What is the issue ?
- A surge of desperate migrants from the Middle East and
Africa has put unprecedented pressure on EU countries, especially Italy, Greece and Hungary.
- More than 350,000 migrants were
detected at the EU's borders in January-August 2015, compared with 280,000
detections for the whole of 2014.
- The conflicts raging in Syria and Afghanistan, and abuses in Eritrea, are major
drivers of the migration.
- More than 2,600 migrants have
drowned in the Mediterranean this year, trying to reach Greece or Italy.
- Many attempt the perilous Western
Balkans route, hoping to reach Germany and other northern EU countries.
They run the gauntlet of brutal people traffickers and robbers.
How many people are on the move?
- The
350,000 total detected so far this year at the EU's borders includes more
than 230,000 who arrived in Greece and nearly 115,000 in Italy. About
2,100 arrived in Spain.
- Most
of those heading for Greece take the relatively short voyage from Turkey
to the islands of Kos, Chios, Lesvos and Samos - often in flimsy rubber
dinghies or small wooden boats.
Where do they come from?
- The
largest migrant group by nationality in 2015 is Syrians, as people flee
the country's brutal civil war.
- Afghans
and Eritreans come next. They are often also fleeing poverty and human
rights abuses.
- People
from Nigeria and Kosovo also make up large groups. Poor, marginalised Roma
account for many of the migrants from Kosovo.
Where are they going next?
- Germany,
which receives by far the most asylum applications in the EU, is expecting 800,000 refugees to
arrive this year.
What is the Dublin Regulation ?
- The
EU's Dublin Regulation places
responsibility for examining an asylum seeker's claim with the first EU
country that the migrant reached.
- But
Greece complained that it was inundated with applications, as so many
migrants arrived in Greece first. Germany then suspended the Dublin rule
and decided to consider asylum cases from the majority of Syrian
applicants.
- Finland
is also among the countries that have stopped sending people back to
Greece.
- Other
countries are also struggling with the influx of arrivals.
- Austria
says it is expecting 80,000 asylum applications this year.
- Meanwhile
several thousand migrants are camped around Calais in northern France.
Many have been risking their lives jumping aboard UK-bound lorries and
trains near the Channel Tunnel.
Are EU countries doing their fair
share?
- For
years the EU has been struggling to harmonise asylum policy. That is
difficult with 28 member states, each with their own police force and
judiciary.
- Championing
the rights of poor migrants is difficult as the economic climate is still
gloomy, many Europeans are unemployed and wary of foreign workers, and EU
countries are divided over how to share the refugee burden.
How do migrants get asylum status
in the EU?
- They have to satisfy the authorities that they are fleeing persecution and
would face harm or even death if sent back to their country of origin.
- Under
EU rules, an asylum seeker has the right to food, first aid and shelter in
a reception centre. They should get an individual assessment of their
needs. They may be granted asylum by the authorities at "first
instance". If unsuccessful, they can appeal against the decision in
court, and may win.
- Asylum seekers are supposed to be granted the right to work within nine months of arrival.
- In 2014, the EU statistics agency Eurostat reports, 45% of first instance asylum decisions were
positive - that is, authorities granted refugee or subsidiary protection
status, or permission to stay for humanitarian reasons.
- Nearly
104,000 got refugee status in the EU last year, nearly 60,000 subsidiary
protection status and just over 20,000 authorisation to stay for
humanitarian reasons. (Austria was not included in the data.)
- The
highest number of positive asylum decisions in 2014 was in Germany
(48,000), followed by Sweden (33,000), then France and Italy (both 21,000)
and the UK (14,000).
What next ?
- In the midst of this chaos, many countries are
considering re-imposing border controls, reversing the open borders
policy under the Schengen system for travel among 22 European Union
countries.
- Plus, the ongoing influx of refugees is bound to provide a
fillip to anti-immigration right-wing political groups in different parts
of Europe.
- After all, assimilating such large numbers of people from
diverse ethno-religious backgrounds, all at one go, is extremely
difficult.
- Besides, there’s also the security risk of Islamic State
terrorists/ sympathisers smuggling themselves into Europe among the
refugees to carry out terrorist attacks.
Need for a comman asylum policy
of Europe !
- All of this has given rise to calls for a common asylum
policy for Europe to better manage and distribute the burden of incoming
refugees.
- How Europe does this remains to be seen. Surely, it has to
address the root of the problem – the ongoing civil war in Syria and Iraq
as well as the genuine aspirations of the people in the Middle East and
Africa.
- In fact, the two aren’t entirely unrelated. Fighting
poverty in Africa, for example, would not only stem the outflow of
economic migrants but also ensure that extremist groups like the Islamic
State and its affiliates are unable to make inroads into vulnerable
countries.
Exception/Positive Story ?
- The North African
nation of Morocco was able to grasp this reality quite early.
- As a result, it has
initiated a series of economic cooperation programmes to boost development
in the African countries of the Sahara and Sahel. Plus, Morocco has been
actively pushing for international cooperation in fighting trans-national
terrorism with special focus on the issue of foreign fighters.
- Against this
backdrop, there’s a strong case for European nations to boost their
cooperation with Morocco and jointly work on development programmes that
seek to mitigate the economic, political and developmental distortions
that are fuelling both conflicts and the mass migration to Europe.
