The migration crisis that is experienced in European countries as a result of the war in Syria began in 2011 after the Syrians citizens protesting Al-Assad’s rule. The government in response sent its troops to counter the protest and the war soon took different dimensions with army rebels and Islamic groups all forming affiliations and shifting interests in the war (Fargues & Fandrich, 2012). From the onset of the war, Turkey’s government welcomed asylum seekers and migrants from Syria calling them “guests” as they were looking forward to providing a solution to the war and also to try and position itself in the region (Fargues & Fandrich, 2012). However since 2011 up to date, the influx of refugees and asylum seekers crossing from Syria to Turkey has skyrocketed, and the crisis in Turkey has seen the movement of refugees from their first country of arrival, Turkey, to the EU.
With the increased influx of refugees in Turkey, the refugee crisis has blown and the government of Turkey is overwhelmed and can no longer manage the crisis. It is estimated that more than half of the refugees today live outside camps because the camps are not adequate to accommodate them. By 2015, 7.6 million Syrians had been reported to be internally displaced, and 3.5 million had crossed over to Turkey to seek refuge in the country (Fargues & Fandrich, 2012). As the war wages on, the crisis has seen the movement of refugees to EU member states and in response to the crisis, the EU has responded in various ways.
The EU has signed a deal with the government of Turkey that it consider useful in helping to stop the movement of refugees into the EU. In the deal, through the one-for-one policy, the EU promises to settle one Syrian refugee for every Syrian refugee returned to Syria and prevented from crossing the island of Greece to the EU (Farcy, 2015). At the level of member states, individual countries within the EU block have designed measures to ensure that refugees do not find easy access to these countries. The reaction of the European Union as a whole and that of its member states have elicited sharp criticisms from various quarters they are viewed to contradict international laws and treaties to which the EU and its member states are signatories. For example, article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights gives people the right to enjoy and seek asylum in other countries while avoiding prosecution (Farcy, 2015). This article was further strengthened by the non-refoulement principle through which countries committed. However, the reaction of EU and its member states have restricted access to the Syrian refugees and some of them have been held temporary detention and sent back to Syria for lack of identification.
The European Union has however provided financial support to Turkey so as to help deal with the crisis. While signing the deal that will see the implementation of the one-for-one policy, the European Union pledged to disburse money amounting to € 3 billion to the Turkish government to help in managing the Syrian refugee crisis (Farcy, 2015). This is under the Facility for Refugee program in Turkey program. The EU further pledged to will solicit funds amounting to € 3 billion by the end of 2018 to help with the Syrian refugee crisis. With the stringent migration laws that most EU members have put forth, the EU and its member states have done very little to help in providing safe asylum and ensuring the safety of the Syrian refugees. The financial support given to Turkey by the European Union is not sufficient to solve the Syrian Refugee crisis. The continued influx of refugees in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, has led to the need for more space to resettle the refugees, and there is also a looming resistance from the Turkish citizens about the continuous flow of refugees into their country (Farcy, 2015).
References
Farcy, Jean-Baptiste. "EU-Turkey agreement: solving the EU asylum crisis or creating a new Calais in Bodrum." EU Migration Law Blog, 7 December 2015 (2015).
Fargues, P., & Fandrich, C. (2012). The European Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: What Next?
