{"id":68893,"date":"2016-01-18T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=68893"},"modified":"2016-01-18T11:35:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T11:35:47","slug":"once-auctioned-what-to-do-with-the-stock-of-syrian-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/01\/once-auctioned-what-to-do-with-the-stock-of-syrian-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"Once Auctioned, What to Do with the \u2018Stock\u2019 of Syrian Refugees?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"baher-kamal\"<\/a>13 Jan 2016 \u2013 Few months ago, an unprecedented \u201chumanitarian auction\u201d was opened in Brussels at the European Commission, shortly after watching the image of the three-year old Syrian child that the sea threw up on the Turkish shores. The \u201cauction\u201d was about deciding upon the number of Syrian refugees to be hosted by each EU country. Germany won the largest batch.<\/em><\/p>\n

Before taking a final decision, some less rich European countries, like Spain, rushed to argue: \u201cWe are trying to get out of the crisis; we have a much too high percentage of unemployed people; also a huge public deficit\u2026,\u201d Spanish authorities, for instance, would try to explain their reluctance, with a more diplomatic wording.<\/p>\n

The EU decision was also subject to a wave of political controversies. Some conservative political leaders, like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, would strongly alert against this \u201ctsunami\u201d of Muslims threatening to attack \u201cour Christian civilisation\u201d.<\/p>\n

And some figures, like US multimillionaire Republican pre-electoral runner Donald Trump, would even call for prohibiting the entry to the US of all Muslims.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A young Syrian girl sits on a broken chair by her tent in Faida 3 camp, an informal tented settlement for Syria refugees in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Credit: UNICEF\/Alessio Romenzi<\/p><\/div>\n

The Labour Market Factor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, labour market experts would argue that the so-called \u201cnatural selection\u201d process would solve the problem \u2013i.e, that the market forces would hire those skilled refugees as non-expensive manpower, while the non-skilled ones would necessarily end up as undocumented, illegal migrants, therefore easy to repatriate.<\/p>\n

But such an argument has never been enough to calm the panic that several politicians and many media outlets induced among European ordinary people.<\/p>\n

Another factor these experts take into account is the fact that the European population is steadily ageing, without the needed demographic replacement, a problem that is translated in more pension takers and less tax payers to replenish the retirement budget.<\/p>\n

All this, of course, comes aside of Europe\u2019s humanitarian convictions, those that moved the EU to act in view of the massive arrival of refugees.<\/p>\n

It was when the EU, led by Germany, decided to offer economic assistance to less rich \u201creception\u201d countries (6,000 euro per refugee) that the most reluctant ones accepted the deal. This way, Spain, which agreed to host 14,000-16,000 refugees, hailed some weeks ago the arrival of the first 14!<\/p>\n

The Big Hell<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the mainstream media disseminated tens of dramatic footage and tragic stories about those kilometres-long barbed-wire barriers built by some East European states; the \u201cCalais jungle\u201d in France; the hundreds of refugees stranded at frontiers; the arrival of cold winter, or the daily death of tens of human beings on Greek shores.<\/p>\n

Then came the brutal, inhuman, execrable killing of French civilians on 13 November 2015 by Jihadist Islamist terrorists; the immediately previous attacks against unarmed population in Lebanon, and the even previous ones in Tunisia, and, later on, the horrible New Year\u2019s eve assaults in Cologne, Germany, not to mention the daily murdering of innocent people in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, among others.<\/p>\n

This created serious problems at home for several European rulers, like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, apart from feeding more fears among European citizens.<\/p>\n

A Turkish Warehouse for Syrian Human Beings<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

All of a sudden, a \u201csolution\u201d was found: the EU asked Turkey to keep the Syrian refugees in its territory or at its borders, preventing them from passing to Europe, against the payment of 3,000 million euro and the promise to unfreeze the deadlocked process of negotiations with Ankara for its potential integration in the European club.<\/p>\n

In other words: to transform Turkey in a \u201cstorage room\u201d or \u201cwarehouse\u201d of Syrian refugees, until\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Iraq,<\/a>

Iraq, 2013: Violence and forced flight have taken a toll on children\u2019s education \u2013 leaving nearly 3 million children in the Syrian Arab Republic and neighbouring countries out of school. Girls complete homework outside their tent home in Kawergosk refugee camp. In March 2014, the Syrian Arab Republic marks a tragic milestone as it concludes a third year of conflict. Another year of violence could be the point of no return for the millions of young Syrians at risk of becoming a lost generation | Credit: UNICEF<\/p><\/div>\n

Facts<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it would be necessary to recall some facts:<\/p>\n