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In a country like Italy, which has been a longstanding hotbed of political contestation and polarisation, it comes as no surprise that the latest global crisis -- the fall of Afghanistan and the ensuing exodus of refugees -- should serve to ignite a heated public debate.

Over the past decade, Italy has found itself at the forefront of Europe's migrant crisis. Over the past weeks, it has evacuated more than 5,000 Afghans.

While other European governments have turned their backs, Italys prime minister, Mario Draghi -- who currently leads a big tent coalition government -- has openly welcomed refugees to Italy, criticising the EUs overall approach.

Draghis position has been echoed by others, especially on the left. But for the right, and a large percentage of the wider Italian public, it represents a bone of contention.

As a result of its position, Italy has been one of Europes main gateways for migrants and asylum seekers arriving via the Mediterranean Sea.

Many of those making the perilous journey enter the country through the small Sicilian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa, just off the coast of Tunisia.

While Italy has hosted refugees fleeing from war-torn territories and extreme poverty for decades, it received the biggest bulk of arrivals in the past 10 years. At the peak of the Mediterranean refugee crisis in 2016, 181,436 people reached Italys shores.

At the time, such an influx sparked a fierce political debate in a country that was still reeling from the shock of the Eurozone crisis.

While attitudes in Italy towards refugees have traditionally been warm, a noticeable shift occurred in the mid-2010s, as refugees came to be framed as a danger in mainstream media narratives. A survey also revealed Italians overestimated the percentage of foreigners living in the country.

The EU, in particular, came under fire, as a perceived lack of solidarity -- especially as the Dublin Regulation country of first arrival policy had put a particular onus on Italy -- prompted a surge in Eurosceptic sentiment.

The meteoric rise of Northern League (Lega Nord) leader Matteo Salvini has been linked by a variety of scholars and media outlets to the refugee crisis itself, with his transformation of the Lega from a moribund, scandal-ridden secessionist party into the nationalist, pan-Italian force. The party, standing on an anti-immigration platform, won the 2019 European Parliament elections in Italy.

As the Talibans takeover of Afghanistan has caused thousands to flee from their homes, this new refugee crisis has led to politicians coalescing along the same lines as in the mid-2010s - with the left supporting an open doors policy and the right expressing concern.

Polls would also suggest that the division inside Romes parliament is reflected within the wider Italian public. A survey conducted by Affaritaliani.it found that almost half of Italians (47.1%) were opposed to welcoming Afghan refugees into the country and Europe at large.

On the far-right end of the political spectrum, figures like the Leagues Matteo Salvini and Giorgia Meloni from Brothers of Italy (Fratelli dItalia) have shown hesitancy towards the prospect of thousands of Afghan refugees entering and settling in Italy, fearing a mass wave of migrants that could "burden" the country.

Speaking last month, Salvini stated that he supported the idea of humanitarian corridors for women and children but wanted there to be checks on those wishing to come to Italy.

Open doors for thousands of men, including potential terrorists? he quipped. Absolutely not.

Salvinis coalition colleague, Giorgia Meloni has taken a more hardline stance by arguing that neighbouring countries should be the ones to welcome Afghan refugees, believing that humanitarian corridors are not the solution.

As the German Chancellor [Angela] Merkel has already stated we believe that the first thing to do is to support the states right next to Afghanistan to help them welcome refugees, Meloni said.

Even Berlusconis party -- the more moderate, centre-right Forza Italia -- was concerned by the possible security threat posed by welcoming refugees into the country.

[This] humanitarian crisis risks turning into a mass immigration that would be very dangerous for our already-compromised social system, stated Antonio Tajani, the Coordinator of Forza Italia and the former President of the European Parliament (2017-2019).

Umberto La Morgia, a former Northern League councillor in the Emilia-Romagna region, and now a member of the Brothers of Italy, told Euronews: Its understandable that people should be leaving [Afghanistan], and that, in this case, were dealing with actual refugees who need to be helped and welcomed."

At the same time, however, he reiterated that it should be neighbouring countries and the US -- as opposed to Italy -- who ought to provide the greatest degree of assistance, while supporting a humanitarian corridor between Afghanistan and Italy for women and children in particular.

Opposing the trepidation felt among many on the right, both the centre-left coalition (headed by the Democratic Party - Partito Democratico) and -- albeit less forcefully -- the populist Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle) have supported humanitarian corridors and urgently called for refugees to be accepted into Italy.

