Refugees: A humanitarian crisis

Refugees: A humanitarian crisis

Kamlendra KanwarUpdated: Thursday, May 30, 2019, 01:50 PM IST
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That a very small section of the refugees has shaken the foundations of the tranquil and normally-placid Europe with some stray acts of terror at the behest of the IS is all that concerns Europeans and the rest of the world. Knowledge of the humanitarian crisis in all its dimensions is grossly deficient.

There is more to the ‘Syrian refugee crisis’ than just sporadic but ghastly terror attacks on innocents in Europe. There is a human dimension to the refugee influx which speaks of untold suffering inflicted on innocent millions due to a terrible civil war in Syria that is showing no signs of coming to an end. It is indeed a sordid tale of extreme deprivation and insecurity which has gripped a country that was once bustling with activity.

That a very small section of the refugees has shaken the foundations of the tranquil and normally-placid Europe with some stray acts of terror at the behest of the Islamic State, a bloodcurdlingly ruthless terrorist outfit, is all that concerns Europeans and the rest of the world. Knowledge of the humanitarian crisis in all its dimensions is grossly deficient.

Behind the Syrian crisis are some extremely chilling statistics. Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Half the country’s pre-war population — more than 11 million people — have been killed or forced to flee their homes in the last five years. There are nearly 4.7 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries — Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and nearly a million have applied for asylum in the safety of Europe. A whopping 6.6 million are displaced internally in Syria in a total population now of 13.5 million.

Anti-government demonstrations began in March 2011, part of the Arab Spring. But the peaceful protests quickly escalated after the government’s violent crackdown, and rebels began fighting back against the regime.

By July, army defectors had loosely organised the Free Syrian Army and many civilian Syrians took up arms to join the opposition. Divisions between secular and Islamist fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict.

More than five years after it began, the full-blown civil war has killed over 250,000 people, half of whom are believed to be civilians.Bombings are destroying crowded cities and terrible human rights violations are widespread. Basic necessities like food and medical care are in acute short supply. The UN estimates that 6.6 million people are internally displaced. When one also considers refugees who have left the shores of homeland Syria, well over half of the country’s pre-war population of 23 million is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

While innocent women and children account for the bulk of the refugees, there is a microscopic section that is seeking to further the agenda of IS — of causing death and destruction in regions to which they are opposed, including Europe.

Governments in European countries that accepted the refugees on their shores are now regretting having admitted them as people resent how they are being forced to share the limited economic pie and how a quantum jump in crime incidents has taken place. Country after country in Europe is facing the brunt of terror attacks.

France, and in recent days Germany, are the worst hit. Inexorably, some other countries are getting sucked into the vortex of refugee-spurred criminality. Morale is low all over Europe as fear grips people and tourism is beginning to be hit hard. As more and more refugees get exposed to huge conspicuous consumption in Europe, the crime graph is bound to go up as envy breeds crime.

But what is the way out?  The bulk of the refugees are women and children who desperately need humanitarian assistance to be able to survive. The world cannot turn its face away from them and allow them to die as the affluent countries in particular continue to live in opulence.

The immediate conclusion from the recent terror attack in Munich, Germany, was that it reflected an abject failure of intelligence.

Clearly, Europe in general has to look at this aspect with an eagle eye. It has not been accustomed to collection and decoding of intelligence on a country or region basis and quick sharing of inputs of intelligence, but it has to quickly adapt to the needs of the times.

On July 14 last, a truck drove into a crowd in Nice, France during Bastille Day celebrations. At least 84 people died in the attack for which IS claimed responsibility. French president Hollande described it as a terrorist attack. This was the third major terrorist attack on French soil in 18 months and has led many tourists to exclude France from their itinerary.

When the first attack took place, the French president had warned that France would come down hard on terrorists. But so far the investigations have yielded little and meanwhile, more attacks have taken place. The French government looks clueless as to what it should do to combat the scourge of terror.

There is a general climate of fear in all of Europe and an apprehension in most countries that they could be the next target of terror attack. That is doing the morale of people in general no good.

The only way for the European nations is to tackle terror on a war footing and at the same time to show compassion towards the innocents by providing them basic subsistence through humanitarian aid in shelters meant for refugees. The world at large must take steps to bring to a halt, through force if necessary, the civil war in Syria so that the millions of refugees can return to their homeland and be assured of basic needs and security. The root of terror, the so-called Islamic State, needs to be tackled too not through mere lip service, but proactively.

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