Introduction
The refugee crisis is one of the major problems facing the Europe and the entire world. According to the International Organization for Migration, Europe received more than one million migrants and refugees for the year 2015. Many of the displaced persons and refugees are in protracted social, political or economic situations or conflicts. For instance, the Arab Spring that started in the Arab world in 2011 led to a series of demonstrations which has resulted in instability in some of the Arab nations. There has also been the Syrian crisis where a war broke out between the regime and rebels. This resulted in massive displacement of persons and it has been billed as one of the largest contributors of refugees in the world (Koroutchev 27). Many of the Syrian refugees have fled to neighborhood countries including Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. The Syrian crisis has significantly increased the number of refugees moving into Europe. Most of the refugees cross the Mediterranean and enter different European countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Malta, Cyprus and Italy.
As war worsens in any conflict prone area, more and more innocent persons continue to flee their country in search of safe environments. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is never prepared for the high number of refugees moving their conflict prone nations. This is because some of the conflicts happen spontaneously making it difficult for the UNHCR and other international actors to develop effective response mechanisms. The strain in resources for the refugees result in them having deplorable living conditions characterized by poor quality of health and limited provision of social services. In addition, in most cases, refugees do not have equal rights as citizens. The effect of this is that they are not able to secure employment that can help them have dignified lives in their host nations. This is a dilemma that many refugees in different parts of the world have to contend with.
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"The Refugees Crisis".
The influx of refugees into Europe has exposed weaknesses in the European Union’s asylum system. This is described as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The objective of the CEAS is to foster a common approach and universal standard to all persons seeking asylum in the European Union. However, its structure, policy and standards have made it difficult for the EU to effectively deal with the number of people seeking asylum. At instances when common European Union approach is needed for asylum seekers, the independent EU nations have taken varying approaches to the refugee crisis. Many of them have considered their domestic issues. There are nations such as Hungary whose response has been in violation of both EU and international refugee law. The thesis of this proposal is: what are the challenges facing refugees migrating to Europe. Specifically, the proposal will seek to understand the different reasons why the EU has not established a common approach to handling of refugees.
Research questions
RQ1: what are the different factors that have prevented the EU from forming a collective refugee response?
RQ2: How can the EU and other international organizations organize themselves to develop a coordinated response to refugees?
RQ3: What are the different ways in which refugees are characterized in Europe?
RQ3: What are the anticipated effects of coordinated response?
Significance of study
This study will help understand the different factors that have prevented the EU from forming a collective refugee response. It is important to note that the refugees despite fleeing from horrible conflict situations in their home countries and some of them having the endure long and dangerous journeys, they are not always welcome with open arms in the destination nations. Members of the host or destination nations have considered some of the refugees as security threats.
The study will also help understand the interaction between refugees and citizens of the host nations. Through this relationship, it will be established whether the protests and demonstrations that have been made against refugees have had an effect on the political decisions made by policymakers. There have been different reaction and protests in different nations such as Netherlands and Greece against refugees.
The study will also understand the different ways of characterization of refugees in Europe. There are instances when refugees have been characterized as illegal immigrants (Cetti 9). This happens when the individuals or groups of individuals are considered to be security threats to the host nation. The European Union is a security state and it is important that an understanding of the security efforts to control such persons is developed.
Search Strategy
The university library will be used to look for information on refugees and their movement to Europe. Thematic analysis of articles will be used for this study. The articles selected for the study will only be those that are written on refugees in Europe and those that are rich in the content area of discussion.
The search will start by looking for a definition of the term refugee. This will be distinguished from immigrant and economic immigrant. After refugee has been defined, the paper will then highlight the source nations of refugees that move to Europe and the routes that they follow to enter Europe. This discussion will include a discussion of some of the challenges that they experience such as the dangerous sea routes.
The paper will explain the different nations which the refugees prefer to settle in and the reasons for such decisions. This will then be followed with a discussion on the reception that the refugees receive in the different countries that they choose as their host nations.
Explanation of the sources
The research will rely on journal articles and websites as sources. As has been mentioned, only sources with information on the refugee crisis in Europe will be included in the study. The journal articles will be used in this study because they are academic sources that are based on primary and secondary research. Organization website articles will also be used for this study. The different organizations that have been selected include the European Commission and the International Organization for Migration. These websites have been selected because they provide important information on refugees and the trend on the refugee issue in Europe.
- Cetti, Fran. “Border Controls in Europe: Policies and Practices Outside the Law.” State Crime, vol. 3, no. 1, 2014, pp. 4-28, Social Science Premium Collection.
- European Commission. Migration and Home Affairs. https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum_en. Accessed 14 February 2018.
- International Organization for Migration. World Migration Report 2018, https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2018_en.pdf. Accessed 14 February 2018.
- Koroutchev, Rossen. “The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Europe.” Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, vol. 1, no. S1, 2016, pp. 26-37.
