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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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have rights
2
, is the doctrine of “humanita-
rianism”
3
.
While country after country has flouted its
commitments to international treaties with total
impunity, self-serving policymakers have in-
creasingly embraced “humanitarianism” – an
approach to refugee assistance that could have
devastating effects should it come to be per-
ceived as a viable substitute for justice and hu-
man rights. In the context of the crisis at hand,
humanitarian aid has essentially become a new
means of legitimising exclusion.
Humanitarian discourse has moulded much
of the political and media debate related to the
present crisis. It is interesting to note how the
appalling situation in which refugees have
found themselves in Europe has been defined as
a “humanitarian crisis”, “humanitarian emer-
gency” or “refugee crisis” rather than in terms
of justice or human rights.
This dangerous discourse has had a series of
important consequences:
– First and foremost is the fact that humanitar-
ian crises call for exceptional actions that
lead to states of exception under which the
urgency of a situation provides justification
for acting outside established legal frame-
works.
– Given that humanitarianism is more closely
linked to human sentiments than human
rights, humanitarian action tends to frame
refugees as objects of compassion rather
than holders of rights.
– Refugees and people seeking international
protection are thus transformed into passive
2
Ruiz-Giménez Arrieta, I.:
Derechos Humanos: Género e
Inmigración,
presented at the 36
th
Congreso de Teología,
Madrid 7-10 September 2017.
3
Fassin, D.:
Les économies morales revisitées Annales. His-
toire, Sciences Sociales,
2009, 64(6), pp. 1237-1266.
recipients of our compassion (solidarity),
which by definition is doled out to specific
individuals (the majority of whom, in the
context of the present crisis, have generally
been Syrian) and fails to address structural
issues given that humanitarian action is not
organised to implement pro-equity policies
and by default ends up sustaining existing
inequalities.
– Converting refugees and international pro-
tection applicants into passive victims allows
states to shift the responsibility for what oc-
curs onto the shoulders of other actors such
as people smugglers, a tactic that obstructs
awareness of other factors at play and the
consequences of border tightening policies
that have put thousands of lives at risk. The
relentless narrow focus on the fight against
human trafficking during this crisis has ef-
fectively prevented proposals for guarantee-
ing legal and secure means of entering
Europe from being seriously considered.
This disheartening scenario reveals a waning
interest in asylum, which having been deliber-
ately lumped into the same conceptual sack as
solidarity, humanitarianism and even charity
rather than being treated as a right, risks be-
coming a casualty of Europe’s crisis of values.
Given the serious backward slippage that has
occurred since the implementation of the
Common European Asylum System, we must be
ever alert for further attacks on the already bad-
ly besieged right of asylum in Europe.
Steps towards reform
On 6 April 2015 the European Commission
adopted a Communication launching a reform
of the Common European Asylum System