Lets mobilise the nation to help those who are staying [in Afghanistan] and welcome those who are fleeing, tweeted Democratic Party leader and former Italian Prime Minister (2013-2014), Enrico Letta. Lets support Afghan society, its evolution, and the women and men who dont want to go back to the Middle Ages. We are here.

Various mayors across Italy, including Romes Virginia Raggi, from the Five Star Movement, have openly welcomed the arrival of refugees. Also, several politicians, figures and leaders have condemned the rhetoric of many on the far-right, deeming it divisive and against the spirit of international cooperation.

Stirring up arguments about [welcoming refugees] doesnt make sense, asserted Laura Boldrini, a Democratic Party MP and former President of the Chamber of Deputies (2013-2018) and United Nations spokesperson. All thats needed is for the laws that already exist on requests for humanitarian protection to be respected - laws that, first and foremost, foresee an access to the [destinations] territory.

Moreover, Andrea Mammone, a professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, and one of the leading experts specialising in the history of the far-right, strongly criticised the way in which the Afghan refugee crisis had been politicised as part of a nationalist agenda.

As with many other European far-right politicians, Salvini and Meloni initially criticised the West because of its military policy - which was abandoning Afghanistan in the hands of radical Islam, he told Euronews. But they immediately made it clear how Italy cannot take refugees. In doing so, they show their anti-immigrant politics, considering Islam to be against traditional European values.

For the thousands of Afghan refugees currently residing in Italy, the crisis has caused deep concern. Many are worried about their relatives still in Afghanistan or struggling to leave.

Gulbadin Ahmedzai is one such person. Fleeing in 2016, he was hosted by family near Padua, in the Northern Italian region of Veneto, where he now speaks fluent Italian and runs a pizzeria.

My family wanted to stay in Afghanistan, but now I want them to be safe, here with me, he said, troubled by ongoing developments in his home country. These days I keep reiterating my promise to them: I will bring you all here, to safety.

Another refugee from the Panjshir region, who escaped to Italy last month, told Euronews last month that he would have been killed by the Taliban had he stayed, and that he fears for members of his family who have stayed behind.

We are all very worried, stated Qurban Ali Esmaely, the president of the Cultural Association of Afghans in Italy, while speaking to ANSA. We dont know how to help, everyone just thinks about how and to where theyll escape. Theres an indescribable terror among people.

More here:
In Italy, the Afghan exodus has sparked a heated and divisive debate - Euronews

The European Qualifications Passport for Refugees is a specially developed assessment scheme for refugees, even for those who cannot fully document their qualifications, providing an assessment of the higher education qualifications based on available documentation and a structured interview.

The importance of such a scheme was discussed in Belgrade today, with participation of Drahoslav tefnek, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Council of Europe.

I am happy to host this evet at our premises, as it turns spotlight on a very important aspect of refugees life, said Ambassador of the Slovak Republik to Serbia, Fedor Rosocha in his opening statement. I welcome all efforts of the Council of Europe and UNHCR/UN agencies to improve the chances of this vulnerable group of people for their integration and progression towards employment or further studies.

The European Qualifications Passport for Refugees is a unique instrument providing refugees with an assessment of qualifications that cannot be fully documented. The passport methodology is based on the Lisbon Recognition Convention concerning Higher Education in Europe of the Council of Europe which Serbia joined 2004. We are looking forward to refugees being able to fully enjoy their rights and freedoms, including to continue their studies or find a job related to their education in Serbia or elsewhere in Europe, said Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade.

We are very pleased that Council of Europe, Ministry of Education, Agency for Qualifications and National Employment Service and UNHCR will bring new opportunities to the refugee population in Serbia through the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees. This is an important document for refugee students, if they decide to continue studies here or work with their previously acquired qualifications which are now going to be recognised, Francesca Bonelli, UNHCR Representative said.

Drahoslav tefnek, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Council of Europe highlighted that the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (EQPR) is a tool that helps Member States of the Council of Europe not only to deal with the current refugee crisis, but can help in preparation of the future crisis. For instance, the EQPR project delivered just last week, on 10 September, a specific training module for credentials evaluators dealing with qualifications from Afghanistan. No other such international instrument exists in Europe, added Mr tefnek.

Sneana Vukovi, Head of Sector for Human and Minority Rights in Education, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia said that the Republic of Serbia has become an example in the European educational space in the field of education of migrants and asylum seekers through inclusive educational practice.

