13/07/2014
It is very much a given that Amnesty International are a bunch of unreconstructed lefties, and very much part of the human rights industry, stepping way beyond its original '60s brief of "working to protect those imprisoned for non-violent expression of their views".
Nevertheless, it will be difficult for the "colleagues" to ignore
its report on the EU's policy on for asylum seekers, summarised briefly in
Deutsche Welle. Entitled "The human cost of Fortress Europe", Amnesty slams the EU for tolerating a "marginally-effective" effort to seal the borders to Europe, rather than providing support.
"The effectiveness of EU measures to stem the flow of irregular migrants and refugees is, at best, questionable", says John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia director at Amnesty, declaring that, "the cost in human lives and misery is incalculable and is being paid by some of the world's most vulnerable people".
The point that Amnesty is making confronts an uncomfortable truth about asylum seekers. Any which way you look at it,
under international law, those presenting themselves at international borders must be given admittance.
What are thus known as "push backs" â refugees that are turned around and sent back upon reaching the EU â are simply illegal, yet are routinely practised by Bulgaria and Greece. And, by blocking off these routes into the EU, they are effectively forcing refugees to take the perilous sea routes that are costing so many people their lives.
In its own way, therefore, EU Immigration/Asylum policy as to people as the CFP is to fish, compounded by the fact that the "colleagues" are condoning the breaking of international law.
But, what is so mind-numbing is that the problems being encountered have been under discussion for decades, witness
this paper written in 1994. The plight of refugees in the world is not a problem any one state or a group of states should bear alone, it says. It must be addressed by all states as a global issue. Refusing admission to prevent aliens from seeking asylum is not a just solution of this issue.
Borders closed to arriving aliens do not stem the refugee flight, they merely direct the flow of refugees elsewhere. This creates hardship for states and asylum-seekers alike. The states with the least prophylactic admission and asylum policies are forced to bear the burden of refugee care while the refugees are forced to "orbit" among states seeking the one that will offer them refuge.
Closed borders, rejections, push-offs, and the like are not solutions that the world community should tolerate. First, these tactics should be rejected because they unjustly burden some members of the world community, upset relationships among states, and internally destabilise those states still admitting refugees. Second, closed borders, rejections, and push-offs should not be tolerated because they are not a humane answer to a call for refuge.
After decades of inactivity, the EU has dismally failed to address precisely these issues, only now to have Amnesty putting it on the spot, highlighting what amounts to ocean-going hypocrisy. The EU is always so strident about other nations and partners fulfilling its "human rights" obligations, yet, in this ongoing crisis, it is driving a coach and horses through those self-same obligations.
Nor is the EU at all effective when it comes to efforts to keep migrants from attempting their journeys to Europe. For instance, Turkey reports that it has spent $2.5bn on hosting Syrian refugees. Yet it has only received a mere $200 million from the international community.
Still, that is slightly better than Amnesty fared â which received from EU the grand total of â¬835 last year. At least, no one can say that they've been bought and paid-for.
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