Let the Refugees In
By Ayurshi Dutt
The refugee crisis ballooning in Europe has been declared by the United Nations to be the greatest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Europe has seen an upsurge in the number of migrants from Syria entering its borders to seek refuge. Europe’s unprecedented influx has seen asylum seekers — mainly fleeing the four years of civil war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — travelling through Turkey, Greece and the western Balkans, seeking new lives in Germany and other EU states. The present crisis calls for the international community to come together and extend all the help it can to the refugees fleeing their war-torn countries. While some sections of the international community have been more forthcoming with their support, the reluctance from certain quarters is disquieting to say the least.
Despite sharing geographical boundaries with Syria, the Persian Gulf countries have been absent from extending help to the asylum seekers. Only Jordan and Lebanon — the weakest economies of the lot — have accepted asylum seekers from war-torn Syria. The Arab States of Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and UAE) have remained steadfast in keeping their doors shut. These countries are economically strong — their combined GDP of these energy-rich Arab countries is about $2 trillion per year and their combined population is 55 million. Their strong economic position leaves them in a far better place to welcome and absorb migrants — so their unwillingness in taking in refugees is certainly disheartening. The same Arab nations that are refusing to take in migrants today have been involved to some degree — directly or indirectly — in the Syrian civil war by either having had encouraged or armed various groups. Providing food and shelter to people was a way to atone for yesteryear’s debacle and a chance at redemption — but one that they are clearly not keen at taking. The pressing need today is to find a place for millions of Syrian refuges, and this is exactly where the Gulf countries have begun to struggle for answers.
The Gulf countries have their reservations about the Syrians infiltrating their rich domain — their main concern is that the influx of migrants could disturb the political stability of the gulf, and the migrants sympathetic to Assad could infiltrate the Gulf to exact revenge. In this case, linguistic commonness does not lead to a congenial space. The Arab asylum seekers, it is feared, can influence local populations by communicating in the same language, thereby catching hold of volatile societies like Saudi Arabia.
There might well be some merit in these concerns, but the question is — do the reservations cited by the Gulf justify their reluctance in opening doors to those who seek asylum? Do just diplomatic talks suffice when action is the need of the hour? In the name of national security, is it acceptable to shut the gates to innocent Syrians? Government policies aside, it is interesting to look at the popular reaction to the crisis — it has been more muted among the rich Arab states. Did we come across any demonstrations to pressurise the Gulf government to provide rehabilitation to the refugees or to find other fundamental solutions? Sadly, we did not.
All these considerations aside, there is a very strong moral case for the freedom of movement. As Alex Tabarrok noted so eloquently in his piece —
“Human Rights do not stop at the border. Today, we treat as pariahs those governments that refuse to let their people exit. I look forward to the day when we treat as pariahs those governments that refuse to let people enter.”
Amidst all this hostility, there is a brighter side and some cause for cheer. Certain sections of civil society have come together to provide all the support they can for the Syrian refuges. Workers at national industries — Qatar Petroleum for instance — happily obliged to place a part of their salary aside, every month, for the Syrian asylum seekers. Charitable, non-governmental organizations, and individual donations have provided a total of around $900 million for the cause of the Syrian refugee crisis. Then there was the news of a rich Arab offering to actually buy an island from Greece or Italy to host the migrants, and not thwart and financing to make it a permanent home — he plans to name the island ‘hope.’ While most governments are reluctant to tackle the crisis, instances such as these show a ray of hope in this dark cloud of conflict.
(Ayurshi is a student of Mass Communication in Delhi University. She recently finished her internship with CCS Academy)
