In the summer of 2015, Europe experienced an influx of refugees unparalleled since the Second World War, as a result of the current situation in Syria. Four million Syrian refugees have left Syria, most of them are now living in camps in the neighboring countries: Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt. As the camps get more and more crowded, many refugees have turned to the EU for asylum.
As an increasing number of people are displaced due to the hostile situation in the Middle East, the number of refugees seeking asylum grows. As per the Dublin Regulation, the EU’s current policy is to put the refugees in whatever nation they land in. This policy has been criticized as it puts a greater economic and social strain on the EU border nations (France, Greece, Bulgaria), whereas relatively more stable nations (England, Belgium etc.) take in extremely few refugees as a result.
Germany is a notable exception to this. Since the start of the refugee crisis, Germany announced that it will accept all Syrian refugees. As a result, German plans to take in 800 000 refugees in 2015, more that the entire EU in 2014. However, due to the overwhelming number of refugees, Germany placed temporary border controls earlier this month. The UK, in comparison, has stated that it will only allow 20 000 Syrian refugees into their country over the next 5 years.
Of course, these numbers are hard to quantify properly. As Germany processes Syrian refugees faster than other refugees, a market has grown around the purchase of fake Syrian passports. These passports are rumored to cost between $1000 and $2000 in countries such as Turkey. German authorities admit as much as 30% of the refugees taken in may in fact be using false passports.
Many find Canada’s failure to give a prompt response to the refugee crisis quite disappointing. Canada itself has only resettled about 2 500 refugees so far, despite raging support for refugees on the municipal and provincial level. Toronto’s mayor, John Tory, has called other mayors to take on organizing municipal help for refugees, saying “This is the Canadian way to respond”. Calgary’s mayor, Naheed Nenshi, has criticized our current policies, saying “we’re a country of generosity and we’re a country of opportunity”. Montreal’s mayor, Denis Coderre, has also said his city is ready and willing to welcome more refugees.
At this point, all Canadian political parties have made assertions to increase that number over the coming years, with the conservatives pledging to bring in 20 000 refugees over the next 4 years, the Liberals pledging to bring in 25 000 refugees “as soon as possible” and the NDP pledging to bring in 10 000 refugees “out of harm’s way and to Canada by the end of the year”. Yet many believe these policies to be too little too late.
Meanwhile the countries bordering the Persian Gulf are oft-quoted as having taken in no refugees during this time, an act called “especially shameful” by amnesty international. And yet this is a misrepresentation. Saudi Arabia claims to have received around 2.5 million refugees (the actual number is probably between 100 000 and 250 000). The lack of representation of these refugees stem from the facts that refugees aiming for the Syrian Gulf find it relatively geographically inaccessible: it shares no land borders with Syria, nor is it accessible via the Mediterranean.
The pope himself has taken a stance on the refugee crisis, appealing to all the parishes, religious communities, monasteries etc. to take in one family of refugees, during a Sunday address in Vatican City earlier this month.
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