As she explained, since 2017, educational and psycho-social support in the process of education and upbringing has been provided for migrant students in schools. Since education is a basic human right, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development has regulated this area by adopting expert guidance for the inclusion of refugee students / asylum seekers in the education system, but also improving the legal framework. So far, over 4,500 migrant students have successively passed through the education system. Applying the Professional Instruction, over 3,000 individual support plans for migrant students were developed, 115 support plans at the school level, over 10,000 additional hours of learning the Serbian language were held, peer support in learning was provided.

At all levels of education, refugee enrolment is lower than that of non-refugees. The picture rapidly worsens as refugee children get older. UNHCR and partners have set an ambitious target globally, of 15 per cent for refugee enrolment at the tertiary level by 2030. The good news is that the most recent enrolment level for higher education is at 5 per cent, up from 3 per cent year-on-year and 1 per cent only a few years ago.

Serbia has also contributed to this trend. Following months of preparation for entrance exams supported by UNHCR partners, advocacy and communications with academic institutions, four young refugees, including two former unaccompanied and separated children from Afghanistan, a young man from Libya and a young woman from Burundi succeeded in enrolling into Belgrade Universities.

They represent a very important progress in Serbia of access to higher education for refugees .

Government of Serbia has highlighted the inclusion of children and youth from the refugee population in higher education as one of its pledges at the 2019 Global Refugee Forum.

Excerpt from:
European Qualifications Passport for Refugees to bring new opportunities to the refugee population in Serbia - Council of Europe

ELEVEN FAMILIES FROM the fire-destroyed Greek refugee camp Moria have arrived in Ireland, eleven months since the government first made the commitment to resettle 50 people.

Welcoming the families this evening, Minister for Children Roderic OGorman acknowledged that their arrival was delayed due to Covid-19.

While all efforts were made to accelerate the arrival of these families, their arrival has taken longer than we would have hoped, as a result of Covid-19, the Minister tweeted this evening.

Seven of the families have been transferred to accommodation centres, while four families were transferred to community sponsorship groups.

More than 12,000 people were left in emergency need of shelter after fires swept through the Moria camp on 9 September 2020.

Ireland made the commitment to resettle 50 people in family groups under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) on 1 October last year.

Officials from the IRPP and An Garda Sochna were due to travel to Greece in the weeks following McEntees announcement on a selection and security screening mission. However, it did not commence until 31 May of this year.

During the selection process, members of An Garda Sochna carried out security checks, including fingerprinting and interviews, according to the Department of Children.

Meanwhile, members of the IRPP carried out interviews focused on cultural integration, ensuring that proposed refugees understand the culture of Ireland which refugees will be expected to embrace along with ensuring that refugees understand that their culture and religion will be respected in Ireland.

Separately, the government agreed to resettle 36 unaccompanied minors from Lesbos. Four children arrived last summer, and the remaining 28 are expected in Ireland by the end of this month.

Harmful policies

The 2015 migration crisis saw Moria built just two years earlier to hold 3,000 people inundated as a huge wave of migrants began arriving on small boats from nearby Turkey. As other European states responded by shutting their borders, the bottlenecks grew.

As numbers at Moria ballooned to 20,000, the camp became a byword for squalor and violence, where prostitution, sexual assault, disappearances of minors, drug trafficking and fights were rife. Then late on 8 September, the first of two fires broke out.

No one died in the blaze, but it sparked a chaotic exodus of 12,000 people.

Lesbos locals, who had seen more than 450,000 migrants pass through in a year, were enraged as towns, villages and fields were again flooded including by children, pregnant women and disabled people forced to sleep rough for days. Against strong local opposition, authorities set up a camp on a former army range.

One year later, dozens of NGOs, including Amnesty International, are accusing Greece of pursuing harmful policies focused on deterring and containing asylum seekers and refugees.

In a joint report, 45 NGOs and civil society groups said the Greek government is pursuing harmful policies focused on deterring and containing asylum seekers and refugees.

Greek authorities stress that Lesbos is significantly less crowded, and that migration flows are also lower. Greek Migration Minister Mitarachi said the country is no longer and will never again become the gateway to Europe.

The right-leaning government elected in 2019 also denies imploring a policy of forcibly pushing back would-be refugees before they can claim asylum on Greek soil.

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Human rights groups say the reduced migrant flow reflects the current governments more hardline approach to even legitimate refugees, and attribute the reduction in numbers to a policy of forcibly pushing arrivals back to Turkey.

The European Commission last March announced 276 million of EU funding to build migrant centres on five Aegean islands facing Turkey, including Lesbos.

A new camp was due to open on Lesbos before winter, but work has yet to begin. On Samos Island, a new camp is due to open at the end of the month.

