Organization for Regional and Inter-regional StudiesWaseda University

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【2015/11/9 Seminar Summary】Syrians refugees and Responses in Europe

  • DATE & TIME
    Monday, November 9,2015 16:30―18:00
  • Venue
    Room 913, Bldg.#11,Waseda Campus
  • Speaker
    Yves Schmeil (Professeur de l’Institut d’Etudes politiques de Grenoble)
  • Coordinator
    Yoshiharu Tsuboi (Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University)
  • Language
    English(consecutive interpretation)

Syria has a particular position for European people because of its historical background: Syria was under a French mandate from 1920 to 1946. Therefore, many Syrian people have moved to France since 1920’s and got a French nationality. Today, the third generation of French people of Syrian origin exists in the metropolitan France. In this historical context, nowadays French-Syrian connection has been well established to exchange the information among them. This information network is well functioning and many refugees want to rush to the Europe: for example, when they hear that German government takes a more tolerant immigration policy towards Syrian refugees, they immediately try to do their best to move towards Germany.

Plus we can see the clear resemblance between actual occupied territory and a historical administrative division: the Northern region around the capital of Syria, Damas is governed by Assad regime, the Southern region around Alep governed by the Opposition, and the Eastern region near Iraq-Syria border, governed by IS (Islamic State). This division of regions is completely identified with the ancient French administration zone.

Besides, Alawi school (a branch of Shia) supported by President Assad, Sunnites school supported by the Opposition and IS has fought each other on the base of Islamic religious legitimacy.

More than 4 million Syrians escaped from their mother country to neighboring countries like Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan where refugee camps were founded to receive these refugees. 2-5years already have passed and Syrian refugees waited a return day to go back home, but from the beginning of 2015, they have gradually recognized that Syria would not have a stable situation enough to let them come back home and decided to go towards Europe where they will be able to live more peacefully and comfortably.

This sudden and massive inflow into Europe provokes many problems: there is different opinions concerning reception of refugees between two different types of EU members: on one hand, EU member countries which are obliged to accept many refugees take the more tolerant policy towards refugees, and on the other hand, member countries which are located far from refugee problem claim that EU should take an initiative more tough vis-à-vis refugees. These different opinions lead them to loose their solidarity as EU members

A lot of European Christians are afraid of “Islamization of Europe” and take more and more rigid attitude not to receive the Syrian Islamic refugees. Politically extreme-right movements get more and more supports in terms of refusal of refugees in their own country and moreover extreme-right movements accelerate anti-EU sentiment.

In practice, many problems occur in lot of places in Europe concerning how many refugees should be accepted and where they should be placed, etc. If an EU member country decides not to receive refugees, they are facing to the difficult question of how they can make a justification about it. Finally, when ex-members of IS who had an experience to fight violently with arms will return to Europe, European people are very afraid that ex-members of IS will start terrorism in their own countries.

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