A truck traveling from Hungary to Austria was found last week with the bodies of 71 Syrian refugees.
The partly decomposed bodies were piled on top of each other in the truck, which was parked off the highway in Burgenland state in Austria.
Cause of death was likely from suffocation.
This tragedy was the focus of discussion for Europe’s leaders during talks in Vienna, Austria, where they gathered to discuss the greatest refugee crisis the continent has seen since World War II. Most refugees are being forced from their homes to escape war and violence in the Middle East and Africa.
More than 28,300 people applied for refugee protection in Austria just in the first half of 2015, many of them Syrians, and all of them in desperate need for accommodation from not only Austria, but from the European Union as well.
Refugee reception centers in Vienna are overflowing. Many hostels for asylum seekers are poorly run and conditions are dismal.
While German-based programs like “Refugees Welcome” helps to accommodate some struggling refugees, it cannot hope to begin solving this international issue.
We must look to the European Union for that. And this refugee crisis has exposed flaws in its governance, including the nonexistence of any proper migration policy.
Unfortunately, racism and xenophobia are alive and well in Europe, and many countries would prefer to take the “it’s not our problem” approach.
A house in Germany that was to be converted into a shelter for asylum seekers was set ablaze last week — just one attack among the 200 against refugees in the country this year. It is also the country to receive the highest number of asylum applications in the European Union.
However, it is the responsibility of these countries that possess the resources, and can help these people, to do so. Immediately.
The Editorial Board also urges readers to distinguish the terminology between a refugee and a migrant.
A migrant chooses to leave their country at their own volition.
A refugee is a person who has fled their country to escape war or persecution. Refugees are entitled to basic protections under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Once in Europe, refugees can apply for political asylum and cannot be sent back to countries where their lives would be in danger.
Syria, still in the midst of a violent civil war, has seen more than 200,000 deaths of its citizens, and almost 4 million people have fled since conflict began.
Efforts to aid these millions of people seeking refuge must involve all major world powers and major policy reform from the EU.
The New York Times reported about 150 people are believed to have drowned off western Libya after a fishing boat carrying refugees sank in the Mediterranean Sea.
More than 300,000 refugees have attempted to cross the Mediterranean this year, and at least 2,500 have died or have gone missing in the process.
The EU’s failure to agree on a joint response to this ongoing crisis is becoming increasingly dangerous as people continue to risk their lives in order to seek asylum.
This is a global crisis, and it must be addressed as such because it is not going to disappear anytime soon.
The European Union must take responsibility to aid and accommodate these people who have been uprooted from their homes, torn from their families and in fear of their lives as they seek solidarity.