- With reporting from AFP.

This work is co-funded by Journal Media and a grant programme from the European Parliament. Any opinions or conclusions expressed in this work is the authors own. The European Parliament has no involvement in nor responsibility for the editorial content published by the project. For more information,see here.

Originally posted here:
Eleven families arrive in Ireland from Moria refugee camp in Lesbos - TheJournal.ie

A member of Border Force staff assists a female evacuee as refugees arrive in England from Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. It is unclear whether the current crisis will necessarily result in a dramatic increase in refugee flows from Afghanistan toward Europe.

Photo: Dominic Lipinski WPA Pool/Getty Images

The swift takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and an upcoming final August 31st deadline for all NATO troops to leave the has triggered panic among European politicians about the possibility of a new refugee emergency especially in countries that are facing elections in the coming months, such as Germany and France.

Candidates for high offices have been quick to reassure voters that 2021 wont be a repeat of 2015, when more than a million Syrian and Afghan refugees streamed into Europe and caused one of the most serious challenges that the EU has faced in recent times.

The mistakes made in the Syrian civil war must not be made again, promised Armin Laschet, the leader of Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democratic Union. He was echoed by Merkel herself and the chancellor candidate for the Social Democratic Party, Olaf Scholz.

Both have stressed that it is Afghanistans neighboring countries that now need support to deal with the challenge.

French President Emmanuel Macron was even blunter, stating in a televised address that France should have a robust plan to anticipate and protect itself from a wave of migrants (.), adding that dealing with those fleeing the Taliban would need a fair and organized international effort.

Greece has gone further by installing a 25 mile long fence along its borders. Most of the criticism directed at the U.S. president by European partners seems to be caused by the fear that it is they who will have to deal with the destabilizing consequences of a humanitarian crisis provoked by the sudden collapse of the pro-western government in Kabul.

Events in Afghanistan have exposed how six years after the events of 2015 there is still a lack of a clear EU framework for dealing with large inflows of migrants: How to process and, most importantly, distribute refugees still very much depends on the willingness of individual EU member countries to accept them on their territory.

The so-called Dublin EU framework that put most of the onus on first entry countries has not been replaced by anything new and durable. The EU beefed up its border police force Frontex and financially supported countries, such as Turkey and Libya, in return for their efforts to keep refugees away from Europe. But this approach was always supposed to buy time not become the only pillar of a shaky immigration framework.

The absence of any new ways of dealing with non-EU immigrants has forced the EU and its leaders to resort to the same imperfect tools employed in the wake of the last crisis. Just like in 2015, Merkel spoke to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan although both Ankara and Berlin deny that the possibility of a new deal was discussed or even mentioned. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is pushing to get the G20 involved by including China, India and Russia into any efforts to deal with the aftermath of the Taliban takeover.

The EU is discussing funding schemes for Afghanistans neighboring countries. While critics have pointed out that the EU is unnecessarily putting itself in the position of being blackmailed by potential recipients of financial aid, the aim of the exercise is clear: Once evacuation efforts are concluded, dont expect EU countries to welcome many more refugees.

Numbers of those currently entitled to resettle in western countries vary no overall official figures are available, but based on promises made by individual governments it is safe to assume around 100,000. However, these numbers pale when compared to those of the United Nations refugees organization. According to the UNHCR, there are currently 3.5 million internally displaced people in Afghanistan.

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Worldwide, there are currently around 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees. Notably, most of them 2.2 million are in neighboring Pakistan, not in Europe. It is in fact unclear whether the current crisis will necessarily result in a dramatic increase in refugee flows from Afghanistan toward Europe. The countries that will likely continue to bear the brunt of the humanitarian cost of the war are Pakistan and Iran. The potential corridors for refugee flows from Afghanistan toward Europe are currently largely choked off.

Also, the Taliban themselves seem to be determined to stop migrant outflows, at least for the time being. They seem to have concluded they can ill afford to bleed expertise when what they need are Afghans with some experience of running a bureaucracy. Much of course depends on how much and quickly the Taliban will alienate Afghan civilians and whether a bloody civil war can be avoided.

Once the current visible turmoil subsides and western witnesses have left the scene EU governments will likely try to engage with the Taliban directly to address a possible migration emergency. Merkel obliquely hinted at this before the Bundestag on August 25th when she declared that unfortunately one had to accept that the Taliban are now in charge. But much of this tentatively emerging approach of careful engagement is largely based on hope rather than sound policy.

