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REFUGEES: EUROPE SITS ON ITS HANDS IN RESPONSE TO THE TRAGEDY
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moved”, and one began to perceive a shift in
political discourse. Nevertheless, when a pro-
posal was made at a July 2015 European Council
meeting to relocate 60,000 asylum seekers
(40,000 from Member States and an additional
20,000 from third countries) in the EU, of which
Spain was expected to accept 5,837, the
Spanish government immediately made a bid to
lower its quota to 2,749 to be admitted over the
following two years: 1,300 to be relocated from
Greece and Italy and 1,449 to be resettled from
Turkey and Lebanon.
With the summer over, the crisis taking on
ever-greater proportions and Greece and Italy
having requested assistance, in September the
European Commission proposed the relocation
of an additional 120,000 people. The Spanish
government reacted in a much different manner
to this second proposal, accepting the
Commission’s proposal without quibbling and
aligning itself with other countries that acknowl-
edged the importance of assisting refugees. We
and other civil society organisations concerned
about this issue applaud this shift in political
stance as well as the Spanish parliament’s subse-
quent approval of significant funding for the
reception and integration of refugees in the
2016 national budget. The unprecedented
amount of €200 million euros allotted for this
purpose represents a human rights landmark for
our country and government, which prior to this
gesture had never made anything but a minimal
political commitment to refugee relief.
After Aylan, Paris and Cologne: a new
setback for refugees
This wave of solidarity was unfortunately fol-
lowed by events that have been used to unjust-
ly criminalise refugees.
The terrible attacks perpetrated in Paris and
the incidents that occurred in Cologne have had
a severe impact on the most vulnerable and put
a damper on hopes for a sustained public out-
pouring of solidarity. That refugees could be in-
creasingly regarded with suspicion and attempts
be made to unjustifiably link refugees to terror-
ism is becoming a very troubling possibility.
Those who seek to establish relationships
between refugees and terrorism are cynically
twisting reality. It should never be forgotten that
refugees have been frontline victims of terror-
ism in their countries of origin and that it is pre-
cisely the horrors of terrorism they are attempt-
ing escape. It also seems sufficiently clear that
many of the terrorist groups in question have at
different points in time enjoyed the external
support of Western and petroleum producing
countries amongst others. Another fact that
should not be ignored is that 82 % of jihadist
terrorist attacks carried out are occurring in
countries with Muslim majorities such as
Afghanistan, Nigeria, Lebanon, Mali and Yemen.
Measures that would restrict the entry of
refugees announced by certain countries in the
wake of these attacks are unacceptable and
contrary to international law. It appears that if
some that have been seeking to evade their ob-
ligation to receive refugees for months on end
have failed to provide a valid motive for their
positions, they now have what appears to them
to be the perfect excuse to close their borders
and refuse to fulfil their international obliga-
tions. Their manipulation of the facts is intoler-
able. Political and social leaders and the media
must act responsibly and avoid sending out
messages that might provoke racist and xeno-
phobic attitudes towards migrants and refu-
gees.