Aff: EU Refugees - Shared Fund

Hansen
Fall 2015

Synopsis: Aff pays for the transportation of refugees to anywhere in Europe.

Plan: The European Union should create a shared fund for refugee transportation of 100
million Euros.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/western-europe/2015-09-16/directive-51

Advantage I: Neighborhood Identity

Uniqueness
1 Ethnocentrism is on the rise in Europe now
-Thousands are currently marching on European capitals in protest of ‘migration.’ Protesters
hold flags that say, “No to Islamisation.”
http://www.euronews.com/2015/09/12/anti-migrant-marches-held-in-several-european-capitals/

-”67 percent of British voters — some number of whom are probably today sharing this photo to
Facebook — say they support sending the British Army to the French town of Calais to control
the migrants there who wish to cross into the UK”

-”the overwhelming sentiment among Western countries: that a single dead refugee child is a
tragedy, but a million suffering refugees are a threat. Western voters have made clear to their
leaders time and again that they want to keep refugees out, even if it means most of those
refugees will die.”

2 It’s shown through linguistic choices

-Use of migrants over refugees by news media and politicians. The Daily Mail published
headlines, “The ‘Swarm’ on our streets.” Though the next day they published pictures of a
young boy who died crossing the Mediterranean.

-This is a mechanism of control. Choosing to use migrant over refugees signifies certain mental
images and a particular legal status. A migrant is one who chooses to leave and a refugee is
one who is forced out of their host country. Calling one a migrant denies the horror experienced
by being dislocated and removed from home.

3 This is caused by xenophobia about altering one’s vision of their neighborhood

-”As Max Fisher wrote, taking in large numbers of refugees means having to modify, ever so
slightly, your vision of what your town and neighborhood look like, and having to widen the
definition of your community's culture.”
http://www.vox.com/2015/9/3/9256925/aylan-kurdi-drowned-syrian-boy-viral
-Deborah Schildkraut, a PhD and professor at Tufts who studies immigration and national
identity, states that this kind of anti-immigrant populism is often driven by a deep sense of
insecurity over demographic change. That Europeans are afraid of migrants because they don’t
look like their idea of a European.

-This represents an instance of the White Savior Industrial Complex where justice doesn’t
matter, but it’s about having a big emotional experience.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-
complex/254843/

Impacts
1 Xenophobia justifies violence on every level
-Fear of ethnic and religious groups allow communities to band together to force out certain
people from neighborhoods, perpetuating a new form of a refugee crisis where former refugees
are now dislocated within a country that is typically considered safe.

-Xenophobia allows for laws that prohibit and limit certain identities, causing structures of power
to act violently to control the identity of its subordinates.

-Xenophobia allows for a policy of non-intervention whereby we fictionalize crisis’ and violence
that happens against people who don’t look a certain way. This makes us complacent with
genocides, starvation, and mass violence.

-Xenophobia justifies extinction because it allows us to engage in the decision-making calculus

that determines lives as not having value and thus killing them or them being complacent with
their deaths.

Solvency
1 Integration solves
-Mass immigration opens safe spaces for refugees where they can create new communities and
integrate into existing ones depending on their preference

-Integration forces the shift in visions of neighborhoods. The fear of neighborhoods changing is
greater than the actual effect of a neighborhood changing. There is no harm caused by the
integration

-Now is key. Public discourse is at a critical point where it is self-reflective but still focused
enough on the issue.

2 Community enhancement
-”Taking in large numbers of refugees requires accepting that those refugees might bring
changes to a nation's identity or culture. That is of course often a very good thing: Refugees
have been enriching their host countries for generations, improving everything from their snack
foods to their scientific discoveries.”
3 Alters the political
-Refugees become citizens who have a say meaning that it is no longer feasible in European
democracies to hold xenophobic ideals because come election time, you’ll lose.

