The refugee problem in Europe has been bundled-up and dumped like an unwanted baby left on a doorstep. Humanitarian considerations have been binned. The media has conveniently placed this never-ending crisis on the backburner.
The shenanigans of Donald Trump deemed far more newsworthy than the tens of thousands who fled terrorism and bombs and who have little, except their will to live in dignity and safety. When it comes to refugees, viewer-fatigue has set-in. For most of us, sitting in front of our laptops or chatting with friends on our smartphones, empathizing with those poor people is a stretch too far.
We can’t or won’t imagine our cozy little worlds crumbling to smoldering ashes like theirs did. We don’t want to feel what it must be like to hear our kids crying from hunger or cold, knowing we have nothing to offer and there’s no light at the end of a dark tunnel.
At first, they had hope. Their compatriots among earlier waves had been received in Austria and Germany with applause, hot drinks and new clothes before being taken to comfortable temporary reception centers. But even “Mama Merkel’s” welcome went cold following last year’s attacks on Paris when it was discovered that one of the terrorists had taken the refugee route using a fake Syrian passport. She tried but when confronted by rising xenophobia and a loss of popularity, she folded.
Now they are being shuttled from pillar to post abandoned in makeshift camps to fend without food, water and medicines apart from the sporadic generosity of a few small human rights groups and dedicated activists without the means to do more. Many have lost family members during their epic journeys from war-torn Syria and Iraq and now it looks like their Herculean efforts have gone for nothing.
Their frustration at being met with barbed wire fences and armed riot police is understandable after all that they’ve been through. Some say if they are forced to return, they will kill themselves and their children; others refuse to believe they’re stranded in a dead-end street imagining today may be the day the door to their dreams will reopen.
The EU stretches over almost 4.5 million miles, boasts a GDP of $18.5 trillion and this year’s budget tops 141 billion Euros, yet it’s not embarrassed to put up a sign reading “No room at the inn,” particularly when countries, such as Lebanon and Jordan with serious economic problems have generously absorbed over 2.7 million. The US, the world’s wealthiest country, which contributed to the problem by invading Iraq, has done even less and just a few days ago, Trump reiterated that he would send all asylum-seekers back.
Turkey has shouldered more than its fair share of the problem and in response to a deal with the EU permitting Turkish nationals visa-free travel within the Schengen zone, while promising to fast-track Turkey’s application to join the union. Greece has now been tasked with returning refugees to Turkey but it is no simple task to persuade them to go back to square one where they know virtual imprisonment awaits and Athens is reluctant to use force. Plus Turkish residents around areas where camps are being constructed to house the returnees are angry fearing there may be PKK militants or Daesh terrorists among them.
Those seeking sanctuary until their own countries have stabilized are being treated as potential criminals and terrorists. They are the guests that nobody wants, never mind that many are doctors, teachers, artists, engineers, architects and students hungry to learn. They should be permitted to work and study within their host countries rather than be forced to send their young children to the streets to beg as so many are doing, vulnerable to being abused or abducted.
An account by my friend Franklin Lamb, an American professor and volunteer with the Sabra-Shatila Scholarship Program, titled “Why I bought four children off a Beirut Street” is heart wrenching. He came across a woman who said she could no longer take care of the orphans—5-year-old twin boys, a baby around a year-old and his 8-year-old brother—and offered to sell them for $250 each.
Initially disgusted, he got on his motorbike to drive off but when he looked back and saw how frightened they looked “soaked from the rain, very cold and apparently hungry,” he went to the nearest ATM, handed over the cash, and took them home to be cared for by a kind Ethiopian woman. He says he is honored to be their American uncle and appeals to all of us “to make these angels feel protected and safe.”
The youngsters in the custody of this big-hearted man are among the lucky ones. But the 10,000 children, who undertook the trek to Europe unaccompanied by an adult, now missing hardly get a mention and since France demolished the Calais “Jungle,” 129 children have disappeared amid fears they’ve fallen into the hands of gangs or predators. It seems to be that our world is fast becoming a dog-eat-dog jungle where people in genuine need are just numbers, irritants to be hidden away behind wire. I always wondered why the internationally community didn’t do more to rescue the millions in Nazi death camps and why states turned their backs on World War II refugees. That question has now been answered.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.
