Europe is facing the biggest migration of refugees since the second world war. What is described as the “refugee crisis” is only a crisis because of the refusal of some EU countries including Britain to offer a safe haven for the people fleeing war, poverty and persecution. The EU recently agreed ‘quotas’ but this only applies to 120,000 refugees currently stuck in Italy, Greece and Croatia.
Over a million refugees are expected to arrive this year in the EU. There is no proper solution to the flow of refugees to the EU, with some countries resisting resettling refugees. There is growing support for far right and fascist organisations in Europe and many countries are conceding to racist arguments about refugees – often wrongly scapegoated for austerity measures and the fall in living standards.
Hungary’s right wing conservative Fidesz Party Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he did not want a large number of Muslim refugees that threaten Christianity. Neo-Nazi Jobbik is currently polling in second place on 28 per cent in Hungary. A lot of the hostility and negativity about refugees is being driven by far right populist, fascist and openly Neo-Nazi organisations.
War and economic instability means people are fleeing the Middle East and Africa in large numbers. The largest group of refugees are from Syria, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq. The majority of these refugees are in the surrounding countries. For example there are 2 million refugees in Turkey and over 1 million in Lebanon a small poor country roughly the size of Cornwall. Viewed in this context, over 1 million arriving across the whole of the EU does not seem so much. There is a large migration of refugees to the EU because the poorer countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have already taken over 3 million refugees and are now struggling to cope with the flow.
Germany has welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees and is projected to take around 1 million this year. Britain is not doing anywhere near enough. Opting out of the EU quota agreement was reprehensible as it applied to a small number of refugees. Pledging to allow 20,000 refugees over five years is a woefully low number in comparison with the numbers Germany, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan are hosting, and is the equivalent of what Austria took in one day.
This September 100,000 people marched in London and took part in events across Britain to pressure the government to welcome refugees. We must continue to send a strong message to David Cameron: we must welcome more refugees. At the very least we should let in the less than 4,000 refugees currently stuck in squalid slums in Calais with no proper shelter, support and sanitation. We must also take a fair proportion of the refugees arriving in the EU.
What you can do
• Join and support the Calais Delegations – the next one is due on 17 October
• Donate to Stand Up To Racism – our work only takes place thanks to the donations of our supporters.
• Support and build for the UN anti-racism day demonstration on Saturday 19 March 2016
• For more information on the above: info@standuptoracism.org.uk
Click here for a pdf of our refugees welcome here briefing leaflet