Shameful face in the refugee crisis

Several European Union countries should be ashamed about the way they reacted to the rising refugee crisis caused by the wars in Syria and Iraq.

The country that should be most ashamed is Hungary where, following the 1956 Soviet invasion and clampdown on revolutionaries seeking freedom, 200,000 of the country’s citizens fled at the rate of thousands a day.

Some 180,000 went to Austria and 20,000 to Yugoslavia. Half the refugees were settled within 10 weeks, the rest later on.

They migrated to a total of 37 countries.

Austria and its citizens made a monumental effort to provide temporary relief to the fleeing Hungarians, although Austria, which was emerging from the World War II occupation by the Allied powers, did not have the infrastructure or the resources to handle the massive influx and UN agencies were still in their infancy and could not cope with such numbers.

The 1956 Hungarian exodus was, of course, less than half the current conflict-driven mass migrations, particularly the flight of Syrians and, to a lesser extent, Iraqis due to the war gripping their countries.

The total number of people seeking sanctuary, both refugees and economic migrants, during the first eight months of this year has risen to 500,000, compared to 280,000 for the whole of last year.

On Tuesday, Hungary completed a 160-kilometre fence topped with razor wire and arrested those who tried to smuggle themselves into the country, effectively stemming the tide flowing from Greece to Germany.

On Monday, 10,000 had entered Hungary, on Tuesday the number dropped dramatically as refugees shifted to other land routes.

Budapest intends to establish transit zones for holding migrants and refugees until their applications for asylum can be processed.

Meanwhile, refugee numbers began to mount on the Serbian border, while other countries on the eastern land route began to clamp down on the flow, mainly of Syrians and Iraqis.

To make matters worse, Vienna’s central train station filled up with refugees because Germany had closed its border with Austria, it is said temporarily, until the human tsunami can be managed.

Germany said it would take one million migrants this year.  Germany is the Austria of the 2015 refugee crisis.

Last Saturday and Sunday more than 20,000 refugees arrived in Munich, the majority at its train station.

Extensive preparations for mass arrivals had been made.  Tents had been pitched in a cordoned off area at the back of the station and arrangements made so they could be checked for health problems and their documents examined before they were put onto buses to take them to holding centres in schools, public buildings and recreation halls.

Their arrival was efficiently managed without an intimidating police presence.

Volunteers with bottled water and snacks met refugees as they stepped from trains.

One of the volunteers told me that many Germans are prepared to host refugees in their homes, but this is not allowed.

Unarmed police in light blue summer uniforms walked groups of docile, travel-worn refugees through the station, passing departing and arriving Germans and tourists.

The overwhelming majority of refugees were young men.

In one group I saw only two women: a young mother in a headscarf propelling a pushchair for a child and an equally young woman without a headscarf chatting with companions.

The men, mostly Syrians, are fleeing conscription in the army and impressed service in one or more of the militias fighting the government or each other.

The refugees’ presence was barely noticed.

Trains continued to operate normally, passengers bought tickets at machines and coffee from cafés.

Thousands of cyclists got onto trains with their bicycles for a day in the mountains as the weather was glorious, sunny and cool.

As we walked through the station, a friend expressed concern that the authorities may not be able to cope when Munich’s Oktoberfest begins on Saturday.

In early October this event will attract millions of visitors to the city, many of them coming by rail. But then, the Oktoberfest has, over the years, given the local authorities a great deal of practice in handling mass arrivals.

A Palestinian friend from Syria who left a year ago and has recently received his refugee passport from Germany said the number of refugees is peaking because it is the end of summer and those who want to leave know that the Mediterranean can be particularly murderous during fall and winter.

In his view, the numbers seeking asylum could diminish. 

He admitted, however, that a large number could switch to overland routes, which are gradually being blocked by countries refugees have to cross to reach Germany.

This could create fresh problems for the already divided European Union.

Meanwhile, in this part of the world, Jordan continues to host 630,000 registered Syrian refugees and tens of thousands more, Lebanon 1.4 million registered with the UN, Iraq 250,000 and Turkey 2 million.

Turkish claims that it is trying to stop refugees from leaving the country are refuted by the thousands who board flimsy rubber boats, risking death to reach Greece.

According to my Palestinian friend, the German police and coast guard collude with smugglers in their outrageous exploitation of refugees.

In spite of the panic over the rising number of refugees arriving in Europe, UN data shows that only 428,765 Syrians have applied for asylum in 37 European countries between March 2011 and August this year.

While there has been an increase of 60,000 applications since July, and this can be expected to rise, Europe does not have to manage the millions who have arrived in Jordan and Lebanon, countries with small populations and slender means, and which already host large numbers of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.

Jordan has a population of 6.8 million, Lebanon 4.4 million, while Turkey’s population is 77.4 million.

Turkey should not complain, for it is not, after all, an innocent bystander.

The country’s current government has played a major role in the crisis in Syria and Iraq by permitting the passage of foreign fighters and delivery of funds and arms to groups seeking to overthrow the Syrian and Iraqi governments, thereby provoking the war that has spilled over from Syria into Iraq and created the refugee crisis.