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Refugees are not criminals
Posted on April 7, 2016 by Linda S. Heard
The refugee problem in Europe has been bundled-up and dumped like an unwanted baby left on a doorstep. Humanitarian considerations have been binned. The media has conveniently placed this never-ending crisis on the backburner.
The shenanigans of Donald Trump deemed far more newsworthy than the tens of thousands who fled terrorism and bombs and who have little, except their will to live in dignity and safety. When it comes to refugees, viewer-fatigue has set-in. For most of us, sitting in front of our laptops or chatting with friends on our smartphones, empathizing with those poor people is a stretch too far.
We can’t or won’t imagine our cozy little worlds crumbling to smoldering ashes like theirs did. We don’t want to feel what it must be like to hear our kids crying from hunger or cold, knowing we have nothing to offer and there’s no light at the end of a dark tunnel.
At first, they had hope. Their compatriots among earlier waves had been received in Austria and Germany with applause, hot drinks and new clothes before being taken to comfortable temporary reception centers. But even “Mama Merkel’s” welcome went cold following last year’s attacks on Paris when it was discovered that one of the terrorists had taken the refugee route using a fake Syrian passport. She tried but when confronted by rising xenophobia and a loss of popularity, she folded.
Now they are being shuttled from pillar to post abandoned in makeshift camps to fend without food, water and medicines apart from the sporadic generosity of a few small human rights groups and dedicated activists without the means to do more. Many have lost family members during their epic journeys from war-torn Syria and Iraq and now it looks like their Herculean efforts have gone for nothing.
Their frustration at being met with barbed wire fences and armed riot police is understandable after all that they’ve been through. Some say if they are forced to return, they will kill themselves and their children; others refuse to believe they’re stranded in a dead-end street imagining today may be the day the door to their dreams will reopen.
The EU stretches over almost 4.5 million miles, boasts a GDP of $18.5 trillion and this year’s budget tops 141 billion Euros, yet it’s not embarrassed to put up a sign reading “No room at the inn,” particularly when countries, such as Lebanon and Jordan with serious economic problems have generously absorbed over 2.7 million. The US, the world’s wealthiest country, which contributed to the problem by invading Iraq, has done even less and just a few days ago, Trump reiterated that he would send all asylum-seekers back.
Turkey has shouldered more than its fair share of the problem and in response to a deal with the EU permitting Turkish nationals visa-free travel within the Schengen zone, while promising to fast-track Turkey’s application to join the union. Greece has now been tasked with returning refugees to Turkey but it is no simple task to persuade them to go back to square one where they know virtual imprisonment awaits and Athens is reluctant to use force. Plus Turkish residents around areas where camps are being constructed to house the returnees are angry fearing there may be PKK militants or Daesh terrorists among them.
Those seeking sanctuary until their own countries have stabilized are being treated as potential criminals and terrorists. They are the guests that nobody wants, never mind that many are doctors, teachers, artists, engineers, architects and students hungry to learn. They should be permitted to work and study within their host countries rather than be forced to send their young children to the streets to beg as so many are doing, vulnerable to being abused or abducted.
An account by my friend Franklin Lamb, an American professor and volunteer with the Sabra-Shatila Scholarship Program, titled “Why I bought four children off a Beirut Street” is heart wrenching. He came across a woman who said she could no longer take care of the orphans—5-year-old twin boys, a baby around a year-old and his 8-year-old brother—and offered to sell them for $250 each.
Initially disgusted, he got on his motorbike to drive off but when he looked back and saw how frightened they looked “soaked from the rain, very cold and apparently hungry,” he went to the nearest ATM, handed over the cash, and took them home to be cared for by a kind Ethiopian woman. He says he is honored to be their American uncle and appeals to all of us “to make these angels feel protected and safe.”
The youngsters in the custody of this big-hearted man are among the lucky ones. But the 10,000 children, who undertook the trek to Europe unaccompanied by an adult, now missing hardly get a mention and since France demolished the Calais “Jungle,” 129 children have disappeared amid fears they’ve fallen into the hands of gangs or predators. It seems to be that our world is fast becoming a dog-eat-dog jungle where people in genuine need are just numbers, irritants to be hidden away behind wire. I always wondered why the internationally community didn’t do more to rescue the millions in Nazi death camps and why states turned their backs on World War II refugees. That question has now been answered.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at heardonthegrapevines@yahoo.co.uk.