IGCSE 2

Global Perspective
Research Paper
Conflicts and Peace
Singapore International School @ Danang
VN227
Bui Thien Minh
0002

Middle-Eastern Refugees should be Temporarily

Accepted in
European Countries
In recent years, over 60 million people around the world have been forced to evacuate
their homeland because of ongoing wars and oppression (Sengupta, 2015). Many of these people
head towards the same destination, Europe. This has caused the ongoing refugee crisis happening
in many parts of Europe. Most of the refugees have come from Kosovo, followed by Syria,
Afghanistan and Albania (Dearden, 2015). Recent images of a Syrian toddler, dead on a Turkish
beach, and families overcrowding train stations in Hungary in order to save their lives, have
caught attention globally, making this crisis more acute and serious than ever before. In the
summer of 2015, Europe experienced the highest arrival of refugees since World War 2 (Witte,
2015). There are two reasons why the crisis has gotten out of control. The first is wars and crises
in the region that has caused millions of people to flee their home in the Middle East. The second
reason is EU laws have created heavy pressure and refugee overcrowding in some of the
European nations. At a time when such an immense amount of people need help, wealthy nations
are even more hesitant to support them. These Middle-Eastern refugees should be temporarily
accepted and welcomed by European countries because of their economical benefits, and as a
humanitarian action.
For the last few years, Syria and its neighboring countries have gone through different
civil wars. These wars have been sparked by specific events, and a key cause of the refugee
crisis. Part of the reason is because of the extreme weather in the region that causes droughts:
Syria was destabilized by 1.5 million migrants from rural communities fleeing a threeyear drought that was made more intense and persistent by human-driven climate change,
which is steadily making the whole eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region even
more arid. Syria is not the only country affected by this drying. Lebanon, Jordan, Israel,
Iraq and Iran are too.
(Dilingpole, 2015)
There are no evidence that proves climate change caused the civil war but there were some very
harsh climatic conditions that definitely led to mass migration, and then instability in these
countries (Breibart, 2015). The shaky political situations were exacerbated by the stresses of
climate change, leading to a dangerous situation.
However, the key event that triggered these conflicts is the Arab Spring which was a
string of democratic uprisings that arose independently and spread across the Arab world in
2011. The movement originated in Tunisia in December 2010 and quickly took hold in Egypt,
Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan (Manfreda, 2015). The event created a
revolutionary wave of conflicts and civil wars that collapsed (and attempted to collapse) many
authoritarian regimes in a domino effect. The instabilities in countries and political transitions
put additional strain on struggling local economies. The events in the Middle-East region went in
different directions. Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen entered a transition period while Syria and Libya
were drawn into a civil conflict. All sides committed attacks on the civilians trapped between
the various conflicts happening inside their countries. The majority of current refugees reside in
camps in neighboring countries while the other small percentage of refugees set off on journeys
2

