scholarly journals The Failure of the European Union to Respond to the Refugee Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-311
Author(s):  
Abdullah Omar Yassen, Et. al.
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
Refugee Issues

Purpose: Recent UNHCR figures show that a record 70.8 million refugees are forcibly displaced. Millions of refugees are trapped in protracted refugee situations, and have been so on average for 25 years; this compares with 17 years in 2003, and nine in 1991. The research addresses whether the existing international refugee law regime is capable of addressing this crisis, or whether the issue is that member states do not comply with the refugee regime Results: This research highlights the failure of European Union to respond to the refugee problems. The figures show that there are more refugees trapped in protracted situations than before and also that their plight takes longer to be resolved. Therefore, from the perspective of persons born in danger zones, one is more likely to be a refugee in 2019 than in 2014, yet less likely to find a durable solution. Methodology: The study adopted a doctrinal methodology by exploring legislation and directives to identify whether these laws can address refugee issues. Novelty/originality of this study: Forced migration has received negative media coverage and politicians, especially right-wing parties, have used migrants as a scapegoat. This paper identifies some of the myths of migration to demonstrate that, if given the opportunity, migrants can contribute positively to economic growth and integrate with local communities

scholarly journals Echoes of Empire: racism and historical amnesia in the British media coverage of migration

2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Połońska-Kimunguyi
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
The Times ◽  
Media Narratives ◽  
The Guardian

AbstractThis paper looks at how the British media addressed the issue of migration in Europe between 2015 and 2018, four years when the topic was high on news and political agendas, due to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ and the UK’s debate on Britain’s relationship with the European Union and free movement of people. Based on a sample of 400 articles from two national newspapers, The Guardian and The Times, the paper compares the content and discourse between the left-wing and right-wing press. The paper argues that media representations turn refugees into ‘migrants’ and portray them as either a threat to the national economy and security or as passive victims of distant circumstances. The study historicizes these media narratives and reveals that the discourse they employ advances the racialised mix of knowledge and historical amnesia and reproduces the age-old hierarchies of the colonial system which divided humans into superior and inferior species. Migrant voice is largely missing from the coverage. History, that could explain the causes of ‘migration’, the distant conflicts and Britain’s role in them, is also nowhere to be found. The paper considers the exclusion of history and migrant voices from stories told to the British audience and reflects on their domestic and international implications.

Nationalizing the “refugee crisis”: A comparative analysis exploring how elite newspapers in four countries framed forced migration during World Refugee Day

2021 ◽  
pp. 073953292110501
Author(s):  
Noam Tirosh ◽  
Steve Bien-Aime ◽  
Akshaya Sreenivasan ◽  
Dennis Lichtenstein
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Times ◽  
Elite Newspapers ◽  
Refugee Issues

This comparative study examines framing of migration-related stories (focused on media coverage of World Refugee Day [WRD]) between four countries, and framing developments over 18 years, specifically if (and how) the 2015 peak “refugee crisis” altered news coverage of refugee issues. Elite newspapers, the New York Times (USA), the Times of India, Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Germany) and Haaretz (Israel) were content analyzed. Newspapers gave only sparse attention to WRD itself, but WRD was a “temporal opportunity” to discuss migration that increased coverage. But the 2015 peak refugee crisis had little effect on coverage over the long run.

Operation Sophia in Uncharted Waters: European and International Law Challenges for the eu Naval Mission in the Mediterranean Sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Butler ◽  
Martin Ratcovich
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Union Law ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
International Refugee Law

This article addresses the main legal challenges facing the European Union (eu) Naval Force, eunavfor Med (‘Operation Sophia’), established in 2015, to disrupt human smuggling and trafficking activities in the Mediterranean Sea. It examines a number of legal issues that have given rise to scepticism on the viability of this type of operation, ranging from challenges under European Union law regarding mandate and oversight, to complex questions of compliance with international law. Forcible measures may be at variance with the international law of the sea, binding on the eu and its Member States alike. Even if such strictures can be avoided by a broad United Nations mandate and/or the consent of the neighbouring government(s), international refugee law and international human rights law provide limitations on the measures that Operation Sophia will be tasked with. Different avenues will be explored to ensure the Operation’s compliance with these different legal regimes.

scholarly journals Framing the Refugee Crisis in Online Media: A Romanian Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicoleta Corbu ◽  
Raluca Buturoiu ◽  
Flavia Durach
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Online News ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Media ◽  
Tone Of Voice ◽  
The Individual

