"Europe condemns people to drown," warned Médecins Sans Frontières - also known
as MSF or Doctors Without Borders - which operated the ship, Aquarius, with its
partner SOS MEDITERRANEE. With just this vessel, the groups have rescued an
estimated 30,000 people since February of 2016.
Citing data from the United Nations' International Organization for Migration
(IOM), "more than 2,000 people have died or gone missing making crossings this
year, compared to more than 3,000 last year." Despite such tragedies, the
world's richest nations have turned their backs on those fleeing crises in their
homelands.
Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States have all responded to the
increase in mass migration - intensified if not directly caused by climate
stresses and wars - with brutal force, ranging from de facto "let them drown"
policy to President Donald Trump's increasingly real war on an unarmed caravan
from Central America. Let there be no mistake: this barbarism is the way Western
governments plan to adapt to the Western-made refugee crisis. But there is a
simple way out of this shameful policy: End all US-led wars in the Middle East
and North Africa.
For that to happen, the United Nations General Assembly needs to adopt a new
resolution that condemns US-led wars and occupations in these volatile regions
first and foremost – just as it adopted last Thursday overwhelmingly a
resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation, including East
Jerusalem Al-Quds, and withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces to the 1967
borders, after the body rejected a US resolution condemning Hamas. The world
body needs to adopt similar resolutions calling for an end to the US-led
military campaigns, violence, and terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen
and Syria – the epicentres of the current global migration crisis.
Civilian casualties are an ongoing problem throughout the US-led wars and
occupations, and the UN has just called for all parties to the Yemeni conflict
to "do more to protect civilians during the fighting.” And yet anyone who has
been paying attention at all would not fail to note that the Saudis and their
allies are still inflicting the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties –
all because the UN is looking the other way. Civilian casualties from attacks
themselves are also dwarfed by the number of civilians starved to death or
otherwise killed by the Saudi naval blockade.
Little wonder, millions of people are heading towards the European Continent.
Without US-led military interventions, economic exploitation and political
meddling, the current refugee crisis - at least one of this magnitude - wouldn't
exist in the first place. The Syria war has resulted in a massive influx of
refugees as well, most of whom are hosted by neighbouring countries, but many
have sailed the sea – and died in the sea - to seek safety in Europe.
Europe is facing the most significant refugee crisis since World War II. All
attempts at resolving the issue have failed, mostly because they have ignored
the root causes of the problem. While the cruelty of refusing entry to a boat
laden with desperate refugees is obvious, it has to be viewed within a larger
narrative pertaining to the rapidly changing political landscape in Europe and
the crises under way in the Middle East and North Africa. If European
politicians continue to ignore the root causes of the problem - America’s
never-ending wars and occupations - the refugee crisis will only get worse.
The disturbing truth is that just like the United States, Europe is also
accountable for much of the mayhem under way in the Middle East. These facts
will not simply disappear when ignored or when refugees are condemned to drown
in the Mediterranean Sea. European politicians should honestly address this
problem and fashion equally honest and humane solutions.
The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East will only lead to the exodus of
millions more refugees in the coming months and years. All of Europe has a
responsibility to stop this crisis. It is partly due to their military
adventures and complicity in US-Saudi-Israeli war crimes and crimes against
humanity in Muslim heartlands that people have had to leave their homes.
If European nations are serious about supporting refugees, they need to be
serious about ending the wars that created them. Specifically, that means
advocating for an immediate end to the US-led military adventures in
Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya, demanding that Western military
spending be used instead on social services and reconstruction needs in the
war-torn countries, and supporting UN resolutions that support refugees and
immigrants, and call for changes in Washington’s unilateralism and one-man
foreign policy.
The governments in Europe can be doing much more to manage the refugee crisis
stemming from their endless wars. Building more and better camps. Providing more
and better food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies. Establishing more and
better security for camps and other refugee communities. Simply ending their
support for various terrorist proxy groups, occupations and blockades, and
admitting more refugees.
These and other steps, including an immediate end to their protracted wars and
occupations as well as arms sales and diplomatic support to repressive regimes
like Saudi Arabia and Israel, would do much to alleviate the plight of so many
fleeing the horrors of US-led military campaigns and atrocities throughout the
Middle East and beyond.
Source:Farsnews