New report says the response of the international community to the global refugee crisis has been a shameful failure
In the face of the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, world leaders are condemning millions of refugees to an unbearable existence and thousands to death by failing to provide essential humanitarian protection, Amnesty International said yesterday in a new report.
The 36-page report, The Global Refugee Crisis: A conspiracy of neglect, can be read here.
The report looks at the current refugee crisis and calls for a global response to what has become one of the defining challenges of the 21st century.
Amnesty International notes that more than half of Syria's population is displaced, with Syrian refugees now accounting for one in every five people in Lebanon.
In addition, Amnesty says conflict and persecution in countries like South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Burundi, have added hundreds of thousands to the longstanding refugee populations from countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Refugees and migrants risk their lives fleeing conflict and persecution, with nearly 2,000 having drowned in the Mediterranean in the first five months of 2015.
Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary General, said: "We are witnessing the worst refugee crisis of our era, with millions of women, men and children struggling to survive amidst brutal wars, networks of people traffickers and governments who pursue selfish political interests instead of showing basic human compassion."
"The refugee crisis is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century, but the response of the international community has been a shameful failure. We need a radical overhaul of policy and practice to create a coherent and comprehensive global strategy."
The report says that wealthier countries are not doing nearly enough to share the burden of the global refugee crisis, with 86% of the world's refugees in developing countries.
Amnesty International makes a number of recommendations to reinvigorate the system for responsibility-sharing amongst states.
"Governments across the world have the duty to ensure people do not die while trying to reach safety. It is essential that they offer a safe haven for desperate refugees, establish a global refugee fund and take effective action to prosecute trafficking gangs. Now is the time to step up protection for refugees, anything less will make world leaders accomplices in this preventable tragedy," Salil Shetty said.
Theresa May: Europe needs to return Mediterranean migrants
In related news, Home Secretary Theresa May said today that the EU needs to deal with the Mediterranean crisis by tackling the people smugglers and by breaking the link between people getting into boats and reaching Europe.
The Independent quoted May as telling the Press Association: "Of course the crisis in terms of migrants who cross the Mediterranean is a problem in two ways. First of all, obviously, lives are being put at risk but secondly, as we see in Calais and elsewhere, it's putting great pressure on European towns and cities which is even reaching to our borders, although we are not part of the borderless Schengen area."
"To deal with this issue in the long term we need to go after the criminal gangs who are plying a terrible, callous trade in human lives."
"We also need to break the link between people getting into the boats and reaching Europe. That means returning people to North Africa or elsewhere, or to their home countries; so that they see that there is no merit in this journey."
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said in the Commons today that the UK is at the forefront of seeking UN Security Council authorisation for the use of military force to tackle the people smugglers and prevent the boats from leaving Libya.