Ukrainian refugees are welcome but borders close for others

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 By Nilima Adhikari

The rate of Ukrainian exodus probably is the largest mass exodus after the Second World War. The generosity Europe showed to the Ukrainian refugees is commendable, both people and European countries welcomed the Ukrainian refugees wholeheartedly, EU member countries have agreed to accept Ukrainian refugees for up to three years without asking them to apply for asylum, but Europe has never been so generous when it came to the Syrian refugees and refugees from other parts of the world.  EU calls this the largest humanitarian crisis that Europe has witnessed after the two consecutive world wars, but we can't ignore the fact that the world faced the humanitarian crisis of similar magnitude in the 2015 refugee crisis, caused by the Syrian war. Europe's response to these two crisis is startlingly different. Borders are opened with whole heartedness for Ukrainian refugees but were closed for Syrian refugees and refugees from other part of the world. Ukrainian refugees are projected as civilized, prosperous and different from refugees of third world countries

 The invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and the 2011 Arab uprising in the Middle East led to the increase in the number of refugees trying to enter Europe. The host countries took them as economic and social burden. Contemporary society creates a contrast between those who have right and those who are devoid of rights. Although mankind fought many revolutions to establish their right, Hanna Arendt, a prominent political theorist, argues that refugees lost their rights which were assumed to be unalienable, therefore she believes there is no such right like unalienable. Refugees lack the unalienable rights the citizens possess because once they leave their country they belong nowhere. Refugees with no choice and no hope have no option but to steal, beg or cross the border illegally, as boarders are always closed for these people in dire need of shelter and protection.

 We all know women and children are hardest hit by war, 45 percent of child refugee came just from two countries Afghanistan and Syria alone before the Russia's 'special military intervention' in Ukraine. Many of Syrian and Afghan children were accompanied by minors those children often lacked documents and were extremely vulnerable. Refugees and migrant children face many difficulties including malnourishment, drowning during sea crossing, dehydration, kidnapping, rape and murder. When they arrive in the foreign country they often face discrimination and xenophobia. The territory and boundary we have created is simply a means to keep some in and the others out, it simply stripes us of our humanity. Although people have always migrated across borders, but migration of people at the massive scale is really a matter of concern because of different policy of nation-states towards refugee, and the social, economic and pressure it exerts to the host country is also a matter of consideration but the countries bounded by international laws and laws on rights of refugee have responsibilities towards refugee and they are oblige to be hospitable towards them.

Refugees too have "right to have rights" at theoretical level but once they leave their country they belong nowhere and have no means to establish their rights. As soon as they became refugee their right as the citizens gets lost, the country they left and the country they seek refuge to both became alien to them and they became right less. Hanna Arendt the prominent political theorist in her book "the Origin of Totalitarianism" argues "some kind of political membership should be provided to refugees and refugees should be able to speak and be heard and appear before the public which is the confirmation of their political rights. If refugees cannot voice their concerns, able to take part in political processes that influence them, they are rendered voiceless".

 Xenophobia, though nobody wants to acknowledge is the prominent reason why refugees from Middle East and other parts of the world get different response, many claim that immigration threatens the Europe's national and cultural identity. Even though EU says it is committed to promote human rights, the action and words doesn't imply the same. Xenophobia whether direct or indirect, deters EU from generating a collective solution to the refugee crisis and becoming more humane when it came to Syrian, Afghan and other refugees. As more people from conflict zones in Middle East continued to seek asylum in Europe, the fear of supposed Muslim invasion has grown, and made the host countries worried that the entrance of refugee. There is the widespread fear that such refugees could affect their countries' social and cultural identity, and at the same time may increase terrorist activities. This mentality which doesn't have a logical base has developed hostility towards the refugees.

Though the European countries are the first to sign the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees, to address to the need of millions of refugees after Second World War, have failed to acknowledge that Syrian and Afghan refugees too had the identical needs, pain and agony like that of Ukrainian refugees. The past century has been one characterized by war, conflict, forced migration, and expulsion resulting in massive human displacement. Being forced to leave the country and not being welcomed anywhere, and without the access to the basic necessities of life, the life of refugees is really very pathetic and it should be the concern to the whole world.

Alan Kurdi, a three year old Syrian boy drowned in Mediterranean Sea whose photograph made the headlines of every news in 2015 is the representative of the ordeal faced by children refugee. Those children who survived the perilous journey arrive mentally and physically exhausted. Due to their age and vulnerability, children continue to face extreme challenges, even after they settle on the safe place this displacement leaves severe impacts on their health, education and overall wellbeing .Kurdi died when his family was trying to reach Canada via the route of Mediterranean Sea in extremely dangerous conditions. After moving to various cities in Syria to escape civil war, his family settled in turkey. Kurdi's family members were hoping to join their relatives in Canada after his aunt filed for refugee sponsorship. But their visa was rejected by Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Kurdi's father feels Canadian government in one or the other way responsible for the death of Kurdi as they were denied visa they ultimately had to board a small boat to illegally reach the place of refuge. The photograph of Kurdis' body caused international outrage. That photo of drowned Alan Kurdi shows the gravity of refugee crisis and shames the humanity and the nation-states who claim to have been formed for the welfare of humanity.  Many refugees have died in the way while searching countries of refuge, many people have died while being smuggled to safe countries, smuggled because the host countries have closed their borders. As the possible justification of states for closing their boarders is their claim of sovereignty over their territory. A state says as it is sovereign it has right to decide who is included and who is excluded from its territory.

The treaty of " Westphalia" established the concept of sovereignty and after the ratification of treaty an understanding was established that the states would be sovereign and there won't be any interference in their domestic affairs by another country, employing this concept the states closed  boarders for the refugees, the concept of sovereignty that was applicable for that time and circumstance can't be true to today’s scenario because things and circumstances both social and political have changed now and the act of closing the boarders in the name of sovereignty is certainly not justifiable.

 

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