Press Release
Published on April 23, 2015
New York City – Following today’s meeting of European Union Leaders in Brussels to discuss a coordinated response to the migrant and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, Human Rights First urged the United States to demonstrate global leadership on refugee protection by leading a comprehensive plan to resettle Syrian refugees and an international initiative to better protect the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.
“As the horrific drowning of more than 800 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya this week has demonstrated, the world is facing a global humanitarian crisis,” stated Human Rights First’s Eleanor Acer. “Simply blocking refugees and migrants from crossing borders by land or sea is not the answer. It is also counterproductive and ineffective. The United States and the European Union should address these challenges through a comprehensive approach that adheres to human rights law and does not replicate the mistakes made by states in their border control responses to large numbers of fleeing refugees in the last century. The United States has an opportunity to exercise true leadership by championing protection of the persecuted and vulnerable, reforming its own interception and detention policies, and launching a major resettlement initiative for Syrian refugees in partnership with European states. How the European Union – and the United States – respond to this crisis will be a true test of global leadership in this century.”
As violence, human rights abuses, war, and terror plague an increasing number of countries, the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide has reached the highest levels since World War II. So far this year, more than 1750 asylum seekers and migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe – 30 times higher than last year – half of whom are reportedly Syrians. About 4 million refugees have fled the violence, persecution, and terror in that country, with Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey hosting the overwhelming majority of them. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has asked states to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees, but state commitments have fallen far short of that modest goal. The United Kingdom has reportedly agreed to resettle only 143 Syrian refugees and the United States has resettled only about 800 since the beginning of the Syrian conflict.
Noting that the European Union’s response plan focuses primarily on stemming the arrival of migrants and refugees on European shores, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for International Migration, and the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration have called on the European Union to take collective action to launch a search and rescue mission to save lives, create channels for regular migration, significantly increase refugee resettlement, and combat xenophobic and racist rhetoric vilifying migrants and refugees.
“The EU’s failure to find an adequate collective response to the migration crisis in the Mediterranean has emboldened xenophobic, racist extremists in Europe,” noted Human Rights First’s Tad Stahnke. “The U.S. government should support initiatives to protect refugees and immigrants from xenophobic and racist violence in Europe and elsewhere.”
In response to the global refugee crisis, Human Rights First calls on the United States government to:
“The United States is in a poor position to encourage its European allies to respond effectively to this crisis when it has fallen short both in resettling Syrian refugees and in its harsh detention, deterrence, and interception policies directed at Central America refugees,” added Acer.
For more information or to speak with Acer or Stahnke, contact Mary Elizabeth Margolis at margolisme@humanrightsfirst.org or 212-845-5269.
