The UN refugee chief on Monday condemned the politicisation of the migration issue in European elections, warning that demonising refugees would only make it harder to tackle the problem, Euractiv reports.
Filippo Grandi told AFP that after this weekend’s European Parliament elections, which brought significant gains for far-right parties across much of the continent, his biggest concern was that “the topic of refugees and migration has become so politicised in these elections.”
He said this was “partly because some politicians manipulated it, presented it as a threat, as a risk.”
Many European countries have been focusing on tougher migration policies for years, and more far-right representation is expected to influence the EU’s migration and asylum agenda. Grandi said:
“The growing number of refugees and migrants could create serious problems, first of all for the people who are on the move, but also for the people who receive them, for the countries, the governments that receive them. But to simply say: this is an invasion… (of) ill-intentioned people that come here to steal your jobs, threaten your values, your security, and therefore they have to go away, we have to build barriers… does not solve the problem.”
He also added:
“It’s not just wrong, because… these people have rights, whoever they are, but also because these positions do not solve the problem — they make it worse. To build barriers actually increases irregularity of movements which are more difficult to manage.”
Roots of the problem
Rather than demonising refugees and migrants, he said it would make much more sense for countries to work together to tackle the root causes that force people to flee their homes. Such an approach is in Europe’s “own interest”, he said.
He pointed to the largely ignored conflict in Sudan, which in recent months has caused ‘a dramatic increase in the number of Sudanese refugees … to North Africa, Libya, Tunisia and then to Italy.”
“There’s no point in screaming and anguishing about these flows when… not enough is done to stop the reasons why they’re coming,” he said.
Focusing on addressing root causes and dismal conditions along migration routes that spur people to keep moving may be “less sexy in terms of political attraction, but that’s the right way to go”, he said. The UN refugee chief also added:
“Unless we do that, this problem will become bigger, and then there will be no slogans to counter it, because we will all be in deep trouble.”
Europe is not the main target for migrants
Speaking to reporters, Grandi said he hoped anti-migrant rhetoric in Europe would subside after the EU parliamentary vote ends and politicians would focus on “getting on with the job.”
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, “will work with whoever will be part of the European institutions”, he said.
But he warned the results could impact attitudes far beyond the continent. He told AFP:
“Everybody looks at Europe in terms of how they deal with these matters.”
Grandi noted that the majority of people on the move globally were not heading for Europe. He said:
“The number of people who have crossed the Mediterranean in the first few months of this year is about 60-70,000, that we know about.”
Chad, meanwhile, “received in 600,000 Sudanese (refugees) in one year: 10 times that number.”
If rich countries retreat from principles that guarantee people the right to cross borders to seek protection from violence and oppression, Grandi said he was “very concerned that we will start to hear other countries retreating as well.”
Meanwhile, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis commented on the German election results:
“Who said that Germany reunified? This is yesterday’s electoral map. W. Germany black – the colour of the christian democrats. E. Germany blue – the colour of AfD. The result of 20 years of social democratic-green austerity and Die Linke’s taming.”
