Sir, – Like many Europeans, I’m deeply horrified by the death of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian who washed up on the beaches of Turkey while trying to escape to Greece. Aylan was one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned trying to reach Greece, including Aylan’s five-year-old brother.
The death of such innocent people is a testament to Europe’s broken approach to the current refugee crisis.
First of all, we need to dispel the rumours that the refugees are just coming to Europe to claim benefits.
On August 26th, 71 Syrian refugees were found dead in the back of a truck in Austria.
The very same day, 200 refugees died off Libya in the Mediterranean Sea.
Is there anyone out there who honestly thinks that these people are going to such risks just to sit on the dole? No. They’re fleeing their homes because they’re terrified for themselves and their families. So far in 2015, Frontex (the EU’s border agency) estimates that 340,000 refugees have tried to flee into Europe with the majority being from Syria and Afghanistan (and fleeing brutal civil wars) or Eritrea, a dictatorship known as the North Korea of the Red Sea.
Trying to deter such migrants through draconian punishments is ineffective as they have already placed themselves in mortal danger just by trying to reach Europe.
The current refugee crisis is the result of Europe’s successive failure to agree on a common asylum policy. The current system requiring refugees to claim asylum in the first country they arrive in places an excessive burden on southern European countries. What is needed is a European-wide policy where the asylum system is consistent, transparent and shared equally among the EU’s member states.
The current system where each state maintains its own borders is haphazard and ineffective and urgently needs to be replaced by a coherent policy across the EU. Likewise, many refugees are highly skilled in everything from medicine to engineering. Allowing some leeway for refugees to work while their applications are being processed would greatly reduce their dependency on humanitarian aid. Some nations should be justly commended for their efforts; Germany is taking in 800,000 refugees to help with the crisis, while, despite its tiny population, Sweden is still willing to take in over 95,000 people.
However, it is not only up to our governments to address the crisis. As citizens, we are still capable of helping. Organisations like the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières are helping countless refugees and our donations can greatly improve their work. – Yours, etc,
NIALL McNELIS,
Knocknacarra,
Galway.
Sir, – On September 4th, you published 14 letters "responding to Europe's humanitarian crisis". All the letters, without exception, call on the Government to respond by taking in and welcoming the Syrian refugees. It is, oddly, a unanimity of opinion that I have rarely come across on the street or amongst acquaintances.
Many of the letters published were motivated by horror at the lifeless body of a Syrian toddler washed up on a Turkish beach. Though the image is dreadful and brings home the suffering of much of the displaced Syrian people, we should apportion blame equally onto the father and the EU. The father must bear some blame, for placing his children in a dangerous boat on open water. He was sailing from a reasonably safe and would-be member of the EU, Turkey, trying to make it into Greece and the European Union. The EU must also shoulder some blame; by only processing migrants when they arrive in Europe we are encouraging desperate people to make perilous voyages across the Mediterranean.
Surely it is not beyond the wit of the EU and Turkish authorities to open humane, comfortable and well-stocked holding camps in Turkey, where migrants can be processed and the ones genuinely fleeing persecution can be quickly resettled in countries around the world who are willing and able to take them?
What we mustn’t be is sentimental. Abdullah Kurdi, the father of the two toddlers who died, says that he spent a lot of money trying to get his family to Europe.
There are many, many more Syrians in Syria who don’t have the money to travel and who are suffering more than any of us can imagine.
What are we to do about them? Is it a case, as usual, of “out of sight out of mind”?
Most of your readers have little idea of the suffering endured by billions of people in much of Africa and Asia. In my travels I have seen children die of easily treatable diseases, children just as much loved by their families as our children are by ours.
We live in a global village and even the poorest of us in Europe are members of the world’s minor aristocracy. Rather than making ourselves feel good by extending a welcoming hand to a tiny minority of refugees who have the money and the wherewithal to make it into Europe, we should be thinking instead of a massive redistribution of wealth into schools, child nutrition, hospitals and housing in the developing world. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN RYAN,
London.
Sir, – I know I am not being politically correct but the media is playing the heartstrings while no one seems to be taking the long view. We can’t be kneejerk in our reaction.
By encouraging and giving hope to these people we will inadvertently create more of these tragedies by again offering these people an “out”.
I can assure you that the majority do not want an “open door” policy. – Yours, etc,
FRANCIS R McALONAN,
Westport,
Co Mayo.
Sir, – On the subject of the migrants attempting to reach Europe, I am furious with some of our top interviewers on radio and television. They aggressively pursue a narrow line of questioning. Miriam O'Callaghan on Prime Time (September 3rd) relentlessly asked the Minister for Defence, "How many migrants will Ireland take?"
The Irish people respond generously to catastrophic events. Simon Coveney and the Greek representative did well to widen the debate and to inform the viewers of some of the myriad aspects of this apocalyptic situation – a lack of partners in strife-ridden countries, criminal organisations involved in people-trafficking, and so on. – Yours, etc,
MARGARET HEARNS,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Is the arms industry contributing significantly to this crisis? Germany exported €5.4 billion worth of weaponry last year. France and Britain are also significant exporters of weaponry. Could we call for a ban on arms-dealing to show a genuine effort to prevent the carnage? – Yours, etc,
HOLLY MULLARKEY,
Annaghdown,
Galway.
Sir, – While media outlets try to shame Europeans into feeling guilty for any bodies which are discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, the most important fact of this tragedy is not talked about at all. None of the Gulf States – Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have agreed to take any refugees. These refugees are Muslims, and they would be far better suited to being placed in a Muslim country, and these countries are much closer and easier to get to. So why is this story being told as if this is a European problem? – Yours, etc,
DERMOT COOPER,
Causeway Bay,
Hong Kong.
Sir, – European leaders must take decisive action and provide some solution to this terrible situation. Peter Sutherland is to be commended for speaking out and insisting that these people are at the very least entitled to be assessed and have their cases considered for refugee status. How Europe and its leaders handle this crisis will be remembered for years to come. – Yours, etc,
YVONNE SHEEHAN,
Cabinteely,
Dublin 18 .
Sir, – Over 3,500 people perished as they tried to seek safety last year, and over 2,300 people have died doing the same in 2015. It’s time to face up to the fact that this is not a crisis – it’s a disaster. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN McDERMOTT,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – The following algorithm might be used in the calculation of the number of Syrian refugees that Ireland will take in.
To begin with, bring the policymakers and the leaders and other bigwigs together and, taking into account such relevant factors as our infrastructure, national debt, population density, social willingness, and so on, calculate a number as precisely and accurately as possible.
Then double it. – Yours, etc,
HELEN O’LEARY,
Cork.