The sad image of a three-year old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi whose lifeless body was washed up to a Turkish beach has sent shockwaves across the western world but not in rich Gulf countries. It is a misnomer to describe fleeing refugees as 'migrants' as many western news media have projected. They are refugees as a result of ruthless attacks and persecution by both Syrian armed forces of President Bashar Al-Assad, Free Syrian Army and other terrorist groups like ISIS which led to deaths of more than 200,000 Syrians and millions others displaced while President Obama and European allies have chosen not to take any deterrent action.
The present refugee crisis in the Middle East squarely lies with President George W.Bush who had ordered invasion of Iraq in 2003 without cogent reasons making the entire region destabilised. The influx of refugees from the Middle East is the result of invasion of Iraq and civil war in Syria which has now entered its fifth horrific year.
Germany has become a major country in Europe to accept a large number of refugees which has evoked criticism from some other European countries for opening their borders. The leader of France's far-right National Front party Marine Le Pen claims that Germany just needs labour, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reportedly said the whole migration issue was not a European problem, but a German one. Germany alone declared to take in 500,000 asylum-seekers a year.
It is not correct to say that most of the refugees are from Syria or Iraq. There are also migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea as well. This picture has emerged during a debate in the Foreign Affairs Committee of British parliament on September 9 where Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was present. The foreign secretary announced that Prime Minister David Cameron would accept 20,000 refugees in Great Britian. While announcing this, he said people are not coming from vulnerable Syria alone but there are migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia. They are economic migrants. Being the only foreign dignitary David Cameron visited refugee camps in Lebanon near Syrian border and announced one billion pound sterling aid for the refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan in order to stop flow of refugees to Europe. While addressing a question-answer session in the House of Commons, Cameron described President Bashar al-Assad a butcher and said the ISIS should go to stop genocide. He said refugee has been a daunting problem in the globalised world.
This is one side of the emerging picture of the plight of refugees while wealthy Gulf countries including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain as of now did not accept a single refugee. These countries have plenty of jobs to offer as can be seen from importing work forces from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Egypt. While Germany and Sweden received some 50,000 asylum requests, Saudi Arabia said it has received approximately 2.5 million Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict and spent $700 million in aid, a statement by the ministry of Saudi foreign affairs reported this weekend (according to the Middle East Monitor). There is another reason which is related to signing of the 1951 UN Refugee Conventions which obliges countries to provide protection for refugees. All Gulf countries are not signatories to this convention. Incidentally, Bangladesh also did not sign it. Some columnists in Gulf countries are of the opinion that educated and westernised Syrians could spread spirit of Arab Spring revolution in traditionally and politically passive and theocratic societies in Gulf countries. It is high time that rich Gulf countries realised the gravity of the global crisis.
Since both Hungary, Slovakia and Austria are in the process of tightening borders, there is a new exodus of the Syrians attempting to go to Europe. According to a report in the Washington Post of September15, the Syrians account for half of the 381,000 refugees who have sought asylum in Europe so far this year, which is in turn almost a doubling of the number in 2014--- making the Syrians the main component of the influx.
The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh
amjad.21@gmail.com
Refugee crisis engulfs the world
Mohammad Amjad Hossain | Published: September 18, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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