The ongoing civil conflict in Syria has created many consequences ranging from the destruction of ancient, culturally significant architecture to the involvement of foreign nations.
The most ignored and pressing of these consequences is the displacement of thousands of Syrian nationals who have migrated to Europe to escape
the war.
While it may seem simple for people to move from one country to another in order to escape serious conflict, migration becomes a serious issue when there are thousands fleeing their country at the same time.
Another problem with this mass exodus of Syrians is many countries are refusing to help, arguing over which country should house the refugees.
Leaders of Eastern European countries Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia conducted a meeting against the pressure from Western Europe, mainly the U.K., Germany, France and Belgium to help share the task of giving aid to refugees.
According to the Guardian, four leaders from Eastern Europe said, “Any proposal leading to introduction of a mandatory and permanent quota for solidarity measures would be unacceptable.”
This statement from Eastern Europe is in exact opposition to the
sentiment from Western Europe, claiming a “permanent and obligatory mechanism” for European Union-level cooperation on the sharing of aid is the present solution to the
refugee-housing crisis.
When the EU is facing a refugee crisis larger than the post-World War II emergency, it is frustrating to hear the Eastern European countries are not willing to cooperate with Western Europe during this severe humanitarian predicament.
The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, will announce new plans to spread the 160,000 refugees across 25 of the 28 EU countries within the next ten days.
With the arrival of new plans that may not exclude compulsory refugee sharing measures, the Eastern European countries in opposition to being forced to take in refugees have a significant chance of being outvoted.
Hungary seems to be the country most vigorously opposed to taking in refugees and not for merely pragmatic reasons.
Hungarian nationalist leader Viktor Orbàn has profusely rejected the sharing of refugees, claiming he will put soldiers at the border to keep immigrants out of the country because Hungarians do not want Muslims in their country.
While this sentiment is coming from a nationalist leader, it is still alarming that an entire country capable of providing refugees with safety is off-limits due to religious bigotry.
Although implementing compulsory measures to ensure refugees are spread as evenly as possible across the European Union sounds
unfair, it isn’t — it is
necessary.
If the EU allows countries to share the responsibility on a voluntary basis, the Western European countries would bear the brunt of a humanitarian obligation to provide safety and housing for these
refugees.
160,000 refugees spread over just a few countries would cause over-crowding and an early exhaustion of those countries’ resources.
Spreading the refugee population across as many countries as possible will allow the population in each country more time to establish themselves as
citizens of their new home.
Whatever the outcome of the talks between countries within the next 10 days, let us hope that the solution will not divide the European Union or create more conflict for a population of people who could use some peace and justice in their lives.
rcm2@indiana.edu