to Europe. Many of these camps are overcrowded and under-supplied, which creates diseases,
and have inefficient sources of food. This makes people realize there is no future for their family
if they stay there and so they decide to set off on the journey to Europe. The Arab Spring event is
a factor that connects the causes of the Middle-Eastern refugee crisis together.
A European Rule called the Dublin Regulation states that refugees have to stay in the
first European country they arrive in until their asylum claims are processed (Taub, 2015). This
puts a lot of pressure on countries that are easier to reach by boat. Many countries like Greece or
Italy refuse to take any responsibility for the refugees that are stuck there. In the case of Greece,
many refugees arrived in the island of Kos, a place where its easy to reach by boat from the
Middle-East, but the government isnt helping:
I have worked in many refugee camps before, in Yemen, Malawi and Angola. But here on
the island of Kos, this is the first time in my life that I have seen people totally
abandoned.
(Kyroussis, 2015)
Doctors Without Borders Stathis Kyroussis described the current crisis as the worst he has ever
seen. According to the Human Rights Watch, at places wherever arriving refugees are held,
theres a lack of sufficient food and health care, and they are so overcrowded that the conditions
in them may amount to cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment under international law. Its
clearly shown that when the world needs to be united, it is getting more and more divided.
The global perspective of the crisis changed after people saw the image of a dead Syrian
boy named Alan Kurdi lying on the beach of Turkey. There are many well-established charity
organizations helping the thousands of migrants flooding into Europe like Save the Children,
Doctors Without Borders, and International Rescue Committees, all of which raise funds to aid
refugees around the world. Another is called the Refugee Relief Campaign, which was started
by Google. For every $1 donated at www.google.com/refugeerelief, Google will donate $1 up to a
total of 10 million Euros (about $11 million U.S.) to be shared evenly among four nonprofits
(Fairfield, 2015). Save the Children uses its funds to expand its work to address the needs of
refugees seeking safety in Europe, including thousands of children and families from Syria,
Afghanistan and Iraq. In less than a week, the campaign raised 11 million Euros successfully.
We're happy to be able to support these efforts to bring essential assistance -- including shelter,
food and water, physical security and medical care -- to people in need, said Jacquelline Fuller,
Director of Google.org. Were particularly impressed by Save the Childrens commitment to
protect vulnerable children and families affected by this crisis (Fairfield, 2015). This shows how
many people are paying attention to this issue at the moment and how many want to help
because its a humanitarian action.
The global refugee crisis is happening not just in the Middle-East but also in Myanmar,
located in South East Asia. A Muslim ethnic group called the Rohingya is not allowed to register
their marriage, have education and Burmese authorities have encouraged violence against them.
The Rohingya is being pushed out of their country to become refugees because of policies and
persecutions from the authorities (Tran, 2015). This is considered as a crime against humanity
and bordering on ethnic cleansing

From a national perspective, countries have varying opinions on their attitudes towards
taking in refugees. For example, in Hungary, the government has decided to build a razor wire
along its border with Serbia to prevent refugees from crossing into Europe over land. The train
service to Germany has also been shut down to avoid refugees using Hungary as a transit point to
other countries to seek asylum. In contrast, Jordan, a tiny nation, has taken in 600,000 refugees,
while the UK, which has 78 times the GDP, will only allow 20,000 Syrian refugees over its
border over the next five years. The US has agreed to accept 10,000 and Australia, 12,000
(Ramzy, 2015). The numbers show that some countries set their caps for refugees much lower
compared to their capabilities.
Some countries take the courses of action in a totally opposite direction. Germany
recently agreed to suspend the Dublin Regulation for Syrian refugees. They are one of the rare
nations that allows refugees to apply for asylum directly in the country. As a result, they are
preparing to allow 800,000 refugees, more than the amount that the entire EU took in, in 2014
(The Guardian, 2015). That decision can create a few problems so there are still temporary
border controls at the moment, and Germany has demanded an EU- wide solution.
What do the Middle-Eastern refugees think about this crisis? Kameran, a teenage Syrian
refugee answered that question in an article on Vox.com, sharing why his family left their country
for Europe:
With no home, no work, and no school, I decided continuing on to Europe was my only
option. I traveled to Istanbul. My plan was to apply for asylum at the German Consulate
there. But when I arrived, I was told that in order to apply for asylum I had to be in
German territory the application couldn't be made from the consulate. With the last of
my cash (and some help from my father back home), I started looking for a smuggler
who would help me get to Europe. I had enough money to go by plane, and while this
saved me from trying one of the dangerous and often fatal sea routes.
(Kameran, 2015)
Kameran is a normal boy who lived his life just like any other teenagers around the world until
the conflicts in Syria forced his family to go to Europe by anyway as possible. After years of
trying to apply for asylum in different European countries, his family was accepted by the
German government and settled their new life here.
Many European citizens have now interacted with, and have a variety of positive
opinions, about the Syrian refugees in their local area. Florian Grerigk, a German charity worker
for a large network across his country, told his personal perspective on this issue:
I've met people from Syria and they are lovely people looking for employment. There is a
misconception that they just want to sponge off the state, but that's not true. A lot of them
are well-trained and have excellent qualifications, and they will do jobs the Germans
won't do. Our population is declining so we need more people in our workforce. I still
think the government is acting too slowly. People are not being housed in long-term
accommodation quickly enough.
(Grerigk, 2015)

