Europe turns its back on helpless Afghans
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On Monday, even as two military transport planes landed in Kabul to evacuate French Embassy staff and other French nationals, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation and called on fellow European leaders to prepare a plan against “major irregular migratory flows.” This set the tone, perhaps, for most of the European nations, which have significantly hardened their stance on refugees, even those fleeing war and near-certain death in their homelands.
Days earlier, while Taliban forces were rapidly conquering the country, creating huge uncertainty and fear among large sections of the population, leaders of six other European nations jointly said that the forced deportation of Afghan refugees from Europe should not be halted, despite the fighting. That literally meant picking up Afghans from their refugee camps or the streets of Europe and dropping them in the midst of a war zone.
Leaders of the six nations — Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands — wrote to the European Commission saying that halting the return of refugees would send a wrong signal and likely motivate even more Afghans to come to Europe.
The presence of Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece in this list does not come as a big surprise and, in any event, they would have little sway if the big guns of Europe, notably Germany and France, opposed them. But the biggest shock is that Germany is also one of the six calling for forced repatriation.
The fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel could put her name to, or let her government be part of, an inhumane and callous call to drop refugees back into a war zone is much more surprising than Macron’s statement on Monday.
Compare the current developments in Europe with the last major migratory flow about six years ago, when millions of refugees fleeing war in Syria and Yemen headed to Europe. Fearful of an unprecedented flood of refugees, many European countries closed their borders. Some, such as Hungary, Austria and Poland, were governed by parties bordering on the far right, but even France shut its frontier, and there were clashes between French and Italian police after France insisted on pushing refugees back into Italy.
Yet, in total contrast and in the face of sharp criticism from domestic far-right groups, Merkel displayed exemplary statesmanship to keep Germany’s borders open to the refugees, accepting as many as a million in a single year. The German leader categorically ruled out that her country or government would be so inhumane as to turn the migrants back, even as most other countries did precisely that, leading to chaos on all intra-European borders as thousands of refugees were stranded, often without any government assistance.
European leaders need to listen to Albania and urgently review their policies, not from the perspective of politicians about to fight elections, but from a humanitarian and moral perspective.
Ranvir S. Nayar
Merkel has had to pay a heavy political price for that decision since around the time of the influx there was a series of terror attacks across Europe, including Germany. Hard-liners blamed the refugees, and that seemed to turn a significant chunk of the German population against Merkel’s policy.The migrant crisis is also blamed by many for the rise in popular support for the extreme right-wing and anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party in various parts of the country, especially the poorer eastern regions. So much so, that due to the rise of AfD and the Greens, barely two years later, in the 2017 elections, Merkel’s CDU — the governing party for the past 12 years in coalition with another center-right party, the CSU — failed to get enough seats to form government and Merkel had to seek the support of archrivals the Socialists.
But, then, an unprecedented humanitarian disaster is one of the few instances that distinguishes a statesman from politicians. In 2015, Merkel did what her conscience and principles demanded, but also what the refugees needed most — offering a humane touch at a time of crisis. It takes a statesman to make a bold decision for the country or the world in general, even one that goes against the wishes of many of her own people.
And that is precisely what is needed today, not only for the Afghan refugees but also for those trying to save their lives and livelihoods by fleeing conflict, which is often caused by either foreign nations or a fringe of their own people. The real price for this conflict is paid by the innocent and the underprivileged.
EU leaders have cited security as a key concern, pointing to the 2015 and 2016 terror attacks in many European cities. However, in reality, they are using security only as a cover to justify their inhumane action, which is more linked to the financial cost of hosting refugees rather than any palpable threat.
Perhaps they should look to Albania, the poorest European nation and one of the smallest with barely 4 million people, for inspiration. It has decided to accept hundreds of Afghan refugees. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama explained clearly why his country was keeping its border open, saying he was devastated to see the Afghans left behind, adding that Albanians knew what it meant to live under a dictatorship and what it was like to be a foreigner seeking shelter somewhere.
European leaders need to listen to Albania and urgently review their policies, not from the perspective of politicians about to fight elections, but from a humanitarian and moral perspective. They need to remember commitments that all nations have made to help refugees and others in distress. Turning their back on migrants is not what the leaders or their nations signed up to.
• Ranvir S. Nayar is managing editor of Media India Group.
