UNHCR freak-out as Balkan states start
to balk. Posted by Ann
Corcoran on November 20, 2015
Invasion of Europe news….This story is confusing to me.
Actually it
discusses THE big question I have, and I have not seen any good explanation for
what could happen.
First, we hear
reports that Sweden and Germany are closing their borders. If that is so,
and is happening already (or will happen), eventually what will become of all those
migrants working their way northward? Won’t they build up as water
might behind a dam? Maybe these Balkan states are getting ready for that
inevitable outcome.
Earlier this
morning I saw this confusing (to me) report at the UNHCR website, here. So I looked for a more
understandable news story and found this
one at The Guardian.
It still doesn’t answer my question, but does help to lay out the
problem.
Have a quick
look at the UNHCR
interactive map that shows the migrant flow on a daily basis (yesterday 4,499 new refugees
arrived in Greece) and imagine if the spigot gets shut off at the
German/Austrian border or the Austria/Slovenia border, then what? All of
those flowing northward will inevitably pile up in those states ‘downstream’
right?
And, I guess
what those countries downstream are saying is that they don’t want thousands of
economic migrants (they are NOT refugees) piled up in their countries.
But, they will get a logjam of legitimate asylum seekers anyway. EU
leaders should have stopped the boats months ago, it all seems too little too late
to me!
Here is what The
Guardian is reporting: Countries along the
Balkan migration trail have begun refusing to admit people of certain
nationalities, amid a backlash against refugees in the aftermath of the Paris
attacks last Friday.
Humanitarian workers active along the borders
of Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia reported that refugees and migrants from
countries other than Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq were now being stopped,
raising the spectre of a migrant logjam in Greece.
The move comes
after Slovenia, the most northerly country along the trail, suddenly tried to
return 168 Moroccan migrants to Croatia on Thursday, in the first major
development along the Balkan migration route since Hungary shut its border in
September. [Moroccan’s are not
refugees, they are not being persecuted!—ed]
The decision sparked panic among the countries
to Slovenia’s south, who feared that Slovenia was about to block access to
anyone who could not easily prove their need for refugee status, and
consequently turned back all migrants from Africa and southern Asia.
Slovenia said
on Thursday afternoon it had not made any permanent decisions, and promised to
admit refugees as long as Germany and Austria continued to subsequently take
them. But a
police spokesman confirmed that Slovenia would discuss with its Balkan
neighbours how to limit the flow of so-called economic migrants in the future.
More
here.
The great build
up behind a dam seems inevitable to me. One day Germany will stop the
flow and surely Austria will too then and the pile up will happen in those
countries less able to manage any of this invasion. Is anyone planning
for this likely outcome? Go
here for our
complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive.
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