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Opinion

Straight Up: Staring into the abyss of another refugee crisis
Zach Khadudu

March 21st, 2020


This article is more than 4 years old.

The reality Euro politicians are doing their best to ignore (photo: Pixabay)

The summer of 2015 brought with it a stain on the consciousness of humanity.

Seismic shockwaves
The world watched in horror as families – children, women and men – were swept overboard into the Mediterranean off boats fleeing war and hardship, seeking safety in European harbours.

Five years after the biggest refugee crisis since World War II, the world is staring at yet another possible one. The declaration by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he could soon permit the free passage of refugees heading towards Europe has sent shockwaves through Brussels and many other European capitals.

Power-play protectionism
Anti-immigration evangelists were up in arms. Once again the politics of fear and hate is taking centre stage (not that it ever left).

Yet, the lessons from 2015 are far from learnt, as the movers and shakers of Euro-politics are out with their guns blazing. They are blaming Erdogan, the refugees themselves, human smugglers, aid organisations – anyone but themselves.

Yet this potential crisis, like many in the past, has all the hallmarks of power-play, geopolitics and the not-so invincible hands of powers: from the US and Russia, to Turkey and the EU. The human cost of it all is not a top priority. Europe’s first reaction was to send Frontex, its border and coast guard agency, to Greece to help protect its borders from the European ‘invasion’.

Full up, we’re afraid
Here at home, the usual suspects who take pride in riding anti-immigration sentiments are having a field day. Denmark shouldn’t take more refugees, they have declared. Never mind that this completely disregards international conventions and treaties that this country is proudly a part of.

This short-sighted view of isolationism, nationalism and ‘othering’ of refugees because ‘they have a different culture’, or ‘are Muslims’, is detrimental to our common good. For all the pushing, something will have to give.

Given the protracted war in Syria, solidarity and burden-sharing is inevitably the only long-term solution. Otherwise the image of thousands of displaced people walking across borders to find safety in Europe will be a continued sight every two, three or five years.

Truth in the numbers
Matter of fact, the refugees who make it to Europe’s doorsteps are but a tiny percentage of the whole displaced population.

Over 90 percent of the world’s refugees end up as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) or in neighbouring countries. According to Pew research, for example, the Syrian War has generated over 6 million IDPs, while neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have taken in close to 6 million refugees.

For all the talk of a European ‘invasion’, all of Europe, USA and Canada combined have taken significantly fewer refugees than what Turkey has.

It is not a question of proportions but of fear-mongering. One hopes the EU and Turkey reignite discussions towards achieving a lasting solution to the human suffering of the Syrian refugees – and refugees in general.

About

Zach Khadudu

Zach Khadudu is a Kenyan by birth and a journalist by choice. He is a commentator and an activist with a passion for refugee and human rights. He may share a heritage with a certain US president, but his heart lies elsewhere – in the written and spoken word.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”