Canadian refugee model has global relevance

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/10/2016 (3597 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ve had a rare opportunity these last several weeks to be in Germany as a Fellow of the Bosch Academy working on the reform of refugee agreements and institutions.

Since summer 2015, the massive influx of refugees from the Middle East and parts of Africa has challenged long-held conventions and policies on immigration in Europe. A political backlash threatens the governing systems of the European Union and many of its members. In response, several governments are taking actions that contradict the spirit and the legal framework that have defined for decades the rights of those seeking asylum.

Germany has been at the epicentre of these developments. Since Chancellor Angela Merkel’s historic announcement last September that opened Germany’s borders to an estimated million refugees, citizens and governments at the national, regional and local level have been wrestling with tough questions on what this surge of newcomers from outside of Europe means for their accepted notions of governance and identity.

The choreography of change, especially in an open democracy like Germany, is an intricate play of forces fascinating and admirable to observe firsthand — but, for those involved, difficult to manage with various competing outcomes.

It was providential that my last days on this phase of the project were in Munich. A year ago, this was where thousands of refugees first arrived at the central railroad station, looking for sanctuary after being buffeted about by unsympathetic Eastern European governments.

I had dinner with the young woman thrust into the daunting role of co-ordinating the refugees’ reception.

She described the reaction of the refugees who, after days and weeks of danger, risk and hostile treatment during their odyssey escaping the conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq or the state oppression in other countries like Ethiopia, was first disbelief, then gratitude, at arriving somewhere people cared and treated them with respect.

They initially feared being sealed away in camps. But that changed when they understood their destinations were to be reception centres for processing toward legal status.

It was an extraordinary organizational achievement to manage such large numbers of dislocated people in a humane, respectful way. At the core were 4,000 volunteers who brought food, bedding and tents, along with a personal outpouring of welcome. That made the difference.

But it couldn’t have happened without the co-operation of the local police, emergency health personnel and the volunteer firemen who provided security services. She described a positive example of community and city government partnership to meet emerging problems, reminiscent of what happens in Winnipeg when floods threaten.

I wanted to know what had happened to the refugees since those dramatic days a year ago and how the volunteer power is being mobilized for the long haul.

There are growing grievances that a hierarchy of refugees from different national groups was being implemented by officialdom and the criteria for being accepted was becoming narrowly defined into the strict terms of “fear of political persecution.”

If you’re a woman escaping harassment in Somalia or a gay person facing potential beating and cultural attacks in Pakistan, then chances were you would be sent back — even though the Refugee Convention clearly accommodates sexual risk.

The question of what is a refugee — and the compelling need for a different category definition — is one of the core issues in refugee reform. And increasingly, the volunteers who were the valiant first responders find themselves closed out of the more formalized state system.

But never underestimate the ingenuity of good-hearted people with an abundance of energy and skill. I met a group of young Germans who are an alliance of members of the youth wings of the various political parties, who work together in a non-partisan way on refugee interests. They jointly pursue three objectives: affordable housing, accessible education and participation by refugees in the decisions that affect them.

Let’s hope that spirit is transmitted to their party elders.

The refugee crisis is not just a German issue. It is worldwide in scope and impact. Look over the horizon. You may already be able to see the growing numbers of desperate men, women and children being pushed out of their homelands by starvation, environmental degradation, rising coastal waters, destructive storms and shortages of water. Alexander Betts of Oxford University’s Refugee Studies Centre calls this “survival migration.”

This is not like climate change, which erodes the ecosystem in a steady, often silent, way. The plight of millions of people pulling up stakes, surging across borders and drowning in rough seas has the shock-and-awe impact of an electric storm.

Germany has the capacity for leadership in this emerging global problem. Next year, it chairs the Global Forum on Migration and the G-20.

I believe Canadians should be working with German counterparts in government, community and business to fix public policy on refugees at the international, national and local level. That is where the Canadian experience needs to be brought to bear. Our model has relevance in trying to establish a true reset of global migration policies.

Otherwise, the broken system of international norms and practices carries with it enormous risk to the entire globe because the increasing pressure of mobility will be stymied, creating mounting pools of grievance and extremism.

Charles Taylor captures it best with these words: “Our age makes higher demands of solidarity and benevolence on people today than ever before. Never before have people been asked to stretch out so far, and so consistently, so systematically, so as a matter of course to the stranger outside the gates.”

» Lloyd Axworthy is a former federal Liberal cabinet minister and is currently chairman of the CUSO board. His column is also published in the Winnipeg Free Press.