The situation in Afghanistan has once again revealed the brittleness of Europes patchwork of migration policies. The country could represent a new wake up call or recede in politicians minds if the worst can be avoided. Unfortunately, geopolitical instability is here to stay, and will be further fueled by the impact of climate change on vulnerable societies.

As a result, migration flows will likely continue to increase, further exposing the lack of a coherent European strategy to deal with the crisis at hand.

Continued here:
Is Europe Facing a New Migrant Crisis? BRINK Conversations and Insights on Global Business - BRINK

Fortress Europe is pulling up the drawbridge. The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban is likely to being about a new wave of refugees heading west, and so walls and fences are being hastily built around the borders of the Schengen Area. As scars inflicted by the last migrant crisis re-open, the possibility of a new influx of refugees is causing deep apprehension throughout the EU.

At Usnarz Gorny, on Polands border with Belarus, the migrant crisis is already beginning. Twenty four Afghan migrants currently sit stranded in no mans land between Polish and Belarusian border guards. Left without food or clean drinking water for weeks on end, their situation has become a no-win moral dilemma for the Polish government.

The migrants are among the many thousands duped by the Belarusian authorities. As part of a hybrid warfare waged by the dictator Alexander Lukashenko against the EU, Belarus has been enticing refugees from Afghanistan and other countries and sending them across the border into Europe. Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have now seen huge increases in migrants from war-torn countries in recent months.

For Poland, there can be no good outcome from the drama unfolding in Usnarz Gorny. The government faces a choice between accepting the migrants and in so doing encouraging the hostile actions of the Belarusian regime or leaving them stranded in dire circumstances on the countrys doorstep.

In the wake of the Talibans rapid takeover of Afghanistan, the case has taken on a wider dimension. It is also being seen as a litmus test of the attitude of the country and the wider central European region towards a potential new wave of mass migration from the East.

When over a million migrants crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2015, central European countries refused to help the EU deal with the crisis. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary bluntly refused to take in refugees. In 2020, they were found to have broken EU law in failing to fulfil their obligations as part of the blocs controversial migrant quota system.

There is little to suggest attitudes in the region have changed since then. Commenting on the situation in Afghanistan in a recent radio interview, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbn said migration is not a human right and that countries to the east of the EU should bear the responsibility of looking after refugees.

Cooperation with the Turkish government is a key issue. It is in our interests to keep prospective migrants who want to leave Afghanistan there, in the region. Lets help them there, not bring trouble here, he said.

Unfortunately for Orbn, Turkey is unlikely to accept attempts by Europe to offload responsibility for refugees. President Erdogan has warned that Turkey will not be Europes refugee warehouse as Greece put the finishing touches to a 40-kilometre fence intended to keep asylum seekers out.

Polands reluctance to take in the migrants camped at its borders may meanwhile be influenced by international tensions with Belarus. But in citing the destabilising influence of migration as the reason for its opposition to Belaruss actions, the government has set a precedent for future waves of mass movement from Afghanistan. It would be surprising if, having left two dozen Afghans without food and shelter at its border for weeks on end, it subsequently adopted a no-questions-asked stance towards migration on a far larger scale.

In the neighbouring Czech Republic, the response to the Taliban takeover has indicated a similar instinctual aversion to the idea of mass migration. Far from volunteering to accept refugees, the Czech government refused to join other EU countries in suspending deportation procedures for illegal Afghan migrants already in the country.

With elections approaching in October, all three candidates for Czech prime minister have declared themselves against any new migrant quota system imposed by the EU. Legal action over the countrys refusal to take in refugees in 2015 failed to change public opinion on the matter: a recent poll showed 63 per cent of the population does not believe the Czech Republic should volunteer to take in those fleeing Taliban rule.

Central Europes apprehension over refugees is reminiscent of attitudes seen in 2015 only this time around, similar concerns are evident in western Europe too. French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken of the need for caution in welcoming significant irregular migratory flows, while Brussels is notably less keen to criticise the erection of border fences in Poland and Lithuania than when Hungary constructed a southern barrier to keep migrants out in 2015. Indeed, Orbns arguments that migrants should be kept in the East now sound decidedly mainstream.

It is becoming clear that rather than learning lessons from its past mistakes, the scars of the 2015 crisis will only make it more difficult for the EU to deal with refugees fleeing Afghanistan. And as the walls go up around the bloc, central Europes long-held scepticism about accepting refugees seems to be catching on.

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Fortress Europe is dreading the Afghan migrant crisis - The Spectator Australia