Sam Studer
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Hundreds of thousands of people are migrating across the Mediterranean and throughout Europe. These refugees are leaving home because of war,
poverty, and persecution in the Middle East. According to the U.N. News Center, nearly 300,000 people have been driven from their homes. Most of these refugees are coming from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. These people have already faced many challenges. But now they face tear gas and stun grenades.
Tuesday was no different when a scene erupted in a Budapest train station. Crowds of migrants were stopped from entering trains in hopes of going to Western Europe. Once officials found numerous people without documentation, they stopped them from entering the trains. The train station has since reopened, but only passengers with proper papers will be allowed on the trains. Checkpoints including those in Hungry are being established in order to control migration.
Even with these defenses, last week 60 men, eight women, and three children were found dead in a refrigerator truck in Austria. It is believed that these victims were Syrian refugees. This helps shows the dangers of trying to reach Western Europe by land. Refugees also try to reach countries such as Greece and Italy by sea, boarding packed and unsafe boats to try to make the journey. According to the International Organization for Migration, death rates in the Mediterranean have begun to soar.
Checkpoints have been a slow and unsuccessful process. Many people have expressed thoughts on how to address this problem. Yet countries all over Europe have a different approach. Some see the need to help, while other find no such need.
Many call to question how countries cannot help these refugees. A set of rights was established for refugees at the 1951 Refugee Convention. The convention stipulates that refugees cannot be sent back to a territory in which their life is in danger. They must also be treated as nationals of the receiving country.
The problem is many of these refugees have no papers, making it impossible to tell if they are a migrant or a refugee. It creates confusion in situations that are already hard to manage. Many European countries in turn have made getting asylum much more difficult.
The European Union will be forced to come up with a solution in the next few months. EU minsters were summoned to meet in a few weeks to address the migration crisis. They will address policies on sending migrants home. This comes at a time with many challenges, such as the Greek debt crisis.
Even with the many issues EU faces, it must create a solution. Failing to do so will continue to lead to more death and uproar. A possible remedy could be the EU making checkpoints to protect borders. A formal process will need to be drafted in order to find out if someone is a refugee. From there, refugees would be in accepted in different states.
This solution would need to protect basic human rights. This process needed to be drafted in order to eliminate criminals. The EU has a difficult road ahead, but change must be done in order to protect refuges and the EU.
