Global Christian organisations have joined in calling for a more compassionate approach to the treatment of migrants and refugees in Europe, saying that a recent fire at the Moria migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos – which housed more than 12,500 people – had highlighted “longstanding shortcomings of EU migration and asylum policy”.
In a statement issued this week ahead of the release of a new proposed EU pact, the 14 church bodies – which include the World Council of Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Conference of European Churches, Lutheran World Federation, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and World Methodist Council, called for “adequate support” to be provided both for people on the move and for their host communities.
Venezuelan migrants wearing face masks participate in a protest against the blockade of buses that they hired to reach the Colombian-Venezuelan border, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bogota, Colombia, on 29th April. PICTURE: Reuters/Luisa Gonzalez/File photo.
WORLD BECOMING LESS TOLERANT OF MIGRANTS – GALLUP POLL
The world is becoming less tolerant of migrants, according to a poll released on Wednesday as Europe prepared to unveil a new asylum plan in the wake of a blaze at an overcrowded camp in Greece that left thousands without shelter.
Seven European countries, led by North Macedonia, Hungary, Serbia and Croatia, topped the Gallup index of the world’s least-accepting countries.
But the sharpest changes in attitudes were in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, which have seen an influx of Venezuelans fleeing turmoil at home.
Canada was the most welcoming country toward migrants, followed by Iceland and New Zealand, according to the index based on more than 140,000 interviews in 145 countries and regions.
The poll asked people their views about having migrants living in their country, becoming their neighbours and marrying into their families.
Index scores ranged from 1.49 in North Macedonia to 8.46 in Canada, just below the maximum possible score of nine.
Gallup migration expert Julie Ray said the slight global fall in acceptance – 5.21 in 2019 down from 5.34 in 2016 – was driven by marked changes in Latin American countries.
Peru’s score tumbled to 3.61 from 6.33 in 2016, while the number of Colombians who said migrants living in their country was a good thing dropped to 29 per cent from 61 per cent.
Trump supporters
The first Gallup Migrant Acceptance Index was conducted amid the backlash following the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe when more than a million people headed to the continent fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond.
EU countries have long been at loggerheads over how to handle the influx of migrants, many of whom arrive in Mediterranean countries after perilous boat journeys.
The bloc’s executive will unveil a plan on Wednesday which would legally oblige all members to host their share of refugees – something rejected by Poland and Hungary among others.
The proposal has been brought forward because of a fire on the Greek island of Lesbos a fortnight ago which destroyed a migrant camp holding more than 12,000 people – four times the number it was supposed to.
Among European countries, only Sweden and Ireland made the Gallup top 10 of most-accepting countries.
Ray said some people would be surprised by the positive attitudes in the United States, where President Donald Trump has made curbing immigration a cornerstone of his policy.
“Despite the fact that immigration is such a hot topic in the US, Americans are mostly very accepting of migrants,” she said.
The United States ranked sixth in the index just behind Sierra Leone. Ray said Trump supporters were far more accepting of migrants than the global average, scoring 7.10.
Worldwide, the index showed acceptance of migrants was greater among younger generations, people with higher levels of education and those living in urban rather than rural areas.
– EMMA BATHA, Thomson Reuters Foundation
“We appeal for an EU Pact on asylum and migration that respects relevant commitments under international law, the Global Compacts on Refugees and for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, and the EU’s core values of respect for human dignity and rights, and of effective solidarity among EU members,” the organisations, which represent 2.8 billion people, said.
The organisations said EU nations need to share responsibility for migrants.
“The current ‘Dublin’ system with its de facto focus on allocating responsibility to countries of first entry to the EU – such as Cyprus, Malta, Greece and Italy – is fundamentally unfair to both those seeking asylum and countries at the external border, and in practice compromises the right to adequate reception…”
“Solidarity should be the guiding principle governing migration and particularly refugee reception in the EU. Solidarity means that the stronger shoulders accept more responsibility than the weaker ones, but also that everyone contributes what they can. We therefore call for a system involving all EU member states in effective reception and integration.”
The statement was released ahead of the release of details of a proposed new EU pact on Wednesday. The German-backed plan, which would replace the ‘Dublin rule’, would require all 27 EU nations to take part – either in taking refugees or taking charge of the process to send those refused asylum back – and aims to speed up the processing of asylum seeker claims.
More than a million people seeking asylum arrived in Europe in 2015 with several hundred thousand in the years since. But this represents only a fraction of the almost 80 million people displaced globally, according to the UN refugee body, the UNHCR.
The churches’ statement said the fire at the Moria camp on 8th September and the response to it “have once again exposed the fundamentally broken state of European migration and asylum policy and the suffering it has created”.
It not only revealed “the desperation of people seeking protection who have often been forced to live for years in inhumane conditions” but also “the anger and frustration of locals who feel that Europe has left them alone with the challenge of reception and care, the current response which has addressed the symptoms of a greater problem but not the actual cause, and a reaction by the EU which expresses sympathy but shows no real commitment to helping those in need of protection as well as the Greek state and the local population hosting them”.
The statement also noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had in many places “rendered the already difficult situation in these countries and for the displaced populations they host even more precarious”. Migrants, it said, were now not only confronted with inadequate hygiene at migrant and refugee facilities but also “dramatic cuts” in food rations and other assistance available to them.
“Widespread restrictions on internal and cross-border movement in the wake of the pandemic have further reduced people’s access to protection. In addition, the economic survival of many people on the move, as well as of their hosts, has been imperiled by lockdowns and related measures, which have hit those employed in the informal sector particularly hard, and have had a disproportionate effect on women and their livelihoods.”
Noting they are compelled to respond to strangers as Jesus Himself does, the church bodies also rejected the idea that “a compassionate welcome to those newly arrived is to the detriment of those presently living in Europe”.
“Policies should address the specific needs of new arrivals in Europe and encourage their potential to contribute, while at the same time addressing the expressed fears, legitimate concerns and needs of existing inhabitants. Rather than divisiveness and exclusion, we should strive to do this by promoting mutual respect and support.”
Other signatories to the churches’ statement included the ACT Alliance, the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, the European Region of the World Association for Christian Communication, the Evangelical Church of Greece, the Integration Center for Migrant Workers – Ecumenical Refugee Program, Non Profit Organisation of the Church of Greece, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches (European Region).
