Germany welcomes Syrian refugees, EU turns a blind eye to human agony on its frontiers

Leaders of the European Union declared this week that it has "failed" in the face of human agony on its frontiers. The failure is evident. Of millions fleeing war, oppression and misery, hundreds of thousands have been desperate enough to brave the sea to reach Europe; thousands have died but their numbers still multiply despite a mostly stony welcome: razor wire, hunger, filth and hosts more intent on blaming each other than on their common duty to help.

Germany alone has said it expects to handle some 800,000, four times as many as it did last year. It has also suspended deporting asylum-seekers from Syria under the EU's controversial Dublin Regulation, which was designed to stop migrants traveling through Europe before claiming asylum. Germany announced this week that it will allow all who arrive to remain in the country, with an unprecedented move, and with experts saying that the other European countries should follow in Germany's step.

Yet the problem is that many EU countries plead immigrants would 'simply not fit in'. For example, in August, the British politician Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said the migrants would speed the collapse of the European social order.

In reality, tough, the number of migrants to have arrived Europe so far this year (200,000) is so minor that it constitutes just 0.027 percent of Europe's total population of 740 million. So the argument that the world's richest continent cannot easily handle such a comparatively small influx compared to its population seems quite preposterous.

A German town, whose name has been undisclosed, this week on Tuesday has given a heart-warming welcome to Syrian refugees who fled their homes miles away and reached Germany via perilous sea routes.



The immigrants, without the funds or paperwork necessary, are forced to try their chances at sea routes, with many European countries turning a blind eye on thousands of deaths on these ways.



"The world is watching us," Merkel said after talks with Balkan neighbors in Vienna on Thursday. "As a rich continent, I am firmly convinced Europe is capable of solving the problems." Germany has been complaining for a while that the other EU member states are abusing the Dublin Regulation rules by not to allowing refugees into their countries.

Germany attracted 43 percent of Europe's 400,000 asylum applications in the first half of the year, more than double the number in the same period of 2014. In Berlin, for example, portable shipping containers have been converted into small stacks of apartments to accommodate 2,400 refugees around the capital. At one container village in southwestern Berlin, which is just opening, colorfully painted containers offer comfortable space for 300 refugees. It boasts single rooms with shared kitchens and bathrooms on each floor, as well as small flats for families, and even accommodation for the disabled.

In government and non-governmental projects around the country, former military barracks are being converted to housing, disused nursing homes are being refurbished and even small tent cities are being erected. Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has already doubled the financial assistance available to local authorities to 1 billion euros ($112 billion) and has called a meeting with state leaders in September to discuss the refugee situation further.

And what the other European countries are doing meanwhile can be seen in the below graphic, displaying how many refugees they need to take in to match Germany's 2015 projection of 800,000.


The U.K. has been always considered as the altar of immigrant, but contrary to this perception, in 2014, only 25,870 people sought asylum in the U.K., the world's fifth-largest economy (and second-largest in Europe after Germany), and just 10,050 of the asylum seekers were accepted. Germany, on the other hand, accepted 97,275 refugees in 2014.

According to recent U.N. figures, Turkey hosts nearly two million Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war in Syria - which has been continuing for over four years - in 25 camps built by the Prime Ministry of Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

The camps have received several awards and been praised by international visitors for their efforts in providing sustainable services. The largest camp is in the border town of Suruç, located in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, which opened in February 2015 and hosts nearly 25,000 refugees.

When the ratings are calculated to proportion to population sizes, the world's richest countries can shoulder more responsibility.