A view of the refugee ‘problem’
The exhibition of children’s paintings of mass violence at Marseille’s Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations is a stunningly soul-crushing lesson in the horror of war and the impact of such violence on child refugees.
Children, some in the first decade of their lives, put on paper scenes no child should ever have to witness. It is a shocking historical timeline seen through the eyes of children, of horrors including the Holocaust, the Algerian war of independence, the war in Syria, genocide in Rwanda and, of course, Afghanistan.
Children make up around half of the world’s refugees. They will inevitably form a substantial slice of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Afghans who will manage to escape the horror of Taliban rule. These, too, will be able to mimic their forebears, but who knows what they will paint?
However, refugees are, more than ever, seen as unwanted nuisances for many governments. They are a threat, a burden and potential source of social disorder. The way some politicians talk of them, a plague of locusts would be more welcome. Their dehumanization appears all too often to be deliberate and politically convenient.
As refugee numbers have escalated globally to over 26 million, states have responded not with compassion but with coercive measures. Chief among these has been the construction of vast high-security walls. They do this not only to keep all refugees, as well as migrants, out but also to appeal to electorates that increasingly do not want to let anyone in, even those most in need.
Many migrants, including refugees, die while trying to breach these barriers, not least the obstacle that is the Mediterranean. It does not seem to prick the conscience of European public opinion that 930 people have died this year trying to make the central Mediterranean crossing.
Yet Afghan refugees will still make the journey. In all likelihood, they will not be put off the typical 2,500-mile trek through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey to the borders of the EU. If Greece is not possible, many will attempt the longer Balkan route.
EU officials are adamant they will not open up the bloc’s borders. Just as the EU expected Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey to host millions of Syrian refugees, now it will be the turn of Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan. However, these neighboring countries are angry that they are expected to carry the burden when richer states will barely lift a finger.
Walls do not work. They are no more than a temporary stop-gap. They increase the danger to vulnerable refugees and empower traffickers. For every wall, there is a tunnel, ramp or ladder.
Those haunting pictures of children from war zones point to the answer. The problem is not the refugees but the wars, extremism and violence. This is the terror that motivates them to flee. The wealthy powers cannot cover their eyes and hide from this reality, especially when they share responsibility for instigating, provoking and fueling these conflicts, just as happened in Afghanistan.