Advantage II: Refugees

Uniqueness
1 Current EU directives are in a state of flux
-Dublin II states that asylum seekers must registered in the country in which they arrive.
However, it has not capped the number of refugees it will accept.

-Directive 51/2001/EC states that carrier companies (airlines, shiplines) are responsible for
ensuring that foreign nationals wishing to travel to the EU have proper documents -- this is a
problem for asylum seekers who often lack paperwork and it’s on the carrier to prove the person
is an asylum seeker.

-Once refugees get to certain states in the EU, they are granted asylum - the only problem is
getting there.

2 The shift of burden has caused a sharp rise in human trafficking

-Smugglers can charge thousands of Euro’s for seats on unsafe ships because other routes are
refusing transit because of a potential legal burden.

-Smugglers are super dangerous. Organization for Migration in Geneva estimates that during
the first eight months of 2015, more than 2,700 would-be Mediterranean migrants perished at
sea.

-The UNHCR estimates that nearly 60 million people had been forcibly displaced -- the highest
level on record.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/western-europe/2015-09-14/truth-about-migrant-crisis

3 Neighboring states treat refugees atrociously

-Syria, Turkey and Lebanon have only raised 41% of the funds the UNHCR states they will need
to provide food aid to refugees.

-Hungary is putting up razor wire and razor wire-topped box cars across its border to stop
refugees from getting into the country.
https://www.rt.com/news/315589-razor-wire-hungary-germany/

-Hungarian police have opened fire with tear gas against 1500 rioting migrants who have been
attempting to break through the fence. Hungary has also used water cannons to deter refugees
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/09/16/state-of-emergency-hungarian-police-fire-tear-gas-
at-rioting-migrants-trying-to-break-through-border/
Impacts
1 Disease
-Lack of sanitation systems and overflows of garbage at refugee camps have put refugees at
risk of cholera and typhoid epidemics. This then spills over into water supplies. Garbage dumps
become breeding grounds for disease spreading creatures like rats and mosquitos. A briefing by
the United Nations Country Team state that this could lead to epidemics and mass illness
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/lebanon-doctors-warn-spread-cholera-refugee-camps-rubbish-crisis-
intensifies-1519262

-Ain al-Hilweh is called the, “capital of Diaspora” because it’s the most densely populated camp
and has seen massive disease spread.

-Because antibiotics are given out sparingly and under no supervision, it increases the
propensity of resistant typhoid rapidly spreading through refugee camps. Resistant bacteria
risks extinction because of interconnectedness there are no longer geographical borders that
protect populations from each other. Aid workers, doctors or refugees who get through the
border walls could carry disease.

2 Slow Genocide
-The refugee crisis is a unique instance of discursive hierarchies where media outlets and
politicians consider certain populations as disposable. Groups label populations as a threat to
European populations. This type of hierarchical thinking and preferencing of lives makes
violence possible.

-Neighboring states like Hungary will often push refugees into slums where they are perpetually
denied access to human rights and policing is lax.

-The expectation is that refugees will die off or that their culture will assimilate into other states.

Solvency
1 Fund solves
-The fund pays for the cost of refugees to transport themselves to any European country. This
means companies would be eager to safely transport refugees across the Mediterranean.

-Plan allows for an emptying of refugee camps. It becomes free for people to get access to
cities with the infrastructure needed.

-Paying for transit means that refugees can bypass oppressive states. Because Germany has
suspended Dublin II, there is a legal framework that would allow hub-like travel.

-”Such a system would also significantly increase documentation, control, and follow-up of
cases: it is easier to register and keep track of individuals arriving in an airport than of people
landing on empty beaches and trying their best to stay under the radar until they reach a
preferred destination of asylum.”
2 Fund would grow
-EU funds would be donated into by people who want to support the refugees. The spotlighting
of the fund drastically increases its popularity.

-The fund also removes the impetus for European states to engage in military operations
against smugglers, which may mean the fund saves the EU money.
https://www.rt.com/news/315238-mediterranean-smugglers-eu-military/