Refugees in the sea/let us heed their heartfelt plea/and give them sanctuary with you and me”. The road to Damascus was the place of Paul’s conversion (Acts 9) and Antioch was the city in which the disciples were first called Christians.
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Doyle McManus is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
