Breaching The Walls Of Fortress Europe

As war-wearied Syrians scramble out of packed boats on foreign shores, Europe finds itself in a double bind: Can it turn back refugees fleeing a crisis that is also of the West's making? But, then, can it afford to welcome the millions seeking a safe place to live?

- Deepa Philip

It is the worst humanitarian crisis to have unfolded in the recent past and is sure to have implications well into the future. And the crisis is well over the tipping point. over 11 million Syrians have been displaced from their homes, with seven million within the country and four million outside charting arduous land and sea routes to escape the persecution and instability that has brought their lives to a halt.

As per UN estimates, one out of four Syrians had left the country. half of the asylum seekers are children, makes the ordeal even more heartrending, with many of those who escape drowning when the boats capsize on the high seas find their bodies wracked with cough, cold and diarrhoea.

After knocking at the doors of neighbouring countries — Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon — since 2011, the refugees are now seeking entry into European countries. their perilous journeys, however, do not end even on reaching the shores of Europe.

With stringent border controls in place, refugees have to negotiate with smugglers and part with their life savings. the exodus from West Asia was manna from heaven for human traffickers who have been extorting money and, according to media reports, leaving refugees stranded in countries other than the ones they were promised to be taken.