The European Union (EU) is under severe pressure, due to the multiple crises it has to manage. Among them, the refugee crisis is remarkable, since it is shaking both the individual member states and the EU as a whole. The media coverage of the refugee crisis is important because the media still are the main source of information concerning distant issues (the refugee crisis included), and as such it facilitates people’s access to social reality. Using the perspective of agenda-setting and the conceptual background of framing theory, we aim to (1) identify the most prominent frames online media employ with reference to the refugee crisis, and (2) reveal the tone of voice online media use when portraying issues related to this crisis. To achieve these two goals, we content analyzed 1493 online news articles, published between April 15, 2015 and February 29, 2016. Main findings show that online media outlets mainly refer to the refugee crisis in terms of responsibility and conflict, in this order of prominence. At the same time, online media portals prefer using a reasonably balanced viewpoint when portraying the refugees, and a slightly negative one in terms of attitudes towards the European Union.

Much ado about nothing? The (non-) politicisation of the European Union in social media debates on migration

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Ademmer ◽  
Anna Leupold ◽  
Tobias Stöhr
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
Much Ado About Nothing ◽  
User Comments ◽  
Widespread View

The widespread view that the refugee crisis has sparked unprecedented levels of European Union politicisation has rarely been backed by systematic empirical evidence. We investigate this claim using a novel dataset of several thousand user comments posted below articles of German regional media outlets on Facebook. Despite considerable European Union authority in the policy area, extensive media coverage of the crisis and the rise of a populist party in Germany, our results suggest that the politicisation of Europe remains low among social media users, especially when compared to national and subnational levels of governance. When talking about Europe, users hardly refer to European Union institutions or policies. Instead, other member states and notions of the geographic or cultural space dominate the debate.

scholarly journals Islam's increased visibility in the European public sphere

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 68-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didem Doganyilmaz Duman
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
European Public Sphere ◽  
European Public

It is believed that the massive flow of refugees and dramatically increased asylum applications from Muslim societies to member countries of the European Union will cause significant change in the demographic characteristics of those countries. Although the presence of Muslims is not a recent phenomenon in Europe, their increased visibility has become once again a dominant political discourse for right-wing political parties. The important question is whether the Muslim presence has become a component of the post-truth politics of the political leaders of these parties, or whether it constitutes a real threat to European society. Does the European Union, then, face a real crisis? If so, what is the nature of the crisis – is it a refugee crisis, an identity crisis, or even worse, is it a crisis of tolerance? This paper analyses the political atmosphere and its effects on society in terms of an increased visibility of Muslims and Islamic symbols in the European public sphere in order to answer those questions.

scholarly journals Regionalising International Refugee Law in the European Union: Democratic Revision or Revisionist Democracy?

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Jane McAdam
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
International Standards ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
International Refugee Law ◽  
The Eu

This paper questions whether the process of harmonisation of the European Union’s asylum laws has strengthened the region’s commitment to international law and international standards, or has instead diluted them in order to accommodate regional (and domestic "democratic") concerns about forced migration. Harmonisation has taken place in a political environment that is suspicious of asylum seekers, that seeks restrictive entrance policies and that is wary of large numbers of refugees. This paper argues that such factors have heavily influenced the scope of the common asylum laws – who is eligible for protection – and the rights to which beneficiaries are entitled – what that protection actually is. It looks in particular at the confinement of protection to "third country nationals", a restriction which contravenes the 1951 Refugee Convention and denies international protection to groups within the EU such as the Roma, whose discrimination is welldocumented and has historically led to many being recognised as refugees. Furthermore, the paper considers that the EU citizen’s right to free movement is not synonymous with a right to residence, and is especially complicated for nationals of the 12 new accession States. It argues that harmonisation has occurred at the expense of a comprehensive and systematic analysis of international law, responding instead to "democratic" political compromise and pragmatism.

Shepherd v. Germany

2015 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-630
Author(s):  
Klaus Ferdinand Gärditz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
United States Army ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Conscientious Objector ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
Asylum Law ◽  
Military Unit ◽  
Army Service ◽  
International Refugee Law

In Shepherd v. Germany, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) issued a preliminary ruling requested by a German administrative court in an asylum case brought by a United States Army service member. Applying the relevant asylum law of the European Union (EU), the ECJ held that, under certain circumstances, a conscientious objector who has deserted from his military unit may claim international refugee protection. It also clarified the conditions under which the basically legitimate prosecution of military deserters must be qualified as illegitimate persecution under international refugee law.

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