Opinion
Security walls and closed doors: Unravelling Global North's refugee response
Most refugee crises are a colonial legacy and those obtained out of continued hegemonic wars and occupations
Sandeep Chachra and Iyce Malhotra December 20, 2023 19:34:57 IST 
(File) Refugees and migrants from overcrowded migrant camps who will be transferred to Britain where they will reunite with their families at the check-in area at the Athens International Airport, Greece, on 11 May, 2020. Reuters
The number of refugees hosted by the Global North is much smaller. It is estimated that only 27 per cent of the refugees and asylum seekers are in countries of the Global North. More than just the distance refugees have to travel to get there, it’s the security walls that these nations have built over decades and the new mechanisms that are created every passing year, that deter refugees from seeking entry.
As forced displacement and refugee outflow reach unprecedented levels, policies and actions of the Global North are being driven by fear, self-interest and racism. Asylum routes are being shut down and irregular routes weaponised forcing people to death. This approach has been followed for decades now – prevent any inflow, except if it is for cheap labour and temporary residence.
In contravention to the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (which includes both the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol), most European countries and the US have only tightened anti-migration and refugee-accepting approaches. Italy’s recent anti-migration plan provides for the pushback of mostly male asylum seekers of adult age rescued in the central Mediterranean whom Rome does not deem qualified for international protection. UK’s Illegal Migration Bill plans to house illegal migrants on ships before sending them back to their country of origin or a third country that is deemed safe.
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A settler colonial state itself, the Government of Australia had in 2012 set up offshore processing of asylum seekers arriving by boat to Nauru and Manus islands in Papua New Guinea. More recently, the United Kingdom arrived at a bilateral deal with the Government of Rwanda for offshoring asylum seekers on Rwandan land, till their applications were processed. In 2021 the then Danish minister for immigration and integration has obtained from Denmark’s Parliament a bill requiring all applicants seeking refugee status to be relocated to a “non European” country preferably in Africa while their situation was assessed with no eventual guarantee to be transferred to Denmark. Though it was later put on hold given group resistance, the trend continues. Very recently, Italy and Albania signed an agreement that would redirect tens of thousands of asylum seekers from Italy to the Balkan nation, even as European nations now seek to engage in a second act of criminality by looking beyond Europe’s borders and forcing refugees and asylum seekers there.
Further, as is becoming even more evident with the inflow of refugees from Ukraine, there is differential treatment for refugees from the Global South. In April 2022, there were reports of Afghan refugees being asked to vacate houses to accommodate refugees arriving from Ukraine.
Most refugee crises are a colonial legacy and those obtained out of continued hegemonic wars and occupations. One of the then-largest movements of people and the creation of refugees was the colonial division of India, resulting in at least 14 million people being displaced and seeking refuge. The Nakba (Catastrophe) that occurred in Palestine, which led to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians, occurred because of the crisis in Europe, and the refusal of European countries to accept the Jews who were fleeing from the genocidal persecution they faced in that continent.
The Afghan refugee crisis is also a result of various attempts that have continued up to recent times to occupy and govern Afghanistan. Many view the current war in Ukraine as a result of continued efforts by NATO to expand east. The truth that can be seen is that NATO has not been disbanded despite the end of the Warsaw Pact after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
We need to recognise that the responsibility of creating the conflict, through direct attack or proxy wars falls on the countries of the Global North. This pattern seems destined to continue as the global military-industrial complex continues to use arms and the threat of arms to push what can only be called imperialist agendas. By not recognising this reality we must mark the current Refugee Convention as largely a Eurocentric one, calling for reform and more protection for refugees and people seeking refuge across borders.
Also Read: From Torkham to Gaza: Unravelling challenges of global refugee dynamics
Sandeep Chachra is Executive Director of Actionaid Association and managing editor of Agrarian South an international journal of political economy. Iyce Malhotra is an accomplished Project Lead at ActionAid Association, bringing a wealth of expertise in project coordination, budgeting, and policy advice. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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