Friday, December 22, 2017

For Migrant Solidarity

Migration has been one of the main features of human history, yet we still call it an “unpredictable emergency” with no comprehensive solution.
Between August 25th and December 19th 655,000 newly arrived Rohingya have been recorded in Bangladesh, a lower middle-income country that is giving a valuable lesson of solidarity to the entire world. In 2016 and 2017 in Europe nearly 527,000 people were recorded in total, and the most common political solution has been closing national borders and turning solidarity into a crime.
What if so many desperate people in extreme need of medical assistance and food aid had come to Europe?
Women and children make up at least half of the world refugee population, although amid the Rohingya communities the percentage of children can reach 60 percent, mainly unaccompanied or separated.
According to the International Law, special protection should be granted to victims of torture, trafficking and sexual violence, but both in the Mediterranean and in South-East Asia people have become an easy prey for sexual exploitation and human trafficking, with children trapped into forced labour or prostitution. Lack of safe and legal ways to flee violence doesn’t prevent people from crossing national borders. It increases risks and makes traffickers’ businesses thrive. Turning a blind eye to violations and abuse and ignoring people’s suffering will only exacerbate existing conflicts by triggering further violence.
Humanitarian corridors should be the very first step to revert the current deadly migration trend and restore both human dignity and the rule of law because solidarity, mercy and brotherhood have no borders.

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