Refugees test the world’s compassion

The image of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, a Syrian boy washed ashore at a Turkish resort when his family was attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in a bid to flee Syria, has shaken the conscience of the world.

More such tragedies continue, and as usual, in such situations, Europeans have opened out their hearts and minds to accommodate at least a fraction of the massive numbers fleeing the war-ravaged country.

Disturbing footage filmed secretly by an Austrian volunteer has emerged of Hungarian officials throwing food packets at the Syrians inside the main refugee camp on the border with Serbia and feeding them “like animals in a pen”. Against this, it was heart-warming to see Germans waving ‘welcome’ placards as trains pulled in with Syrian refugees, and a mass rally in London last week where protesting British citizens told Prime Minister David Cameroon that his decision to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees in five years was just not enough. But now Germany too has reintroduced border controls, perhaps unable to take in the huge influx, and obviously wanting other EU partners to do their bit too.

There has been resounding and harsh criticism about prosperous Islamic nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, not doing anything for the Syrian refugees.

One video that landed in my inbox juxtaposed images of glittering gold bathroom fittings and diamond-studded luxury cars of wealthy sheikhs in these countries against the plight of Syrians being reduced to beggars — begging for refuge, food, shelter, and above all, a future for their children. Stung by criticism that these countries had not helped fellow Muslims, both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have responded; the former saying these allegations were “false and misleading”.

A Saudi spokesman said his country has given “residency” status to 100,000 Syrian refugees. But this has been an amazingly guarded secret! The unnamed Saudi foreign ministry spokesman claimed it was done so quietly as Saudi Arabia didn’t want “to show off or brag in the media” about its response to Syria. He said that grant of residency meant they would get free education, health service and employment opportunities. The Saudi were also supporting Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, etc, and had so far spent $700 million on such aid.

But with Germany alone expected to take in 800,000 asylum-seekers from Syria and other countries this year, offering them generous social security benefits, 100,000 seems a small number for such a wealthy Islamic nation. Small wonder the Brits were offended at the insignificant figure of 20,000 announced by their prime minister! The total number of Syrian refugees, already overflowing the refugees camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, is put at a whopping 4 million.

In the Saturday rally where tens of thousands of people marched through Central London, they carried placards which said “Refugees Welcome”. Seizing the moment within hours of being elected the new Labour party chief, Jeremy Corbyn addressed the meet at Parliament Square which resonated with chants of his supporters: “Jez we can, Jez we can”. Corbyn urged the UK government to do more than discharge its “obligations in law”. But more than that “open your hearts and open your minds and open your attitude towards supporting people who are desperate, who need somewhere safe to live, want to contribute to our society, and are human beings just like all of us”.

Scandinavian countries such as Sweden have always been kind and liberal to refugees and there are moving accounts of how many Syrian families are putting together resources to send their unaccompanied teenaged children, mainly boys, to Sweden and how these children are being accommodated there.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the fleeing Syrians were born Muslim, and have to bear the additional cross of being “potential terrorists”.

While others might whisper this suspicion in the face of such massive human pain and suffering, trust the Americans to spell it out loud and clear. So when US President Barack Obama announced that the US will take in 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016, expectedly there were diametrically opposite reactions.

After all humanitarian crises give the best opportunity to politicians across the words to play politics! So while the aid agencies denounced Obama’s announcement as not doing enough by a country of its size and resources, many Republicans thundered that this would be the entry point for potential terrorists.

“Our enemy now is Islamic terrorism, and these people are coming from a country filled with Islamic terrorists,” said New York representative Peter T King. “We don’t want another Boston Marathon bombing situation.”

The Obama administration’s answer to this is, of course, that there would be rigorous background checks.

Granted, the geographical distance between Syria and the US is huge; since 2011, when the war in Syria began, each year the US has taken in 29, 31, 36, 105 and 1293 refugees, the last being the figure for 2015. The image of the dead toddler has done wonders in Australia too, changing the public mood in favour of refugees; the Tony Abbot government has announced it will take in 12,000 Syrian refugees this year.

But the larger question is when the Syrian turmoil will end, as well as how long will it take the superpowers, who attacked and destroyed Iraq quite unjustly, to stop the monstrosities unleashed by the ISIS.

Geopolitics ensures that President Assad’s military machinery in Syria is kept well oiled, in the face of international sanctions, thanks to help from Russia and Vladimir Putin, with Iran pitching in too.

Europeans are now in a generous mood and have indeed opened out their hearts to the refugees or migrants, but what about the larger issues related to the integration of Syrians in a totally alien culture?

At some point the resources it takes to shelter them now will be resented. A new cycle of hatred and violence in a world already overflowing with both seems inevitable.

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