Controversy of the relationship between refugees and terrorism
Over the past three years, the illegal immigration
and refugees to the European Union have increased.
The civil wars that have sparkled in the Middle East
were the reason of this unprecedented numbers of migrants and refugees.
Opinions in Europe differed on the issue of refugees
between supporters and opponents, as there are left-wing parties that believe
in human rights principles and see the need to protect these refugees in light
of these bloody conflicts in the Middle East. There are also right-wing parties
who look to these refugees as a major threat to the EU.
It is noteworthy that the EU countries received
nearly 2 million refugees by 2015. This number includes Syrians, Afghans,
Iraqis, Pakistanis and Nigerians.
In conjunction with the reception of so many
refugees, there were many security implications that raised many questions
about the relationship of refugees to terrorism. The number of terrorist
attacks increased between 2015 and 2016, which led to the rise of the extreme
right in conjunction with the phenomenon of Islamophobia, all of these lead to
the question of the relationship between the refugees and terrorist operations
in Europe.
-Is there a link between
terrorism and refugees?
After the Arab Spring and the rise of civil wars,
the number of refugees to neighboring countries and European countries has
increased. Many States that had ratified the 1951 Convention and the 1967
United Nations Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, fearful of
terrorist operations.
The relationship between terrorism and refuges can
be revealed if we answered couple of questions; Is the migration and asylum lead
to terrorism, or vice versa.
- The Political terrorism one
of the main causes of migration and refugees
The Freedom House revealed that nearly 129 countries
were in transition from the communist regime; 74 of them were in varying
degrees of democratic rule, while 54 were still under totalitarian rule and 40
were hard dictatorships.
Many international and governmental statements
indicate that political repression is one of the main pillars of illegal
immigration movements and refugees. This can be noted over the African
refugees. Africa has many totalitarian regimes. According to the Institute of
Economics and Peace, 92% of all terrorist operations between 1989 and 2014
occurred in countries where violent political terrorism has spread.
-Fragile states as a catalyst
for terrorism and displacement of refugees
Fragile, weak or failed states have been linked to
terrorism for some time. This kind of states allows terrorist organizations to
exploit the security vacuum to rule.
The general decline in the State’s monopoly of power
give the green light to armed militias, which seek to impose power and
authority over their own places of residence; and impose their systematic
policy of carrying out some terrorist tactics, including ethnic cleansing,
which can lead to displacement Internal or external.
Since the end of the Cold War, there have been many
cases where central governments have collapsed, leaving the provinces without a
rule.
For example Somalia, after the overthrow of
President Mohamed Siad Barre (1969-1991) suffered several crises, which lead to
emergence the movement of al-Shabab and divided the state to several provinces
(Puntland, Somaliland, Jibrand and the Somali Federal Republic).
These developments have resulted large numbers of
refugees, especially in Kenya, where Dadaab is the largest refugee camp and by
2016 there were nearly 300,000 refugees. Despite the presence of UN and AU
forces, So far, other examples are Afghanistan (after 1992) and Iraq (after
2003), both of which suffer from terrorism and other types of armed conflict on
a large scale.
State failure may not be a strong factor in
migration and asylum, but it is not necessarily one of the factors in which
terrorism is the main driving force behind migration.
- Terrorism of non-state
actors as a cause of immigration and asylum
The existence of terrorist organizations in a
country is linked to the existence of internal and external emigration. When Daesh
announced its alleged succession in mid-2014 in the city of Mosul, Iraq most of
the population has fled and its population has declined from 2.5 million to 1
million. As Maya Yahya noted, “The sweep of Daesh organization into Iraqi
territory in June 2014 led to an intensification of identity-based displacement
and the reconfiguration of land on sectarian and ethnic grounds.
The following year, 2.57 million people fled left
their homes inherited by force, but they were better than the Yezidis, Shabak,
Manda'is, Shiites and Turkmen.
- Civil war as a motive for
migration and terrorism
From 1946 to 2016, there were 259 armed conflicts.
