illegal migrants crisis in Europe – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Refugees and illegal migrants making their
way from Greece to Macedonia
to continue into EU
Photo: AP Photos/ Sakis Mitrolidis

Countless thousands of refugees and illegal migrants from war-torn Syria, Iraq and other Middle East territory, Africa… are reaching Europe via Greece and Italy as points of entry in particular. According to interviews published on all world’s media all those coming from Greece across Macedonia and Serbia and Hungary are intent on making it to Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands, United Kingdom… they know where they want to go and expect to succeed in it, trampling over and destabilising European countries they cross towards their desired destination.

Refugees and illegal migrants of today appear to have expectations that they will reach their desired destination and stay there. How very different from the refugees fleeing WWII Europe – most were happy to wait in refugee camps and go to a country offered to them. Personal preferences played little part.

Refugees and illegal migrants
reaching border of Macedonia
from Greece August 2015

Today, we are seeing a humanitarian crisis unfolding before our eyes, a political crisis and a standard of living crisis of those living in the countries where this is occurring. We witness a great deal of criticisms directed to the countries or individuals for seemingly failing to assist or for using caution in allowing total strangers into their towns, countries etc. We have seen force being used at the Macedonian border with Greece against the refugees and illegal migrants; tear gas used to send them back to Greece…and then let them trough, or they break through police lines, in order to reach other countries where they want to go.

Train station in Gevgelija, Macedonia
Refugees and illegal migrants wait transportation

While doing everything within its power and control on a humanitarian base to assist the needy, to my view, countries have a moral obligation in protecting their borders especially when it’s known that there are most likely many Islamic State affiliates or fighters or supporters among them. And who can assure me that this is not a strategy to strengthen the IS within Europe? Please do if you can with certainty.
Croatia, has so far avoided the avalanche simply due to its geographical position. But, after Hungary builds its 174 Km, 4-meter high border wall with Serbia, Croatia becomes an alternative route for the entry of refugees into the Schengen Area. Croatian government has been saying all past week that it has a strategy how to care for refugees and illegal migrants and has begun preparations in the event that refugees and illegal migrants start entering Croatia en masse.
According to HRT TV news from 21 August 2015 “Croatia has enough facilities from Ilok to Dubrovnik that can accommodate immigrants if it is needed. There should be no problems as far as the accommodation of refugees is concerned. State Office for Property Management has a list of fifteen potential facilities which can be quickly put into operation if it is required“, said Mladen Pejnovic, director of the Office of Government Owned Property Management.

There are, according to Pejnovic, about 15 disused large objects that can be fixed and ready for use fairly quickly, if required. The majority of these facilities are former, now disused, army barracks, coastal resorts with unresolved ownership issues, as well as facilities, which Croatia received according to the agreements on succession of the former Yugoslavia.

While a will to help the needy is a gesture we should all follow, this declaration by Croatia’s government certainly seems most irresponsible, as it does not address the reality pressing upon Croatia’s own people and indeed the population of other European countries caught in this avalanche of fear, misery and instability. Croatian government announcement of having enough space to house refugees fails to address the safety of Croatian people and alarms raised in Schengen Zone countries, such as Germany, regarding behaviour of some EU countries not taking their “share” of refugees and illegal migrants. It, also, lacks criticism towards the UN for failing miserably at pooling resources of all UN member countries and establishing safe, clean and decent refugee camps at agreed sites across various countries.
This way, fear and uncertainty and human misery seem to be the only “currencies” UN is interested in.

Germany’s Angela Merkel

Germany has called on Britain to take more of a share of migrants coming into Europe. Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said along with other countries it needed to be ‘more aware’ of its responsibilities as a member of the European Union. He made his call for the British to welcome more refugees after it was revealed Germany expects to receive 800,000 asylum applications this year – more than all 28 EU countries combined in 2014. Britain is not of the Schengen area of 26 European countries that have removed all border checks and passport controls between each other. It has an opt-out on taking part in a scheme to distribute migrants arriving into the EU between different countries and has so far refused.

