Europe in the 1930s was torn apart by fascism and at the end of the second world war the remnants of extreme right parties re-emerged in the margins of politics. 1980s onwards as Europe faced migration on a level that kept increasing every year, anti immigrant sentiments began to increase reaching its epitome in our generation. These sentiments were further picked up by right wing parties and used as vote banks to win their way to power. Politically racist politicians on the pretext of ‘nationalism’ and ‘tradition’ are enforcing views that wouldn’t benefit neither the citizens nor the migrants, just creates a sense of uneasiness in the society. Through this article, I have attempted to analyse and make it easier to understand the different phases of this crisis. Like all problems, this one too is multi faceted and this article aims to give you a glimpse into that.
Asylum seekers sleep on the deck of a Spanish vessel after being rescued off the Libyan coast. An Australian report argues turning back boats does not meet international legal obligations and is not a viable long-term strategy. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images
Is differentiating between the terms “refugee” and “migrants’ problematic?
Refugees from Syria pray on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean from Turkey in an inflatable dinghy. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
As I was researching to write more on this agenda, I came across a very interesting and I believe very important article by the CHR Michelsen Institute, where the writer Synnøve Kristine Nepstad Bendixsen spoke about how differentiating between a Refugee and a Migrant is in itself problematic. The reason being that the moment we refer to somebody as a Refugee we automatically think of someone who is in dire need and requirement of humanitarian aid & sympathy whereas Migrants are seen to refer to a group of people who are seen as ‘Fortune hunters’ or those who are here to take the jobs of the citizens. Refugees are seen to be ‘forced to leave’ whereas Migrants are seen as those who ‘chose to leave’. But researchers have now shown that this dichotomy is too simple. All potential migrants face a combination of different opportunities and limitations, and make decisions to migrate based on various underlying causes. So an inclusive definition of migrants recognizes that everyone who migrates may have a well-founded fear of persecution and have the right to international protection. This can be further understood if we look at the ‘Push’ and ‘Pull’ examples to understand migration. Under the Push category migrants are forced to leave either because of Political persecution, economic depression, war, poverty etc. whereas in the Pull category the migrants move to look for better economic opportunities, religious freedom etc. Differentiating between these terms will further add to the process of otherization, migrants are anyway looked at differently and treated differently irrespective of their reason to leave the country.
The effects of processes like Xenophobia, Islamophobia and Otherization on the migrant crisis
This last decade has seen the worst migrant crisis we as humanity have ever seen. We have seen the process of Otherization ( process of making a person or group of people seem different, or to consider them to be different or alien), Islamophobia and Xenophobia having adverse effects on the worst migrant crisis seen since the 1940s. We saw that borders that were normally open were now restricting entries, military assistance was used by a lot of ‘host’ nations and this crisis was also highly publicised and discussed vastly amongst all nations. On top of this, the attacks in France, Belgium, Nice etc. have just added to the underlying islamophobic sentiments present amongst the European population. These sentiments have been further aggravated by the help of far-right anti imigration parties using these sentiments as vote banks. As mentioned by Stephen Zunes, one of the most disturbing aspects of the disruptive decision of the UK to leave the EU was how much of it was based on anti immigrant sentiment. British authorities have indeed reported a spike in the Islamophobic sentiments and cases throughout the UK post Brexit. Stephen Zunes also mentions the double standards of the westerners in choosing to sympathise with selective terrorist attacks. The terrorist attacks in Paris, Manchester, Brussels, Nice- killed scores of innocent people, resulted in the loss of civil liberties as well as add to the islamophobic and anti-immigrant sentiments. But it is also important to note that the frequent attacks in Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran have killed more people. Despite the fact that the victims were no less innocent and the results were no less tragic, they did not receive anything close to the media attention and sympathy of the westerners. Partly the reason for this response could be racism and partly because many westerners seem to have visited and aspire to visit these european cities hence the increased sympathy. The recent terrorist attack in Canada where the terorist, Nathaniel Veltman attacked a muslim family in Ontario murdering four out of five members of the family, leaving only the yougest 9 year old boy clinging to his life in the hospital is the most recent islamophobic and xenophobic attack. It took the media 3 days to cover this incident. The rise in these incidents have created a stir in the country not only within the muslim community but also within all the immigrants. The lack of proper immigration laws that protect migrants and as well as lack of awareness and acceptance within the society is the main cause of this bigotry. This will not end soon unless strict measures are taken to ensure their safety otherwise. Countries like Canada, the US and the UK etc. that were always seen as safe haven for migrants around the world now have them questioning their safety. Is it worth leaving your country to only be treated like less in another? Is continuing to survive like their ancestors in war and poverty-stricken countries better than undergoing so much hardship to reach another country to only be thrown back or if accepted constantly worrying about brazen attacks on them and their families worth the pain? The moment these questions start arising, we know that humanity has started to failed.
