29 September 2015

The Refugee Crisis

The AMIS Roundtable (7th of September 2015) discussed the dramatic events characterizing Europe’s response to refugees. Recently, the UNHCR warned of the existence of a record-breaking 60 million refugees globally. The war in Syria, ISIS in Iraq, and the collapse of the Libyan state have meant a large increase of asylum seekers. 

The response has been tighter border control, deterrence measures and combatting smugglers. But while fences and Frontex operations are politically salient, comparatively little political good-will has followed the EU Commission’s proposal to resettle asylum seekers or the UNHCR’s call to increase the relocation of refugees.

Roundtable participants:

Watch, or re-watch, the roundtable discussion:

The main findings of the AMIS roundtable has also been converted into an article written by the roundtable participants,

In the article, entitled "Flygtninge: Jagten på en bæredygtig løsning" ("Refugees: The hunt for a sustainable solution"), the affiliates argue that a greater European and international collaboration focused on the regions of origin of the refugees is needed, if a sustainable solution to the Refugee Crisis is to be developed.

Excerpt from the article:

"Den nødvendige humanitære bistand til nærområderne må altså suppleres med en villighed til at modtage en større andel af flygtningene i lande med langt lavere flygtningeprocenter. Og der er, som vi aktuelt ser i Europa, ikke noget alternativ til et samarbejde om en fordeling af flygtninge. Meget gerne et samarbejde, der rækker ud over Europa." ("The necessary humanitarian aid to the regions of origis must be supplemented with a willingness from countries with low percentages of refugees to receive a greater number of refugees. And there is, as we see in Europe, no alternative to a collaboration in relation to a destribution of refugees. Preferably a collaboration that extends beyond Europe.")

The article, which was printed in the Danish newspaper Politiken, can be read HERE.