Why Europe Does Not Have a RefugeeCrisis

Abstract

Putting to one side the question of just how many people arriving in Europe constitutes a crisis given the resources that are available in the region, especially after having regard to the numbers that cross into and remain in states in Africa and southeast Asia, this comment is focusing on 'Europe', 'refugees', and the search for solutions. To start with, the alleged crisis is one that is more about the European Union member states than about Europe as a whole. The twenty-eight member states of the EU are arguing about an outdated allocation procedure for deciding where refugees making it to a member state should have their status determined. In June 1990, when the Soviet Union and parts of the Eastern Bloc were still in existence, and when West Germany and Austria constituted part of the eastern border of the EU, it was not a major cause of concern to establish that the state where the asylum seeker entered the EU should be the one to make the determination on refugee status. The original Dublin Convention 1 aimed in part to prevent 'refugee ping-pong', where a failed claim in one member state would result in the refugee applying in another member state and, if that claim also failed, being sent back to the previous member state. Today, with greater but still manageable numbers for the EU as a whole entering from across the Mediterranean from all parts of Africa, and with the war in Syria displacing so many into Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, some of whom then head for Greece or Bulgaria as the point of entry into the EU, that process cannot be sustained. As Germany has recognised, the current Dublin system 2 for allocating refugee determination processes between member states needs 1 Dublin Convention determining the State responsible for examining applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities, 97/C 254/01 (15 June 1990).

Resistance or Acceptance? The Voice of Local Cross-Border Organizations in Times of Re-Bordering

“…There is much published and ongoing research on how the situation unfolded in 2015, with the label "refugee crisis" simultaneously used and contested (Gilbert 2015;Cantat 2016;Krzyżanowski, Triandafyllidou, and Wodak 2018;Sigona 2018;Rajaram 2015; García Agustín and Jørgensen 2019). In a way, the "struggle over meaning, legitimization, and power in representations of the refugee crisis" (Holmes and Castañeda 2016, 12) has been ongoing since then.…”

The Role of SAARC and EU in Managing Refugees in South Asia and Beyond: Potential for North‐South Cooperation

“…The Syrian refugee crisis has precipitated discussions within the EU to revisit the Dublin Regulation (which incorporated the previous Dublin Convention into EU law) in which the first member state where an asylum claim is lodged is responsible for a person's asylum case. The original Convention ‘aimed in part to prevent “refugee ping‐pong”, where a failed claim in one member states would result in the refugee applying in another member state and, if that claim also failed, being sent back to the previous member state’ (Gilbert, , p. 531). However these realities are shaped by multiple factors, as a study conducted in 15 member states of the EU, found that:

One of the most fundamental barriers came from the racism and ignorance of some Europeans, experienced at both the personal and institutional levels.

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“…Internationally, there are questions or concerns raised on the ‘burden‐sharing’ regarding refugees. Thielemann (, p. 253) claims that the notion of ‘burden sharing’ raises an important question: ‘How do we explain calls for burden‐sharing beyond the state?’ While this is a matter of debate internationally, there are also questions raised within the EU on ‘burden‐sharing’ because generally the poorer parts of the EU – heavily affected by the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, such as Greece – are shouldering the heavier load of refugees (Gilbert, ). In the context in which refugee instruments continue to be a source of contention between the developed and the developing world (Haque, ), there should be greater value given to inter‐regional mechanisms.…”

‘The problem with refugees’: international protection and the limits to solidarity

“…Crawley and Skleparis 2017; Gilbert 2015; Ibrahim and Howarth 2017; Jeandesboz and Pallister-Wilkins 2016). Geoff Gilbert contends that 'Europe does not have a refugee crisis', for reasons related to the number of arrivals relative to the resources available, the policy construction of existing issues, and the reality that any response will need to be global rather than just European' (Gilbert 2015). Others claim that a narrative of crisis 'has been used to justify policies of exclusion and containment' (Crawley and Skleparis 2017: p. 1).…”