Refugees no longer want to go to Greece. It has earned a bad reputation because of its harsh policies and the pushbacks of boats full of refugees. The Greeks have thus significantly reduced the number of asylum requests. But people who have no choice but to leave their homes are not easily deterred. Smugglers offer alternative routes. Longer, more expensive, and above all, more dangerous. They still go – only not to Greece anymore.
This is the background to the shipwreck off the Greek coast that killed hundreds of boat refugees, on their way to Italy. It increasingly seems that the Greek Coast Guard played a dubious role here. And is in fact responsible for the death of the hundreds of people, including many women and children, who disappeared together with the packed boat to the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea.
The approximately 750 people on board the Adriana – Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Palestinians, and possibly other nationalities – each paid 6000 dollars. A simple calculation shows why all European measures do not help, nor do attempts to scare people off: it is a lucrative trade where demand far exceeds supply. The fact that people pay this much for a dangerous journey on an overcrowded boat, leaves only one conclusion: there is no simple solution.
Deterrence
It was the same week that the European Union and France made agreements with Tunisia to stop potential migrants from leaving for Europe illegally. Money in exchange for violating human rights – because according to the UN human rights convention, someone whose life is in danger in their own country must be able to apply for asylum elsewhere. That people choose not to do this in their own region is not that strange. There, they still do not feel safe, they are not welcome, they are even sent back. Or people just want to join family that already is in Europe.
The European Union has been using this model for years, also in Turkey and Libya, but refugees always find other routes to reach Europe anyway. And if the Greek coastal waters become too dangerous due to the pushbacks, then they just bypass them to go to Italy. Politicians should know that they are indirectly responsible for the deaths at sea – last year there were 3800 on these routes to Europe. What does that say about the value they attach to human lives?
The many deaths in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea are for the EU somehow comparable to what the many victims of mass shootings are for the US. These events keep happening over and over again. Everyone is shocked, or pretends to be shocked. But nothing is done about the causes. And when the New York Times just before the elections in Greece publishes images as proof of the pushbacks of boats full of refugees, the responsible Greek prime minister does not even lose a single vote in those elections.
Hardening
For the mood is hardening. Europe does not want those refugees; they should stay in the region. Isn’t that what we’re paying for? The pushbacks are denied, or even justified because of their supposed deterrent effect. Yes, refugees avoid Greece. But even the knowledge that they could be the next to drown, that they won’t survive, doesn’t stop them from getting on a boat to another European country.
And the reactions to this shipwreck, and the previous one? They are very muted at best, just like those about the pushbacks and the abuses at the EU borders. The tolerance for harsh action against refugees has increased. There are even voices calling for the human rights agreement to be abandoned if it is not changed. Many people shrug off the suffering of refugees. Are Yezidi families still stuck on an island in the border river between Turkey and Greece? A Yezidi activist complains that he no longer can get through to the Greek authorities with his pleas for help, even though his people were the victim of a genocide by ISIS.
At the same time, the discussion is shifting. Who were actually on board that capsized Egyptian ship; were they ‘real’ refugees? More and more often, media also start calling them migrants. The difference is that a refugee has a right to asylum, and a migrant at the most to a work permit. But the dividing line can be very thin, and then people deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Syrians
There were many Syrians on the capsized Adriana. For the Arab League has breathed new life into the brutal regime of President Assad. Among the first 78 recovered dead were 33 from the Syrian town of Daraa, where the civil war once began. And where people would rather risk a dangerous escape than to again live under the control of Assad, this time along with the Iranian militias supporting him. This prospect has convinced many Syrians once again that they are not safe in their own country.
A relative of two of the missing Syrians voiced the despair. ‘I apologize for my country. I apologize for my people. I apologize for the situation we find ourselves in. All roads are closed for us. Even the seas swallow us.’
Europe wants to deter these people. Stay away from us. We have it sorted here, and you have made a mess out there. That is not our responsibility. If you do come? Then we do nothing when your boat is in danger. Then we push you back to where you came from. Then we pretend we don’t see you. Your life means nothing to us. We already have enough foreigners. Sorry, the door is closed.
Pressure
But Fort Europe can’t be locked down completely, as the pressure is too big. We cannot keep our eyes closed, and try to hold back the tide like Hansje Brinker with his finger in the dyke. When will politicians realize that this policy does not work and that vision and creative solutions are needed?
And historical awareness is needed, too. Above all, we are in danger of losing our humanity if we continue going on like this. Just like happened a century ago. When nobody wanted the refugees who were then just as desperately trying to escape Hitler’s ‘solution’.
