Emeritus Professor Dawn Chatty spoke today on ‘Reality Check’ on FM4 radio in Austria about the Syrian refugee ‘crisis’, and why all European countries must pull their weight in order for Europe to cope effectively with refugees. She highlighted the need for more assistance for host countries in the Middle East region, for a greater emphasis on the provision of education for Syrian youth, and for all EU countries to take their fair share of refugees.
She said, “Five years into this crisis we simply have not put any money into local schooling. In Lebanon, 60% of the refugee children of school age are not in school… Researchers for the last 2 or 3 years have been crying out for much more emphasis to be put on educating the young so that we don’t have a lost generation, so that we have a generation when the fighting ends…to go back and rebuild the country.”
Regarding the lack of responsibility-sharing in Europe, she said, “Austria has taken its fair share. Germany certainly has, Sweden has. It’s not surprising that now a limit is being set… At the most we might see 1-2 million Syrians looking for temporary protection in Europe. If you consider that the population of Europe is 500 million, it is a situation that is manageable. It’s a grave situation but it isn’t the crisis that the press continuously says it is... This is a time when all of Europe should get together and try to work in a way that they can provide temporary protection for refugees from Syria and not suggest or expect 1 or 2 or 3 countries of the Union to take most of the burden.”
Listen to the interview here >>