No quick fix for human desperation

EU countries do have humanitarian obligations and it’s only right that human rights organisations loudly condemned the cancellation of Italy’s Mare Nostrum operation

The massive influx of economic migrants and refugees into Europe is a global problem with no easy solutions. It’s a simplification to blame either Italy or Greece for not doing enough to rescue human beings who risk their lives and those of their children to escape hunger, persecution or bombs. Measures under discussion are little more than band aids when the desperate often say they prefer death to a hellish existence. Last year alone, more than 200,000 made the perilous sea crossing from Libya; the dreams of thousands more were cut short. There are cases where people who’ve changed their minds are forced onto rickety boats against their will before being caged below deck even as the modern day slavers plan to capsize their vessel close to European shores.

European Union (EU) countries do have humanitarian obligations and it’s only right that human rights organisations loudly condemned the cancellation of Italy’s Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation, which some believe has turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard.

Amnesty International’s Kate Allen was scathing. The death toll in a single week was “the equivalent of five passenger planes full of people drowning”, she said, adding, “If they had been holidaymakers instead of migrants, imagine the response. The floating bodies of these desperate fathers, mothers and children are Europe’s shame.”

However, due to Italy’s economic straits and resentment from taxpayers, neither its government nor that of severely cash-strapped Greece should be pummelled for wishing the problem was someone else’s. But they should be criticised for the inhumane way in which traumatised survivors are treated on arrival, given a number and shunted like cattle into virtual prison camps dubbed “migrant reception centres – or in the case of Greece, abandoned to sleeping rough in public squares or parks.

Libya, struggling to bring order out of violent disorder, should not be condemned either when undocumented migrants can’t be repatriated to their homelands especially when most foreign embassies are closed for business. Some 80 per cent head for Libya nowadays, since Israel toughened-up its border controls. Countries bearing the brunt are simply victims of geographical proximity.

Public outrage has shamed the EU into increasing funding three-fold for naval rescue missions and Brussels is mulling military intervention in Libya to stem the flow of North African and sub-Saharan migrants, who gather there in the hope of a place on a vessel, unseaworthy or otherwise.

Moreover, efforts will be ramped up to crack down on people smugglers. France is calling for a UN Security Council resolution authorising the EU to destroy the traffickers’ boats. If implemented effectively that could reduce the numbers of fatalities but does nothing to prevent migrants dying of thirst, while traversing the Sahara desert to reach North Africa where they are often beaten, robbed of their cash and thrown inedible scraps in holding centres run by human smugglers.

Brussels has announced it will grant asylum to a mere 5,000 annually whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is pressing Europe to offer refuge to all those who’ve fled from wartorn states. Europe can and should absorb more, but an overcrowded continent can only do so much without eliciting civil unrest and more xenophobia from populations facing joblessness and austerity cuts, not to mention a backlash from far right groups. Besides, wouldn’t such a semi open-door policy be seen as an invitation to those who’ve hesitated to make the leap thus far? A far more holistic way of dealing with this phenomenon is required.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel touched on the core problem, saying, “We must also focus on why people are fleeing their homes”. Britain’s Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg echoed Merkel’s sentiments. The “cure” rests in dealing with the reasons why people seek refuge.

A more pertinent question is where are they fleeing from? According to research by Altai Consulting, the migrant traffic flows are largely from Eritrea, Somalia, West Africa and Syria; in other words, they are escaping conflict, authoritarian governance or below-the-poverty line subsistence.

Ways of assisting

Instead of issuing reprimands or announcing unfeasible solutions, the UN should proactively rally its member nations to unify in order to determine ways of assisting countries so afflicted that their own citizens are heading out in droves.

There has to be a sea change in thinking away from the idea that this is an African or Middle East problem, which has nothing to do with ‘us’, when the states in question are not only the key to reducing migration to Europe, but are also terrorist-breeding swamps. Daesh (the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has already announced it intends to bombard Europe with a new weapon — 500,000 asylum seekers this year.

In the meantime, the UN should set up an international fund to boost Europe’s rescue and reception efforts, so that more lives are preserved and newcomers are greeted with accommodation and services that correspond to their dignity as human beings down on their luck, rather than criminals.

This growing crisis requires great minds at work and meaningful short-term and long-term strategies. Europe must play its part, but unless its friends stretch out their hands, we may wake up one day to find the Mediterranean has turned red.

Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com