The world is caught in a major refugee crisis. Refugee flow to Western countries has reached a record high, thanks to massive disturbances in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestine. The developed world, be it affluent societies in western Europe, the Americas or Australia is taking the brunt.
As high as 65 million people were knocking at the doors of the West as per last count and this includes a large number of children as well, adding to the poignance of the situation. Much of the blame for this refugee flow is put on Islamic militancy, whether it be the ISIS or Al Qaeda, Boko Haram from Africa and those elsewhere. On the other hand, the West cannot escape the blame for the emergence of such a situation as well.
At one level, it is curious to note that societies that hate the West for reasons of religious and cultural differences are making a beeline to these countries when faced with internal troubles.
Humanitarian laws to which the Western world is wedded to are certainly are an attraction. Anyone who puts his foot on the soil of United Kingdom or France or Germany is not usually asked out. They are generally provided decent stay and food in refugee camps. Refugees can eventually find work and live a comfortable life, educate their children and take the benefits that come with a welfare society.
This is not to ignore the massive sufferings millions of people in Syria or Iraq are undergoing in the aftermath of the terror offensives of the IS. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are getting killed, countless women raped and many others maimed and enslaved. IS has come to the fore taking advantage of the civil strife caused by American adventurism in Iraq and the Sunni-Shia religious conflict that the war and its aftermath aggravated.
Now, it is on the run both in Syria and Iraq, especially as Fallujah — the nerve centre of IS offensive — has been taken back by the Iraqi army after an epic battle earlier this month. Fact is also that an orderly life is not what the people of Iraq or Syria are used to. Now, some see an opportunity to get out and embrace life in the West, facing great dangers.
Marking World Refugee Day, UN has come out with startling figures of those who have been displaced due to ongoing disturbances in different parts of the world, mainly Asia. This, it says, is the first time that the threshold of 60million (refugees) has been crossed.
Also coming into focus on this occasion is unacceptable calls by those like US presidential hopeful Donald Trump to his country that the time has come for strong actions like racial profiling. With his irresponsible comments in the course of the first stage of the Republican campaign, he has already vitiated the atmosphere. What more damage his rants could do to the collective interests of Americans is a serious concern.
America’s own reckless actions in Iraq have only helped aggravate situations, rather than solving issues. Ambitions of the likes of Bush junior of looting oil in the name of spreading democracy in the Middle East are all too known. IS, for one, is the direct offshoot of such misadventures in which European nations such as UK and France were also active players. In a way, they are paying a price for it now by way of refugee invasion.
