Chairpersons:
Patrik Bruschek (AT) Nikola Vraneš (RS) |
Journalist:
Margit Kienzl (AT) |
Introduction
Throughout history, people have migrated from one place to another. People try to reach European shores for different reasons and through different channels. They look for legal pathways, but they risk also their lives, to escape from political oppression, war and poverty through illegal routes through land and sea.
There have never been more refugees than right now: world wide there are estimated XXX people seeking refuge in order to find family renunciation peace and education.
Responsible for this are partly terrorist groups like ISIL(The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and Boko Haram, who are known for their reign of terror and getting more power day by day. ISIL is currently ruling an area as big as the United Kingdom while an area as big as Belgium is under control of Boko Haram and both of them are further expanding their territorial influence
These developments already forced millions of people to leave their homes and flee to other countries in this region or to the European Union. But entering the EU safely and applying for asylum there is almost legally impossible thus forcing refugees to make use of smugglers to reach Europe by land or embark on dangerous journeys on boats over the Mediterranean Sea.
Refugees who have managed to safely arrive in Europe are then able to apply for asylum there. But the amount of refugees taken by the Member States differ extremely. While Sweden (7890 asylum applicants per Million inhabitants), Hungary (7300) and Austria (3750) have most asylum applicants per capita, Romania (77), Portugal (55) and Slovakia (40) deal with the least. Therefore, Member State taking most of the refugees and Germany, who took the highest absolute amount of refugees, asked for implementing a quota to distribute asylum seekers fair among the Member States. A few days ago, the quota proposal was rejected in the Council of the EU by Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic and therefore not implemented.
This great influx of refugees triggers a lot of problems in the respective Member States such as low living conditions for refugees as some countries are overchallenged with the huge amount of people. Furthermore xenophobia against asylum seekers is rising within the European Union.
There have never been more refugees than right now: world wide there are estimated XXX people seeking refuge in order to find family renunciation peace and education.
Responsible for this are partly terrorist groups like ISIL(The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and Boko Haram, who are known for their reign of terror and getting more power day by day. ISIL is currently ruling an area as big as the United Kingdom while an area as big as Belgium is under control of Boko Haram and both of them are further expanding their territorial influence
These developments already forced millions of people to leave their homes and flee to other countries in this region or to the European Union. But entering the EU safely and applying for asylum there is almost legally impossible thus forcing refugees to make use of smugglers to reach Europe by land or embark on dangerous journeys on boats over the Mediterranean Sea.
Refugees who have managed to safely arrive in Europe are then able to apply for asylum there. But the amount of refugees taken by the Member States differ extremely. While Sweden (7890 asylum applicants per Million inhabitants), Hungary (7300) and Austria (3750) have most asylum applicants per capita, Romania (77), Portugal (55) and Slovakia (40) deal with the least. Therefore, Member State taking most of the refugees and Germany, who took the highest absolute amount of refugees, asked for implementing a quota to distribute asylum seekers fair among the Member States. A few days ago, the quota proposal was rejected in the Council of the EU by Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic and therefore not implemented.
This great influx of refugees triggers a lot of problems in the respective Member States such as low living conditions for refugees as some countries are overchallenged with the huge amount of people. Furthermore xenophobia against asylum seekers is rising within the European Union.
