Migrants: European chaos

Audio 19:30

A family flees the flames during the fire at Moria camp on the island of Lesvos, September 9, 2020. REUTERS / Alkis Konstantinidis

By: Frédérique Lebel

23 min

The fire in the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, where some 13,000 migrants were crowded, their wandering today, dramatically reminded us of an observation: Europe cannot manage the flow. migrants and asylum seekers arriving on its territory.

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Five years after the massive arrival of 1.3 million people from Syria where civil war reigns, but also from Afghanistan, Sudan, Morocco, Somalia and Eritrea, where are we?

To talk about it, today we have

The France Terre d'Asile association in France takes care of helping asylum seekers in their administrative procedures, as well as in their accommodation.

It also promotes and publicizes the issue of the right to asylum, defined by the Geneva Convention of 1951.

The countries of the South, Greece and Italy rightly denounce the lack of European solidarity.

These two countries are still, by virtue of their geographical position, on the front line in welcoming migrants.

Why is Europe unable to share the burden and the reception of these migrants?

An Afghan who arrives in Europe does not have the same chances of obtaining asylum whether he is in France or in Italy.

His asylum application can only be processed in the first host country.

There is no harmonization in Europe.

Is it a bit of a lottery for an asylum seeker?

There is one country that stood out in 2015, it was Germany.

Welcoming by far the largest number of migrants, over a million.

We remember the famous sentence of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

we'll get there.

Today, an estimated 40% of Syrians who have settled in Germany have found a job, although learning the language is still a challenge.

I suggest you listen to

.

He met a Syrian family, who did quite well.

The number of refugees is now down sharply compared to 2015, even though we saw a further increase in 2019;

the European strategy is now to contain the arrival of migrants with the help of third countries: Turkey, Libya, which are far from being models of democracy.

More than 10,000 people lost their lives trying to reach Europe, crossing the Mediterranean.

Is it often civil society that charters boats and makes up for the shortcomings of European democracies?

And when they finally arrive on European soil, in France for example, sometimes through relocation from Italy, Greece or Spain, the emergency is administrative procedures and accommodation.

Housing is still a challenge, perhaps more in the French capital than elsewhere.

We listen to this

, she met a Syrian refugee in

, Douha, who is still struggling to obtain decent accommodation.

In France, in 2020, there are still camps on the outskirts of Paris, in Seine-Saint-Denis, camps that terribly resemble overcrowded slums, like in Moria in Greece.

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• Greece

• Immigration

• France

• Italy

• Germany

• Syria

• Afghanistan

• European Union

• Sudan

• Somalia

• Morocco

• Eritrea

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Moria fire in Lesbos forces European Union to react

Moria fire in Greece: thousands of migrants find themselves homeless on the island of Lesbos