Europe has always been known for the overwhelming amounts of hospitality they’ve shown for refugees and Asylum seekers. The amount of refugees in our world are increasing, and the continent of Europe has been a stable, secure place that accepts them and gives them opportunities they weren’t receiving before. The number of Asylum seekers (political refugees who seek protection from a government) are rising as well. High numbers of displaced people in Europe are causing this well-run system to fall apart.
Europe has always had a difficult time handling crisis management situations, and now they are at a loss on how to effectively protect refugees while maintaining a strong government. Still, The United States and Europe are the two main places that refugees desire to flee to, and the idea of that dream being attainable is recognized in Europe more so than the United States, due to the European Social Charter (ESC). The ESC is a document that grants refugees’ rights under the government, but it has been facing newfound problems with the influx of Syrian refugees coming into Europe. The intentions of this document and what it states has been a controversial issue in Europe right now, and is causing disagreements between important figures in the government. Europe is battling what is right for the continent economically versus what is right for it morally, but they are running out of time as refugees and asylum seekers yearn for their help.
The European Social Charter is a 1961 document taken from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s purpose is to provide the Social rights granted to displaced persons as they enter Europe. These rights are grouped into separate articles which serve the job of helping to not discriminate these refugees, to protect them, and to give them chances to start over and find security in their newfound home.
The European Social Charter gives refugees access to healthcare, advice, emergency care, and social support. Although this document is meant to provide refugees and Asylum seekers with security, their has been recent controversy with this document. Enforcing, regulating and interpreting has caused issues because the amounts of refugees coming into Europe has made the European government more stringent when letting them in. Because of this, they are giving meanings to the document that were not intended, which has caused various issues. Once change to the ESC was the “Detention of children and vulnerable groups”. This allows for young, vulnerable, or persons in need to receive access to healthcare, food, or necessary provisions when they come into their desired country when they are needed. Some officials in Europe, however, feel children (whether these minors are unaccompanied or with an adult), should not have this right. They feel that even if the children are allowed this detention, they must be separated from adults during it. Another change that has caused controversy is the right for the immigrants to an education. It used to be mandatory for Europe to offer an education to all children and young persons that mere migrants. With recent revisions, due to the astounding numbers of refugees, it is not mandatory for Europe to provide an education for any migrant child. Socially, this is denying the right for a mandatory education, and humanitarian groups are upset. Economically, this produces issues as well. What happens when the large sums of people aren’t getting an education? How are they going to be able to earn money and get jobs when they don’t have any schooling? Issues like this have grown in recent years. More citizens of the EU and the influx of more refugees have only given more gray areas to the problem and left more groups of people conflicted on the right course of action.
Refugee numbers have risen from 3 million in the 1970’s to 12 million in 2004, to a staggering 19.5 million refugees in the world in 2014. This is due to the rising population. The number of Refugees in Europe has also increased. Due to this, Europe has had to make the process of refugees entering the country a more stringent process. The European Government does not accept as many asylum applications as they used to. This isn’t because they are against helping refugees, but because fiscally, they can only house so much.
When Refugees are going from one impoverished country to another, they are still at risk. For example, in 2001, many nearly half of the refugees in the world (roughly 49%) were leaving a country in Asia. Out of these 49%, 46% were staying in Asia, usually in a neighboring country of where they were fleeing from (Hatton and Williamson). If these people are unable to make it to Europe or the US, they are forced to stay at Refugee camps.
Refugee camps are places where deadly diseases and great amounts of violence occur. (Hatton and Williamson). As it is, developing countries house approximately 86% of refugees in the world. Is it morally right to put people in a dangerous place while they are trying to escape danger to begin with? On top of that, more that half of these refugees are under the age of 18. When children and adolescents are involved, it makes the situation even more heartbreaking, and gives the European people more motivation to help find housing or shelter for the refugees. Sadly, in recent years, our world has not become safer. As more and more places in the middle east are becoming inhabitable, the populations in refugee camps, other third world countries, or safe places (Such as Europe and the United States) are getting more crowded.
The way Europe is handling this has altered with the amounts of refugees coming into the continent as well. This has helped with the overpopulation issue, but has taken a hit from the humanitarian groups mentioned earlier.
Since 2012, the countries in the EU have give more than 230 million euros each year to refugees. This money helps provide assistance to refugees, as well as support organizations to remove unsafe things from the countries the refugees are fleeing from. For example, Europe desperately wants Syria to be a habitable place once again for these displaced persons, so some of this money is given to programs trying to remove Balshar Assad, the Syrian dictator. Europe does this so that eventually, refugees can return back to the countries they came from and Europe can have more Economic stability than they do currently. It is still being discussed by these groups on whether the money raised is being used effectively.
As Europe and its government grapples with the Syrian situation, the European Social Charter will continue to alter and change as the citizen’s, government’s and refugees views change. If Europe continues to handle the refugee situation as they are right now, nothing will get accomplished. The already broken system of providing service to refugees will only get more damaged, and a place that’s known as a safe, secure, environment, will turn into a place of turmoil and uncertainty. The European Social Charter needs to operate in a way that helps refugees, but that also effectively situates them in their new home. Europe needs to be prepared for the amounts of refugees that come to them for help. Whether there aree overwhelming amounts of refugees or few, they need to be prepared to open their arms and maintain the reputation they have maintained for so long. The refugees and the world are counting on Europe.
Works Cited:
Faiola, Anthony “A Global Surge in Refugees Leaves Europe Struggling to Cope”. Washington Post. April 2015. 14, October 2015.
Fargues, Philippe and Fandrich, Christine. “The European Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. What’s Next?”. MPC Research Report 2012/14. 2012. 1 October 2015.
Hatton, Timothy J. and Williamson, Jeffrey G. “Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Policy in Europe”. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, 2004. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
Mason, Paul. "This Refugee Crisis Is Too Big for Europe to Handle - Its Institutions Are Broken." N.p., 4 Sept. 2015. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Quesada, Luis Jimena. "PROTECTION OF REFUGEES AND OTHER VULNERABLE PERSONS UNDER THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER." Revista de Derecho Político.92 (2015): 248-72. ProQuest. Web. 5 Oct. 2015.
"UNHCR: The UN Refugee Agency." UNHCR News. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
