Social Perception of Refugee Crisis
The ongoing process of globalization has brought dramatic changes in modern social and political spheres. Roughly saying, society is split in two groups one of which consists of those who insist on offering refugees possible help and equalize the difference between them and local population. Another group is composed of those who vote against equality and treat individuals as inferior people that cannot be given refuge in some host countries. Social attitude often proceeds from vague distinction between categories of “refugees” or “asylum-seekers” and “immigrants”. In addition, the measures taken by EU government are not enough to handle accelerated crisis since the policy is often uncertain. This issue of world importance should be given more attention and more resolute political decisions.
Refugee crisis has already lasted for 75 years. It can be featured now as chain migration. It commenced in the course of World War II then continued in the post war period and in 21st century it has been triggered mainly by the conflict in Syria. The statistic shows that the War and the post-war period displaced at least 81.6 million. In 1950, the Allies set up the United Nations High Commission on Refugees to provide political asylums and refuges (washingtonpost.com). The beginning of current century was marked by instability in the Middle East with such incidents as the U.S. invasion of Iraq, regional war conflicts in Syria, South Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. These incidents displaced at least 22.9 million (washingtonpost.com). The conflicts has initiated mass immigration. Refugees have to flee from abandon those areas, following inherent instincts of self-preservation and in search for suitable living conditions. They overflow coastlines and borders to get into the countries that are EU members. They risk their lives to escape from home countries as it for instance takes place in the Mediterranean region. As a result, with the migration flood the number of terrorist attacks and groups registered around the world has drastically grown.
Anti-refugees mood partially springs from fear that radical organizations permitted into Europe will threaten social and cultural stability. This fear may soon grow to the scale of xenophobia unless measures taken to draw the line between the categories of refugees and immigrant. According to the Refugee Convention that took place in 1951, refugee is any person “who is persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality… or political opinion… and is unable to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country" (Ruz). It implies that the host country has to let them on the territory and provide them with the right for asylum. “Immigrants” can arrive at the host country illegally. Such groups of people have broken the law and although they may have economical and other reasons, they can potentially become members of radical organizations, which is a reason why people are doubtful about the attitude towards them. To provide an example, last December, Donald Trump demanded a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States without special permission”. It makes real …