A Syrian child fleeing the war is lifted over border fences to enter Turkish territory illegally, near the Turkish border crossing at Akçakale in Sanliurfa province. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images
Analysing the Draft Pact on Asylum and Migration, 2020
The European Commission on the 20th of September, 2020 released its draft Pact of Asylum and Migration. The timing of this draft was not coincidental as this came to be seen as a response to the burning of the Moria Refugee camp on the island of Lesvos on the 8th of September 2020. Moria initially seemed to be Europe’s first migrant ‘hotspot’ and its largest refugee camp. But in the 5 years since its opening the camp seemed to represent the failure of European Union’s migration policies. It also shone a grim spotlight on dramatic failures in refugee protection and basic human rights enforcement in the humanitarian response taking place at the heart of the wealthy Global North. These failures included the rejection of responsibility to accept a share of asylum seekers by a growing number of EU members; the adoption of draconian border exclusion policies, including inhumane push-backs out to sea; and an acceptance of degrading and inhumane camp conditions threatening the basic safety and health of inhabitants. To quote Jacqueline Bhabha in her article with the HHR Journal, “early signs suggest little cause for optimism from a migrants’ rights perspective”. The draft Pact on Asylum and Migration definitely acknowledges the need for migration in Europe and even goes on to commit to migrant protection. It includes positive proposals such as opportunities for unaccompanied children to join relatives in countries other than their first country of entry. But as Jacqueline goes on to suggest, the overriding message communicated by the pact is a call for more effective migrant exclusion return and deterrence. Instead of strengthening the existing laws and standards that benefit the migrants, the pact calls for an even stringent procedure to assess asylum claims for certain groups already facing high asylum refusal rates, lower protection standards for migrant children unless they are unaccompanied or under 12 years, more efficiency in removing rejected asylum seekers enhanced efforts to deter Europe-bound migration, and increased externalization of humanitarian responsibility for forced migrants trying to find safety and security. If, as seems probable, the Pact on Asylum and Migration is not extensively revised to take greater account of the EU’s human rights obligations, violations such as those perpetrated at Moria and elsewhere at EU borders and offshore are likely to continue and multiply. On the other hand, if European policy makers take advantage of the opportunity to review their policies and renew their stated commitments to inclusion, to humanitarian responsibility sharing on the international stage, and to advancing development principles in a collaborative manner, then the normative framework already in place can be operationalized to strengthen mutually beneficial partnerships among countries within the EU.
Photo Source: The Guardian
This photograph became the centre of all headlines in not just the EU but around the world.This image captured the raw humanity of the moment: a Red Cross volunteer tenderly consoling a Senegalese man moments after he stepped foot in Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta. One would expect this photo to go viral because of this heartfelt moment between a migrant and a volunteer. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Though there were people around the world who did resonate with this photo, the main reason for it to go viral especially in the EU was because of the right wing anti immigrant sentiments of Spain’s Vox party as well as the other Schengen countries who abused the volunteer Luna Reyes for merely showing compassion. The abuse was so bad that Luna was forced to make all her social media accounts private. “They saw that my boyfriend was Black, they wouldn’t stop insulting me and saying horrible, racist things to me”.
This one incident clearly represents the sentiments growing throughout the people of the European Union and around the world. A lot of internally displaced countries of the middle east and east blame the west for what they have become now hence believe that it is their right to be given refuge in these countries.
Conclusion
With every step that we take in growing as society, xenophobic and otherised incidents like these bring us a 100 steps back. The fact that we as a society suffered with this same issue 200 years back and are still suffering with racial discrimination 200 years later genuinely makes us question whether we as a society have really just evolved or have we just learnt to deal with such incidents better. The migrant crisis is not something we can instantly solve and neither are the global politicians interested in solving. The one thing we can do is to find a way to deal with this crisis better. To form better & more stringent as well as a more accepted law that benefits both the migrants and the citizens. Migrant crisis is very real and is affecting hundreds and thousands of people everyday. As Martin Luther King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, just because we happen to be on the greener side doesn't mean we get to have the decision making powers solely but it does mean that we can ensure that justice is maintained everywhere.
References
● https://www.cmi.no/publications/7325-understanding-the-inferno-on-lesbos-we-n eed-new-perspectives-on-migration-to-solve-this-situation
● https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659.2017.1272275?journalCode=c per20
● https://www.hhrjournal.org/2020/12/perspective-eu-migration-pact-fails-to-addre ss-human-rights-concerns-in-lesvos-greece/
● https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/20/spanish-aid-volunteer-luna-reye s-abused-online-for-hugging-african-migrant
● https://www.timesnownews.com/the-buzz/article/spanish-volunteer-abused-online -for-hugging-senegalese-migrant-after-photo-goes-viral/760414
● https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10402659.2017.1272275?journalCode=c per20
About the writer
Shreya Kashyap is a student of Political Science from Kamala Nehru College, University of Delhi. She is passionate about photography, music and politics. She is also a Co-Founder at Diversity Dialogue.