Should European states transport refugees themselves?
A common theme is emerging in the tragic story of the refugees and migrants trying to enter Europe: These despondent folks pay thousands of dollars to human traffickers to reach their destinations, but some of the smugglers abandon their “customers” in the middle of the sea or in some isolated forest, sometimes to certain death. As reported by Al-Monitor last month, 430,000 people successfully made the trip in the first eight months of this year, while at least 2,700 drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean Sea. That anyone would pay such vast sums and risk their lives, even after losing their homes and livelihoods, is remarkable, begging critical examination of the dynamic and raising a number of questions: Could European governments cut into the smuggling trade by eliminating the middlemen and transporting refugees and migrants themselves? Would such an approach allow migrants and refugees to get a better start in their host countries and benefit the local economies? Would such an orderly flow of people into Europe solve or at least ease the continent’s refugee crisis? The answer to these questions is “yes,” but implementing them comes with several caveats.
More:Should European states transport refugees themselves? - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
