AKEL on the refugee issue
Article by Yiorgos Koukoumas, member of the C.C. of AKEL
Sunday, 30th September 2018, “Haravgi” newspaper
The number isn’t insignificant of those that realize that the sudden and utterly exaggerated presentation of the immigration/refugee issue by the Presidential Palace, DISY and the mass media they control, is being done deliberately with the aim of shifting – for communication purposes – the pressure it is under by an ever increasing section of society because, inter alia, of the closure of the Cooperative Bank, the crisis in education, the release of pedophiles from prison, the dismantling of hospitals and other issues too.
Refugees and immigrants are the “weakest link” against which the anger of society and the mob of the Internet can easily be channeled and turned against. Indeed when the ultra-right party ELAM declares that it feels “vindicated” by Anastasiades and DISY President Averof, this in itself says a lot both about the statements made by Anastasiades-Averof, but also about the deeply systemic party of ELAM itself. However, there are some points that need to be made on the substance of the issue as well:
Firstly. The increasingly and ever more frequent “concern” expressed by DISY and the Anastasiades government about the alteration of the demographic character of Cyprus due to the presence of refugees and immigrants is not only unfounded – it is first and foremost hypocritical. It is hypocritical because they are the ones who are not only not worried, but are promoting the mass naturalization of foreign millionaire clients of the country’s big law firms. They make every effort to serve wealthy foreign millionaires. For the poor and uprooted foreigners, they reserve attitudes ranging from contempt to racism.
Secondly. President Anastasiades is now calling for a “binding mechanism for the resettlement of refugees” from the EU. This is something that the Left and human rights organizations have been calling for some years on a European level so that the moral and legal obligation of the EU and its Member States to grant asylum to refugees should be shared by all Member States, depending on their population and GDP.
In Cyprus, since the beginning of the “refugee crisis”, AKEL has repeatedly called on the Anastasiades government to also put on its “European agenda” the need for the abolition of the Dublin Regulation, which encapsulates asylum seekers in the states of first arrival, that is to say in the European South. Nothing has been done for years.
In addition, the right-wing and ultra-right governments of the EU have so far hindered the creation of such a permanent mechanism, and are refusing to take on even a share of the required resettlement of refugees from member states that are taking on a disproportionate share of responsibility, such as Greece for example. These are the same forces that have closed their borders to the Balkan Corridor and encamped the refugees in Greece. So if he wanted to be useful, President Anastasiades would not be calling for this mechanism with remarks on his Twitter account. He should have put forth his demand to his associates at one of the European People’s Party sessions, who in fact also represent the obstacle. He should have put forth this demand in one of the so many glowing meetings of the European Right to his fellow associates and counterparts from Austria, Hungary, Germany, etc.
Third. EU-Egypt “cooperation” is today being promoted to contain refugee/migratory flows. In reality, it is a copy of the EU-Turkey agreement of 2015 by which Europeans are paying Erdogan to keep refugees outside of Europe. Indeed, to make the return of asylum seekers back to Turkey legally possible, the EU has decided to proclaim Turkey a “safe country” for refugees (!). This is the same country that isnt safe – not even for its own citizens. It should be noted that 90% of the refugees in Turkey live outside refugee camps where UNHCR provides elementary living conditions.
A similar agreement was agreed with Libya, where thousands of refugees are in the hands of various factions and human traffickers, while the country’s coastguard – which is in fact being trained by the EU – is shooting at refugee boats in front of the eyes of EU warships. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, not mincing his word, described the EU’s policy of helping the Libyan Coast Guard in the arrest and return of refugees as “inhuman”. The Libyan coast has become an open prison of inhumane treatment, torture and the auctioning of people, scenes that humanity has not seen for many decades.
The EU and the governments of the member-states, including the Anastasiades government, could have, for example, read the recent Strik Report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the big questions that are raised by these agreements, such as the one being promoted with Egypt.
These policies are part and parcel of the EU’s “externalization” of border control strategy, with which the EU assigns – using the carrot and stick method – to its neighbouring states to prevent – by any means – refugees from reaching Europe. This is a practice that violates the right to seek asylum; a right enshrined in international conventions, binding on the EU and its member-states. In other words, refugees and migrants will be sent and stacked in neighboring countries, despite the fact that the EU will be fully aware that there will be no respect for fundamental human rights there. In other words, others will be doing the dirty work.
Fourthly. The new mechanisms for “strengthening the EU’s external borders”, such as the EU border and coast guard forces that replace Frontex and halt the old rotten boats/ships, will not address neither the root causes of refugee/migratory flows, nor the ongoing maritime tragedies. Marine research and rescue operations are needed in order to ensure that at least fewer people will drown in the Mediterranean Sea so that we should not continue to mourn other drowning Aylans on the coasts of the Mediterranean.
