AKEL on the tragic consequences of US and EU immigration policy

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 27 June 2019, Nicosia

The shocking photo of the father and daughter from El Salvador who drowned in their attempt to cross to the US to seek asylum reminds us in a tragic way the human cost caused by the American Trump government’s draconian anti-immigration policies. It also reminds us of what the xenophobic policy of the US means in practice which has indeed refused to sign the UN Pact on Immigration and followed by EU states such as Hungary, Italy, Austria and Poland. It also compares with “Fortress Europe” which was built with deliberate policies of the EU, at the doorstep of which thousands of refugees from the Middle East and impoverished peoples from Africa are drowning in the sea. It’s therefore not enough for one to be shocked and saddened by the ongoing tragedy, as long as the policies that provoke it are not opposed and resisted.

In any case, let’s not forget, however, that the same racist logic is hiding behind all those in our country too who consider the refugees from wars as representing a “cultural danger”, but who of course on the other welcome foreign rich Tycoons spending millions of Euros to buy Cypriot citizenship as a “blessing for the economy”.

So long as millions of people are victims of wars, poverty, exploitation and now climate change, they will continue to risk their lives by seeking refuge and searching for a better life for them and their children. Neither Trump’s walls, nor the EU’s border army can stop this desperation, but will only make it worse and cause additional new human tragedies.

In today’s world, the stand towards migrants and refugees prove to be a measure of the humane treatment and attitude shown by governments, organizations, peoples and citizens.