The Dead Toddler who shook The World

BEYOND HEADLINES

THE WAR in Syria has been going on for over five years now. So far more than 200,000 people have lost their lives and millions have been rendered homeless. Syrians have been fleeing the country in millions. Most of these refugees have found sanctuary in neighboring countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. So far the world hadn’t taken notice of this unfolding humanitarian crisis. But two harrowing incidents in the last two weeks forced the world to take notice of this humongous crisis and the international community’s response to it. First it was the death of 71 people, men, women and children who were found decomposing inside a lorry in Austria. These people, the youngest of whom was a child aged 2 years, were smuggled by human traffickers from Syria. They had been packed in the truck and then shut inside. There was no escape from this moving coffin for these unfortunate souls. These moving carcasses were noticed when the police saw blood leaking from the vehicle. Many other deaths have also been reported where boats, carrying people fleeing Syria and Libya, capsized in the Mediterranean, which has now become a maritime graveyard.

Last week the world was stirred by another image of a three year Sy-rian child, Aylan Kurdi, who had been washed ashore, off the coast in Turkey. The image has drawn the plight of the refugees fleeing the war in Syria and the misery in Libya, into focus. It was a hear-trending image which quickly brought the focus on the refugee crisis in Syria and the Maghreb. That it needed the dead body of a toddler to chillingly highlight the plight of refugees from these countries and get the world to note the horror of Syrian war, speaks volumes about the rest of the world’s indifference and apathy to this humanitarian tragedy.

On the ground, there is no end in sight for the war in Syria, especially with the rise of ISIS which has made the situation worse and more complex. In a summit in June this year, the European Union failed to endorse a proposal, mooted by Germany and France calling for a refugee quota system. With the result, some European countries erected walls to stop the flight of refugees to their countries. Even UK, which is not a member of the EU, is determined to keep the refugees from entering the country or at least significantly control the number of refugees coming in. The handful who had gathered at the French port of Calais to go to the UK by crossing the English Channel were refused entry. UK has committed millions of pounds for strengthening the policing at the port to make sure that no refugees cross into the country.

But many other European countries have been far more welcoming. Germany has announced any persons fleeing Syria will be given asy-lum on arrival. The country has announced that it will accommodate eight hundred thousand refugees in the next one year. Over the weekend, heart-warming scenes were witnessed as 5-6 thousand refugees entered Germany. The UN High Commissioner for Refu-gees, Antonio Guterres called it a ‘’defining moment’’ for the 28 na-tion European Union. But not every country in Europe has been welcoming of the refugees. There has been a backlash in many countries as well against the refugees. Hungary said it will only ac-cept Christian refugees fleeing Syria. Far right groups across Europe have strongly rallied against accepting any Syrian or other refugees within their countries. In France, a rabid anti immigrant party, the National Front is gaining momentum. In Britain, the   anti immigra-tion party, UK Independence Party (UKIP) has made strong state-ments against any attempts at taking refugees within Britain, warn-ing that the country ‘’cannot cope’’ with the inflow of refugees.  “I’m absolutely certain that the EU has got this wrong and that the reason people are drowning is because they’re being told ‘please come’ and I think over the longer term the biggest argument that will develop from this is about security”, said the leader of the  party Nigel Farage.

Many sensible voices are being drowned by the hysteria of the right wing parties and their cronies in the media. The refugees are pro-jected as a threat to the economy, well being and the social security of people within the host countries. Given that hundreds of fighters from Britain and other European countries have recently joined the ISIS, the far right political parties find it easier to spread a threat to the security if refugees are allowed from Syria and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. They are being projected as future Jihadists who will join forces with ISIS. The presence of various fringe Muslim groups which have clamored for Shariah rule in Brit-ain in the last many years are also being used by the far right to drive their anti immigrant rhetoric.

Europe can take more refugees, if only for pragmatic reasons. An ageing population in most European countries has dented the prod-uctivity of these countries substantially. Over a period of time, Eu-rope’s labor force will shrink. Europe is still reeling under the after effects of the 2008 financial crisis. Most European countries have taken on huge sovereign debts and given such demographic imbal-ance, most of these countries will not be able to get out of these un-sustainable debts. By taking in more refugees, Europe can expect to have a more balanced demographic mix and thus ease the economic woes of the host countries. Handling the refugee crisis is definitely a political hot potato, but taking in more refugees makes economic sense.

On Monday, Sep 7th, the British Prime Minister David Cameron said that U.K would accept 20,000 refugees over a five year period. This is a paltry number, given that Germany has already pledged to accept 800,000 refugees in one year and a poor country like Jordan is already hosting 1.1 million Syrian refugees. The British PM’s state-ment sounds cruel also because the country has been one of the closest American allies, responsible for creating the present mess in the Middle East and the Levant. But more cruel than the British reaction has been the shameful response of the GCC members, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain and Oman, all rich monarchies and Syria’s neighbors. None of these countries have taken any Syrian refugee inside their countries. It is a shame of immense proportion that these countries, some of whom have also been responsible for the present mess in that country by arming and financing mercenaries that has accentuated the civil war have shown no com-passion. All these countries, competing with each other in con-structing huge towers and glitzy shopping malls have not constructed even one shelter for the fleeing Syrian refugees. Their despicable behaviour stands in contrast to what poor nations like Jordan and Lebanon and even war torn Iraq have done for accommodating the refugees. Saudi Arabia, which has expertise in handling and housing millions of Hajj and Umra pilgrims every year, could have used their expertise in handling this crisis. The reaction of Gulf countries to this crisis has been one of apathy and indifference. These countries have a moral and ethical responsibility towards these refugees, in which they have miserably failed. Contrast this attitude of indifference to the Syrian refugees with that of Kuwaitis who fled their country in the aftermath of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Unlike the Syrians, a few hundred thousand Kuwaitis were welcome and found refugee in other Gulf countries.

For long, Saudi Arabia has been carrying on with its cheque book diplomacy. It has spent billions exporting its virulent ideology throughout the world. Not only that, it has been funding Universities and think tanks in the West, especially in the US and in bargain, getting favorable PR. The country has been one of the biggest buyers of arms and weapons and has killed thousands in Yemen this year and accentuated another humanitarian crisis in the country, without facing any censure from the global community. The six Gulf countries, led by Saudi Arabia, run some of the largest defence budgets in the world, cumulatively running in excess of $100 billion. While centuries of history and culture is being obliterated in Syria and millions rendered homeless, there is a deafening silence to their plight among its Gulf neighbors. If the moving image of the dead body of the toddler Aylan Kurdi, on the Turkish beach can’t move these monarchs, perhaps nothing ever will. The civilized world needs to give dignity to these fleeing refugees. That is the least, people with humanity and empathy can do for Aylan Kurdi and thousands like him. 

Tariq Jameel Wani, writes weekly column,’ Beyond Headlines’ for the Kashmir Observer.

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