Mediterranean Refugee Crisis

Over the last several months, hundreds from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Sub-Saharan Africa have been risking their lives each day in a bid to reach Europe.
Thousands have perished in the attempt.
The refugees have been portrayed as economic migrants in search of a better life.
By referring to those reaching Europe’s shores as migrants, the European Union’s leaders are trying to mislead the public about the real nature of the crisis.
Displaced persons have been compared to marauders posing a threat to the standard of living and social structure of a privileged European society.

The difference between Refugee and Migrant

Refugees enjoy a distinct and unique standard of protection under international law.
A refugee is any person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, nationality, etc migrates to other countries.
Refugees enjoy certain special protections under law, such as safety from deportation to the country where they face persecution; protection of basic human rights without racial or religious discrimination, or of national origin; access to fair and efficient asylum procedures; provision of administrative assistance, and so on.
On the other hand, migrants (persons who choose to leave their home state, principally in search of a better life, as opposed to escaping some form of persecution, internal strife or armed conflict) do not enjoy any protection and/or privileges under international law. Countries are therefore at liberty to deal with migrants under their own immigration laws and processes.
Therefore, the conflation of refugees with migrants can seriously undermine and prejudice the public support available to such displaced persons.

Having an abundance of energy resources, West Asia was and is geo-economically extremely relevant for the U.S. and its European allies.
Euro-Atlantic powers used coercive tools for prompting their narrow political-economic agendas in this region after the end of the Cold War.
Iraq is in ruins, even though it does not possess any weapons of mass destruction.
Libya which was bombed by NATO in 2011, is currently a battleground for different ethnic groups.
On the pretext of supporting pro-democratic forces in Syria, western powers ended up helping the radical groups, providing necessary fodder for the birth of the deadly Islamic State.
Afghanistan, also one of the known battlefields of the Cold War, was deserted by the West after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Post 9/11 US war against Afghanistan (to destroy Al-Qaeda’s terror network) the country went back into total ruins.

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