During the last few years, we have seen plenty of news about refugees, immigrants, War in the Middle East, migratory crisis, but some people still dont know whats happening or why its happening. Now, lets try to understand whats going on there, focusing on the Migrant crisis.
Syria is living under a dictatorial government since the 70s, but everything was fine and no one was complaining since 2011, when some people made a pacific protest against Bashar Al-Assads governance. In response, more than 400 protesters were killed by the Syrian governments forces.
After this episode, the citizens were indignant because some of them were killed just because they were fighting for their rights, so there started the war in Syria: People vs. Al-Assad.
But, during this war against the State, people started warring against themselves because of religion and politics. There were people against Bashar, called Sunnis, and there were people in favor of him, called Shiites. They began a war within a war.
To summarize, people started leaving Syria because it was no longer safe for them to live. Gunfights and bombardments were constant and people started going to safer places in Europe. Faced with poverty or danger, some people flee their country of origin to seek refuge.
The migratory flow was (and it still is) huge from Middle East to European countries (such as France and Germany) and, at some point, there were more than 5 million refugees from Syria throughout the world (https://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/numero-de-refugiados-sirios-supera-a-barreira-de-5-milhoes.ghtml).
But why is it called a migrant crisis?
Imagine more than 5 million people leaving all behind and crossing seas just to seek safety. Now, imagine 5 million people arriving in a country with other cultures, languages, religion and habits. And remember: they are also desperately looking for jobs to maintain their families. Europe wasnt expecting that amount of people coming so quickly. Thats why its called crisis.
To finish, there are one last problem: ISIL. Europe is justifiably and deeply afraid because of terrorism, so their reception is a bit rough, causing, sometimes, abhorrence and xenophobia. This fear causes the frontier closing, making it hard for refugees to come in.
Its a chaos, its a crisis.
It was the summary of the migrant crisis in Europe. There are a lot more things happening and related to this, but thats the basics.
If you want to learn more about refugees rights, search for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Article by Matheus.
Drafted by Maria Fernanda Cândido.