Despite the decline of colonial wars and military confrontations between
nations, internal civil wars, often accompanied by foreign interference, have
proliferated. While the number of armed conflicts has declined for more than a
decade this post-cold-war downward trend began in 2003.
Since then, we have seen between 30 and 50 ongoing
conflicts each year. In 2015, we witnessed nearly 37 armed conflicts with
victims approaching 170,000 people, about 50% of them in the Middle East alone.
The conflict in Syria has resulted more than 53% of
the victims of war and conflict in the world, followed by Iraq by 12%, and
Afghanistan the same proportion.
In 2014 conflict in those three countries produced
more than 80% of the deaths of civil wars and conflicts. The civil war in
Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the spread of terrorist operations and armed
formations accompanied a large number of displaced people.
Between 1978 and 1989, when the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan, resulted about 6.2 million Afghans, a huge number if they were
considered refugees in the neighboring countries of the concerned state in Iran
and Pakistan, and this was the majority of this large number in those receiving
countries.
After the US invasion of Iraq, nearly 2 million
Iraqis were born in countries bordering the country, and about 1.7 million
internally displaced persons by 2007.
In the Syrian case, by the end of 2015,
approximately 1.4 million Syrian refugees and more than 5 Million IDPs.
According to the Institute of Economics and Peace,
88% of terrorist attacks occurred in countries suffering from violent conflict,
while 11% of terrorist attacks occurred in countries not involved in armed
conflicts at the time, and approximately 0.6% of terrorist attacks occurred in
countries not seen Conflicts or any form of political terrorism.
Therefore, we can see that there is a link between
conflict-related terrorism and refugee migration. Given the number of deaths
associated with terrorist operations in 2014, five countries have received half
the number of victims of terrorism, the same countries that have occupied the
top positions of the terrorism and armed operations index (Afghanistan,
Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria, which accounted for nearly 78% of all terrorist
deaths and about 57% of all attacks recorded in 2014.
- Refugee camps as a motive
for terrorism
There are refugee camps in more than 125 countries, and
the average age of refugees is 17 years. These camps are horrible places for
them. Camps become unsafe places where they are not monitored by the police.
Refugee camps, like prisons, are breeding grounds for terrorism, and more than
half of the refugee population is more vulnerable to terrorist groups. Open
camps such as these provide an opportunity to recruit terrorists and
guerrillas.
Joining and recruiting for terrorist groups becomes
more likely where refugee camps are in direct contact with the combatants from
the ongoing conflict. The temptation to join a fight rather than wait in despair
is real for many young people, especially when refugees cannot get education or
work and are isolated in camps for years. For example, when millions of Afghans
fled the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, they ended up in
refugee camps in Pakistan. Some of these camps became recruiting places for
mujahedeen.
References
[1] Freedom in the World, nxious Dictators, Wavering
Democracies: Global Freedom under Pressure, freedom house, avilable on https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2016
[2] New peace economics analysis inside the latest
Positive Peace Report 2018, Institute for Economics and Peace, avilasble on http://visionofhumanity.org/positive-peace/new-peace-economics-analysis-inside-latest-positive-peace-report-2018/
[3] Koser, K.
and Cunnigham, Migration, Violent Extremism and Terrorism: Myths and Realities,
Global Terrorism Index 2017, available on http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2017/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2017.pdf
[4] MAHA YAHYA, Refugees and the Making of an Arab
Regional Disorder, carnegie middle east center, AVILABLE ON http://carnegie-mec.org/2015/11/09/refugees-and-making-of-arab-regional-disorder/ilb0
[5] International Organization for Migration,
International Terrorism and Migration, Geneva: IOM, 2010 available on https://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/activities/tcm/international_terrorism_and_migration.pdf
[6] Institute for Economics & Peace, Global
Terrorism Index 2015.Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism
Sidney, AVILABLE ON http://visionofhumanity.org/
[7] United Nations, Refugees victims of terrorism,
not its perpetrators, High Commissioner tells, available on https://www.un.org/press/en/2001/GASHC3667.doc.htm
