Thursday 23 April 2015

One of the United Nations officials

has been suggesting that "rich countries" needs to take in another million refugees from Syria over the next five years.
It is a typical response from an organisation that has lost control and has no idea how to handle a crisis. The UN simply does not work any more. 
The Refugee Convention is out of date and does not meet the needs of the present day. It was designed to deal with another century, not this one.
Taking in a million people from Syria is not going to help. There are at least five million who are displaced for a start. And that is just Syria. There are millions more people who are looking for a better life somewhere else - preferably in Europe (particularly the UK) or Australia. These places are seen as accessible. People smugglers will get you there by boat. That's the hope of far too many people.
The UK is overcrowded already. Parts of Europe are overcrowded. Unemployment is high. Sending more people there will only add to the problems. 
Australia has an unemployment problem too. It may look as if there is a lot of space but the reality is that most of Australia is desert and nobody has yet found a way to live there and produce enough to live on, let alone live well on.
I really don't believe that just continuing to take in refugees and economic migrants is the answer. It is not because I don't care. I do care. It is not because I am selfish. I would actually love to share. It is because it won't work. 
It won't work for three major and very complex reasons. The first is the political, social and religious situations in the trouble spots of the world. There are no easy answers to those situations, certainly not answers that the rest of the world is prepared to accept or even tolerate.
The second is the economy built around arms dealing. The United States, Russia and Germany make billions every year through supplying weaponry. France and China are not far behind. Indeed China may be supplying more than is presently thought. North Korea's economy may also be dependent on arms supplies but the secrecy surrounding their dealings makes it impossible to tell.
Whatever the situation the money made from arms is so much that none of those involved - and that includes governments - has any real interest in stopping wars. (The UK supplies about 4% of the world's arms - most of which go to the US. Australia supplies less but one of the companies based here still comes in the first 100 companies in the world. We should be ashamed but I doubt many people even know.)
The third is a different sort of weaponry altogether. It is closely tied to corruption and bribery. Corruption and bribery makes people Poorly organised and administered "aid" programs make people poor. The very programs that are supposed to assist are actually making matters worse. Political correctness, non-interference and other issues get in the way of aid working. And companies like Monsanto move in with programs that make matters even worse. Yes, a good crop one year but the seeds cannot be saved. You need to buy new seeds each time - and that makes you poor. Indeed, you might not even be able to afford to buy seeds again. Then there is the water supply which is now controlled by the aid organisation which has been "given" the seeds by the company and... 
It is the tip of a giant aid iceberg which is actually causing part of the "refugee crisis" - causing people to become economic migrants.
Taking them in to other countries is not the answer, especially when their own countries are losing so many young male workers. 
The world has to start thinking about those things. Mass migration is not the answer. It doesn't solve problems now the way it once did. 
We need to stand up to extremists and dictators. We need to stand up to arms dealers and the economic dependence on them. We need to stand up to those who are endeavouring to control food supplies through modifications claiming to be in our interests. 
I don't see it happening - but please don't tell me we will solve the problems by taking in another million refugees. We won't. And I will still worry about the millions more in refugee camps with nowhere to go. 
 

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