Mirela Holy

Back in Croatia, Mirela Holy, leader of The Sustainable Development of Croatia (ORaH) a small green party and member of Croatian parliament has Saturday, 22 August 2015, sent to Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, and his government, an open letter regarding a refugee wave that has swamped the Balkans, calling on him to present a strategic plan for refugees, if his government had one, and to explain to the public how it would be implemented, reported HRT TV news on Saturday.
She also asked the PM how much budget funding had been set aside for the accommodation of refugees and their basic supplies and whether Croatian intelligence services cooperated with other countries’ services to efficiently prevent the infiltration of terrorists traveling with refugees, as well as how the government planned to prevent possible acts of terrorism and whether the security aspect of the crisis was being considered at all.
She said that the refugee crisis was a consequence of conflicts in Syria and other countries in the Middle East and that the exodus of a large number of people from those areas was expected to continue if no peace and security was established there.
Holy added that considering the fact that this was unlikely to happen without an international intervention led by the UN, Milanovic should inform the public about the government’s position on securing peace and stability in those regions militarily.
The EU has warned that it is currently facing ‘the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War’. Its border agency Frontex has said some 340,000 migrants have arrived already this year.
“This is an emergency situation for Europe that requires all EU member states to step in to support the national authorities who are taking on a massive number of migrants at its borders,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
“Frontex has called on member states to provide additional equipment and people to support our operations in Greece and in Hungary and the European Commission has approved national programmes to provide significant financial assistance to the Member States to address these challenges,” he added.

A member of the Macedonian special police forces holds a baby as migrants try to cross into Macedonia near the southern city of Gevgelija, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 22 August 2015 Photo: EPA/Georgi Licovski

A member of the Macedonian
special police forces holds a baby
as migrants try to cross into Macedonia
near the southern city of Gevgelija,
22 August 2015
Photo: EPA/Georgi Licovski

Croatia has at all times been willing to assist and take a quota of refugees (550 was the most recent number confirmed by the government) but I believe that the government’s announcement of having adequate space in disused objects to receive refugees and illegal migrants may be deceitful (as no limit to numbers these objects can take are mentioned) and encourage the avalanche to start falling on Croatia much before Hungary builds its announced border fence. It’s a shame we haven’t heard more about the plan or strategy Croatia’s government has developed to contribute in dealing with this humanitarian crisis, but I too suspect it hasn’t got a tight strategy. And it must! People in Europe are torn between the instinct to offer shelter and help to those in need and the instinct to shut the borders, lock the doors, while the leaders portray no unity in this crisis that’s threatening all – no one seems to be helping the other and no major UN Security Council meeting on this at the horizon. This is not a passing storm or an avalanche that will come quickly and dissipate just as fast. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)

As the refugees and illegal migrants surge continues in Europe, debate is growing in the European Union about the lack of unified immigration policies and funding for migrant rescue operations. Some EU member states are calling for each state to accept a quota of illegal migrants, share the burden as it were. European foreign and defence ministers agreed in Brussels on May 18 to use naval forces to intercept and disrupt ships used by smugglers/ first phase of a military operation against people smugglers in the Mediterranean. Croatia has already committed one 50-crew ship towards the efforts of saving lives of illegal migrants/refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.

While the world marked the World Refugee Day on Saturday 20 June, two security and terrorism related important gatherings occurred in Bratislava, Slovakia, this weekend, starting Friday 19 June and they are the global security forum GLOBSEC 2015 and summit of Visegrad Four/ Visegrad 4 leaders.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic attended and was a panelist at the GLOBSEC forum – a platform for high-profile politicians, diplomats, business leaders, academics and think tank experts to share their opinions and perspectives regarding international peace and security. This year the discussed topics at various panels, plenary sessions and presentations included the situation in Ukraine and the crisis stemming from ISIS. Hence, European leaders tackled security challenges ranging from a resurgent Russia to global terrorism.
As to the summit of the Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Four – Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, the attendees reached a joint position of rejection against the refugee quotas urged by the European Union as response to floods of illegal immigrants and refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East inundate countries of EU especially Italy, Greece, Hungary… on a daily basis.

Boats filled with illegal migrants
and refugees cross the
Mediterranean on daily basis
from Africa and the Middle East

Just by watching daily news coverage it’s evident that the problem has reached catastrophic proportions and to any observing eye the influx resembles an aggressive invasion in which it is almost impossible to check for and isolate or sort out any possible terrorist cells, genuine refugees and illegal migrants.