Other locals are also very welcoming towards refugees by heart-warming actions like providing
them with water and food near train stations (McCarthy, 2015).
The crisis would be much easier to deal with if it was just a problem of money, but it is
not that simple. Welcoming the refugees also means accepting changes to a nations identity or
culture. People will have to change their perspective of how their community in the future will
look, and this can feel scary for some people. However, the truth is that its nearly impossible to
freeze any countrys culture in a fixed state, its proven by human civilization for thousands of
years.
Many people are have the fear that if their country lets the refugees in, it will act as a pull
factor and increase the flow, and the refugees will become an economic burden. The other belief
is that refugees will harm the countrys economy by undercutting local wages, decreasing the
jobs for the existing population. Those statements are not facts and can be argued. A scenario that
may happen in the future is that the refugees are refused by countries and they will work
illegally. That means there are no taxes being paid and no social contribution. On the other hand,
if they are accepted, they can bring a lot of economic benefits for the country for the next
decades in the form of taxes and social contribution.
The problem with countries like Germany, for example, is its aging workforce and low
birthrate that leads to a worker shortage. Germany had 200,000 more deaths than births in 2012
(McKenzie, 2015). They depend on foreign workers to fill in jobs. But in the future, Germany
will have to find labor from countries outside of Europe. Meanwhile, countries like the UK and
France are more reluctant to do this because their average birthrate is higher. Every Euro they
spend on training migrants is a Euro spent to avoid a shortage of skilled labor.
In most countries, migrants pay more in taxes and social contribution than they receive
based on reports by the World Bank, the UNs International Labor Organization, and the OECD
club of rich countries. Non-Europeans living in the UK since 1995 brought 35 billion worth of
education with them and contributed a net 5 billion between the years of 2000 and 2001
(MacKenzie, 2015). A large arrival of refugees doesnt mean fewer jobs for the current
population, since theres not a cap for the maximum amount of jobs that can be available. Many
migrants start new businesses in their new countries by using their skills from home, which can
create more jobs for people. Less-skilled jobs like manual labor can be filled by people with less
experience. That can help the locals to switch to more skilled jobs and leave the labor work for
the migrants, which can increase their wages. Minimum wages can be a way to stop the refugees
from undercutting locals. Some studies show that migrants can create jobs for locals. The refugee
wave can decrease wages, but mostly for other migrants, and then only by one to three percent.
The impact is generally positive or neutral (McKenzie, 2015). A Congressional Budget Office
report in 2013 estimated that giving undocumented workers a path to citizenship would raise the
countrys GDP by 5.4 percent. Most data shows the economic impact is generally positive.
Therefore, based on the evidence, both beliefs are not true. Illogical arguments can damage
economies and harm the lives of people who are trying to evacuate from war. The previous CEO
of Apple, Steve Jobs, had a father who was a Syrian Refugee fleeing to the United States and his
son then became one of the worlds greatest pioneers and innovators in the technology field
(Jary, 2015). Its a waste of potential benefits to abandon these refugees rather than let them
contribute to society.

