Migration: We only see the results, but never the causes

 

Speech of Andros Kyprianou, General Secretary of the C.C. of AKEL, at the meeting on the tragedy of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea

AKEL C.C. Press Office, 23rd April 2015, Nicosia

 

We have gathered here today to send out a strong message to those who with their decisions determine the fate of people on our planet; to say that human lives should not be measured with money. Enough of so much hypocrisy and crocodile tears being shed for lives lost due to inhumane policy decisions!

In 2014 the number of migrants who died in the wider Mediterranean region alone amounted to 3,279. In 2015 the number has already reached 1,754. The International Organization for Migration estimates that this year the number of deaths may rise to 30,000 – and these are just the official numbers.

The masses of refugees from civil wars, misery and “economic migrants” reveal in the clearest manner the true face of capitalism and imperialism. Today the masses of people of the third world and the European periphery are indeed standing at the gates of the capitalist centre. We are talking about the masses of misery which was generated by the world capitalist system itself. These masses of people are sore and aching from hunger and violence. Everything that the imperialist West has created, humanity is now paying with a very heavy price.

It is really awfully miserable and simultaneously realistic, the fact that these masses of people are treated as constituting a serious threat and on this pretext they are being repelled by coercive measures. This attempt at setting up defenses to confront the flow of refugees and migration caused by misery take shape in concrete European Union policies – whether this is the European Security Policy or FRONTEX, the goal is clear: a “fortress Europe” that will break up the waves of migrants and refugees.

The refugees and immigrants see no perspective ahead whatsoever in their countries; a perspective which was destroyed by the action of the global market competition laws. They are driven by necessity in search of supposed havens to the developed countries of capitalism. These refugees give all of their life savings to fulfill their often illusionary hopes and aspirations. The Odyssey of these people leads many times to them drowning (at sea), to die of suffocation (in containers), frozen (in the Alps), to be shot (by their own smugglers or Coast Guards) and at best to be found in an infected camp or a detention centre awaiting deportation.

Having all this in mind one can easily understand the magnitude of the dynamics of their despair. The situation is much worse when one observes that in most cases we are talking about young and active people who take this road of pain and suffering. One wonders – what is the everyday life like of those who are left behind, namely, the elderly, the sick and the needy?

Consequently, behind the abstract numbers there are people and indescribable situations that can hardly now be accepted and that is why therefore they are being repelled by public opinion. On our screens we only see the results, but never the causes.

As AKEL, we join our voices with those of all people in the world who are angry and struggling to stop this inhumane situation. We demand that the government promotes policies at both national and European level, to address all aspects of the issue of migration; policies that should be based on human rights and on International and European law.