Robert Fico
Photo: SITA-felvetel

“We reject the mandatory quotas because we believe that what the European Union proposes is contrary to the principle of voluntariness represented by the European Council”, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said. He added: they specifically focused on the grave extent to which Hungary is affected by the problem of illegal migration, and they agreed that everyone must take this special situation into consideration.
In 1991, the founders of the present-day Visegrad cooperation were aiming for the revival of this north-south corridor. Initially, they focused on clearing out the debris of the Communist dictatorships and consolidating the economies of the members. Later, when all four joined NATO and then the European Union, the scale of activity widened to include cooperation in international and security policies and the operation of the Schengen border control system.

Illegal migrants rounded up
by people smugglers in Libya
to cross into Europe
Photo by AP

A system of quotas will not solve the problem of illegal migration into the EU, said the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic to Croatian press, expressing her stand on the matter ahead of her attendance at the global security forum GLOBSEC 2015 in Bratislava, and that it was essential to act upon the real causes of that problem.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
Photo: Sutra.ba

“Quotas are not the solution for the questions relating to refugees,” she said. “They can be a short-term solution but a solution must be all-encompassing…We need to be very careful about the message we are sending with that quota system. If we send the message to illegal migrants that they will eventually be able to remain in Europe, then we will perpetuate the problem and it will become worse and stronger… Within both the EU and UN we need to engage in solving the fundamental problems of why illegal migrants are coming, and that means the solving of the conflict in Iraq and Syria, but also battle against poverty and other reasons because of which people from North Africa and the Middle East are arriving as well as solving the problem of people smugglers.”

Francois Hollande
Photo: Getty Images

French President Francois Hollande said on Friday he thought commitments by individual EU member states offered a better way of resettling African and Middle Eastern migrants rather than the imposition of national quotas by Brussels.
“We need to address the reasons that have led to and that have caused the migration,” Hollande told a news conference after meeting the leaders of the Visegrad Group.
“I do not think (quotas) make any sense for migration. I do not think it is the right method,” he said, commenting on proposals from the executive European Commission on how to deal with the large numbers of migrants arriving in Europe.

David Cameron
Photo: Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters

“In the case of terrorism, they say that the rise of ISIL shows the dangers of getting involved so we should turn our backs on the Middle East. In the case of migrants being tricked and trafficked, they say this is something that should be managed rather than solved, so we should carry on allowing them to attempt this perilous crossing. I think these arguments are profoundly wrong. And I am very clear about the principles that need to be applied,” said UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the GLOBSEC 2015 conference.
There are those who criticise the emergence of “closed Europe” vis-à-vis the floods of people illegally approaching and crossing sovereign borders of countries; without a doubt there are those, including the UN Refugee Agency, who will criticise Hungary’s recent announcement to build a 174 kilometre long/ 4 meter high fence along the border with Serbia to stop tens of thousands of people from the Middle East and Africa crossing its borders annually and illegally via Serbia, which is not an EU member state. A question then pops into mind: should that fence be extended down along the border between Croatia and Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina? Desperate refugees and illegal migrants will soon find an alternative route into EU if the Hungarian fence is built. How far does a country go in trying to stop the floods of illegal entries? Croatia is one country with relatively recently experienced desperation with refugees. During early 1990’s Serb aggression and ethnic cleansing had created floods of refugees and displaced people – over one million (in a country of 4.5 million!). Among these were Croatia’s own refugees and refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina; all non-Serb and mainly Croat and Muslim. A life lived in such conditions is indeed a life lived in crisis-mode! This crisis arises from the unknown and the insecure future and no human being is built to endure it for long without major unrest erupting.

Asylum seekers in Croatia
joining in marking World Refugee Day 2015
Photo: Screenshot Croatian Red Cross website

Handling the problem in today’s Europe by allocating quotas to each country is not the way forward as a matter of policy because it does support the impression of accommodating illegal migrants on an ongoing basis. However, the illegal migrants and refugees awaiting refugee status processing must be fed, clothed – roof over their head, placed. That certainly is no easy task with diminishing and crumbling economies and “foreign aid purse”. Are the more affluent societies willing to shed worldly comforts and share with those less fortunate? Or are these floods and intensive movements of illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East actually causing fears (real and pathological) of threats (if not attacks) to Christianity and Western values, the addressing of which may go beyond human compassion and empathy with the seemingly destitute? Certainly strong leadership is required in the EU on these matters and it’s great to see the Croatian president taking part in that leadership. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)