There are three possible solutions to this problem but most of them can only be solved
over a long-term period because of the large amount of refugees and the conflict situation in
Middle-Eastern countries at the moment. The European countries can either accept them, and
continuing providing a temporary shelter, or they can solve the problem from its root so that the
refugees dont have to flee their countries.
The first solution to solve this refugee crisis would be to give assistance and protection to
countries where refugees in Europe come from, so they dont have to evacuate their home
countries in the first place. Inevitably, some people will continue to flee their country. When they
do, however, they should not need to pay smugglers or embark on dangerous trips to reach
safety. This problem can be solved by developing national laws and policies on migration that
suit the situation. In addition, people can remain close to their homes in safety and dignity. The
EU already has regional protection frameworks in place and it is time to make them work.
Another alternative solution is for the refugees to have temporary shelter, but this doesnt
necessary have to mean in Europe. The EU can consider buying an island for the refugees.
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has put forward his own proposal for just that - buying a
Mediterranean island to allow refugees a temporary shelter until a longer-term solution is found
(Telegraph, 2015). Mr. Sawiris, who is currently approaching the governments of Greece and
Italy with his proposal, admitted on Twitter that his idea was "crazy", but later claimed that it
was also "feasible":
You have dozens of islands which are deserted and could accommodate hundreds of
thousands of refugees...[as] temporary shelters to house the people, then you start
employing the people to build housing, schools, universities, hospitals.
(Sawiris, 2015)
This solution is only an immediate option if the refugees create overcrowding in the countries.
The problem is theres not enough food and care for everyone if all of the refugees start to go to
the island. However, it is an ambitious project, and one that could help if implemented
The final solution is the European countries can follow Germanys solution to the
problem and take in a large amount of refugees. The number of applications received by
Germany this year has rocketed up to 44,417. The country had 41,100 applications from Syrians
in 2014, giving asylum to 31,565 of them, at an approval rate of 76.8 per cent. Germany has
given asylum to 38,180 Syrians between 2011 and 2014 (Bennett, 2015). Of the almost 17
million refugees in the world today, only around 100,000 each year are offered the opportunity to
join programs that take them from refugee camps to richer countries to settle there. Almost all of
these places are offered by the US, Canada and Australia. Resettling more refugees in this way
will never be at a scale sufficient enough to satisfy demand, but its certainly a way to
demonstrate support for the poorer parts of the world that continue to handle the pressure of the
refugee crisis equally. Increasing options for labor migration to Europe is one way to take action
on this demand, and would also help identify these labor migrants from those of refugees. The
refugees can have jobs and shelter and for a long term period, and they can pay tax and have an
economic benefit for the country that accepted them.
The above is the best out of all the solutions given because even if countries try to push
refugees away, they will still have to go somewhere anyway. If the third solution is combined
with a few ideas from the other proposals listed above, then the solution would be more well6

rounded. In some situations, the refugees should only be temporarily accepted. If the countries
are more welcoming and accepting towards the refugees, there will be a lot of processing in the
border to make sure everythings under serious control, to make sure there are no individuals that
can cause chaos to the country itself. However, most paperwork can be completed in an average
of 5.3 months (Gibson, 2015). The refugees will be accepted, but just temporarily, with different
aid programs to help individuals settle their life in a new land with shelters and jobs. Germany
has already announced that it has allocated $6.6 billion dollars to cope with the incoming
refugees and migrants (Gibson, 2015). There will be challenges like language and cultural
differences, but with help from the community, the refugees will be able to have the support to
integrate into society in a short amount of time. By doing this, many issues will be avoided
compared to the other courses of action because its the most practical of all.
After reading many articles over time, my personal thoughts about the Refugee Crisis in
Europe have changed a lot compared to a few months ago. Not so long ago, I barely knew much
about this issue. But now, I feel like a part of this global discussion. The images of Alan Kurdi
facing down on the shore, really touched me deep inside because of how war can affect anyone
at anytime and how cruel it can get. One single image cannot reflect the entire situation but it
shows that countries need to start taking actions for the refugees to avoid as much death of
innocents as possible. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people are risking their lives
overseas because of conflicts in their home land makes me feel fortunate to live in a country of
peace, and simply being alive. In the past, I thought of Middle-Eastern people, their lifestyle and
the crisis, as something very distant compared to mine. After reading the refugees perspectives
on this issue, especially how they use social networks to navigate and support other refugee
groups, it makes me realize that if all of this would happen to me, the same scenario would take
place. These people are just like me, if I had to make a dangerous journey overseas then
smartphones would be the essential tool that I would choose to bring with me. I will even risk
my life in any way if its necessary to keep me alive. European Countries governments are
making decisions that can affect the survival of millions of refugees and their family, and one
wrong choice being made can lead to multiple consequences.
These Middle-Eastern refugees should be temporarily accepted and welcomed by
European countries because of their economical benefits, and as a humanitarian action. There are
anti-refugee perspectives that they can bring negative effects to a country but the evidence
speaks for itself and provs most of those beliefs wrong. These people are just innocents who
risked their lives to stay in their countries of chaos and are risking it to go on this dangerous
journey overseas because its their last resort. We are writing history right now, and we can
choose to have the humanitarian action of accepting the refugees, or being remembered as people
who abandoned our own kind to death, without actions or responsibilities.

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