Key Terms |
Key Questions |
asylum: protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee
refugee: refugee quota: A quota proposed by some Member States to ensure a fair distribution of refugees among the European Union. terrorist groups: A political movement that uses terror as a weapon to achieve its goals such as ISIL and Boko Haram. human rights: The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are considered to be entitled, often held to include the rights to life, liberty,equality, and a fair trial, freedom from slavery and torture, and freedom of thought and expression |
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Stakeholders - explained UNHCR: (Office of the High Comissioner for Refugees)
Aims that everyone can exercise the right of asylum. Furthermore supports countries that have problems providing enough or sufficient accommodation. Their goal is to ensure harmony and human rights European Council/European Commission: The European Union is aiming for a common asylum policy which is not fully achieved at the moment. If Member States decide to change the direction of the asylum policy, they have to agree on that in the European Council and the European Commission has to propose that changes in order to become binding legislation. Domestic Population: The domestic population has to accept refugees in order to secure a good living together among the different nationalities. Some of them have the feeling that refugees abuse the welfare system or tend to criminal actions, thus leading to an increasing level of xenophobia among the Member States. European Council on Refugees and Exiles: A non-profit organization based in Brussels with a pan-European network of multiple refugee-assisting non-governmental organizations in the field of assistance, protection policy initiatives, research, advocacy, capacity building |
Refugees: Most of them come from the Middle East and Africa and are seeking for a safe place to stay. They want good living conditions, want to be integrated in the society and want to start a new live in their new country. As some of them are traumatized, they need psychological care as well. Frontex: It manages the cooperation between the Member States’ border guards and ensures that there is no illegal immigration, human trafficking or terrorist infiltration at the EU outside borders. ISIL/Boko Haram: They are ruling huge areas in the Middle East and Africa and are aiming for further expansion of their territories. Both terrorist groups’ main goals are to set up a Caliphate in their regions and to eliminate all unbelievers, thus leading to atrocities happening in these regions. Member States: are responsible for the asylum procedure and have to provide accommodation for asylum seekers. Furthermore, their goal is to maintain social harmony and human rights within the society. |
Measures
Links for Further Research
Current developments in Europe
http://theconversation.com/anti-immigrant-walls-and-racist-tweets-the-refugee-crisis-in-central-europe-43665
UNHCR overview about refugees in Europe
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02d9346.html
Eurostat quarterly report on asylum
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report
Refugee quotas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvKUE02G5j0
A European Common Asylum System proposed by the European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/docs/ceas-fact-sheets/ceas_factsheet_en.pdf
EU countries to take in 40,000 asylum seekers in migration quota proposal
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/27/eu-countries-take-40000-asylum-seekers-migration-quota-syria-uk
Migrant crisis: EU quota plan to take 20,000 refugees
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32719014
A Fair Method for Alleviating Europes Migration Crisis
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/05/25/an-eu-quota-trading-system-for-refugees-would-offer-a-fair-method-for-alleviating-europes-migration-crisis/
http://rt.com/news/259337-france-rejects-migrant-quotas/
European Agenda on Migration
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/background-information/docs/communication_on_the_european_agenda_on_migration_en.pdf
Europes Thriving Xenophobia
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/cathrine-thorleifsson/europe's-thriving-xenophobia
http://theconversation.com/anti-immigrant-walls-and-racist-tweets-the-refugee-crisis-in-central-europe-43665
UNHCR overview about refugees in Europe
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02d9346.html
Eurostat quarterly report on asylum
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report
Refugee quotas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvKUE02G5j0
A European Common Asylum System proposed by the European Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/docs/ceas-fact-sheets/ceas_factsheet_en.pdf
EU countries to take in 40,000 asylum seekers in migration quota proposal
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/27/eu-countries-take-40000-asylum-seekers-migration-quota-syria-uk
Migrant crisis: EU quota plan to take 20,000 refugees
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32719014
A Fair Method for Alleviating Europes Migration Crisis
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2015/05/25/an-eu-quota-trading-system-for-refugees-would-offer-a-fair-method-for-alleviating-europes-migration-crisis/
http://rt.com/news/259337-france-rejects-migrant-quotas/
European Agenda on Migration
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-migration/background-information/docs/communication_on_the_european_agenda_on_migration_en.pdf
Europes Thriving Xenophobia
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/cathrine-thorleifsson/europe's-thriving-xenophobia
Margit Kienzl (AT)Margit's favourite place is in the kitchen (right where she belongs. It's funny when it's coming from a feminist, right?)
When she is not ranting on and on about society and bad chinese food, her favourite pastimes include indulging in expensive ice cream, books and french chansons. |