Abuse in Greek refugee camps

The BBC Arabic did a call-in show about the sexual assaults and child abuse occurring in refugee camps in Syria.

The British newspaper, the Guardian, is the one who had documented the abuse, and the BBC Arabic was just getting people to express their opinions.

They spoke to some refugees living at the camps right now. Mostly, they spoke to Syrians. The first Syrian man said things like: Yes, I know of little girls who have been attacked. And you know what, really, unfortunately, it's really not the Syrian men doing it. It's the Afghanis. I hate to say it, but it is the Afghanis.

The second man to call in from a camp backed up the first: it's the Afghanis, and the Pakistanis, too.

One dad called in and said: I am here in the camps with my kids, I have a little girl, I go with her everywhere, I never let her go anywhere alone, I'm just doing what I have to do to protect my kids.

What a lot of the people calling in said was: the Greek authorities are the ones in charge of keeping the camps safe, like the Greek police. However, when people go to them to report assaults, the police will say: well, what's the evidence, and we didn't see it happen, and where's the proof? Usually, nothing happens to the criminals.

One Syrian called in to say that he saw an attack on a little girl by a gang, he was there as it took place. He added: these gang men were Iraqi, Syrians, and from North Africa. And even though it happened right in front of me, what could I do? They were all armed.

Someone mentioned they knew an Iraqi family whose little girl had been attacked, and they went to the police, who did nothing. Now that family has returned to Turkey, they didn't know what else to do for their daughter. The person telling the story didn't know anything else about it, just that the family had returned to Turkey.

They interviewed a lady who I think works for the UN about the situation. They asked her, what can you all do? And I think she said that they really had already achieved some success on this issue, at least in Jordanian refugee camps. I didn't catch all the details, but apparently they have a pretty sturdy operation there. As far as the Greek camps, I think she said they are still gearing up the programs, and in the meantime, they would urge that there is more community-based approaches, a better recognition of the problems and making sure men understand they should not behave as brutes. The BBC Arabic anchor said to that: I don't think people are interested so much in community awareness, I think they want an official response.

Finally, they also talked about the fact that for the kids getting abused, there is no counseling, there's no trained staff who can help.

Shipwreck on Mediterrean

The BBC Arabic was reporting on a boat that sank full of refugees and migrants.

Here's the ship captain that was close by and stopped to pick up as many passengers as they could:

 Here's a dad who lost his son. He said: I couldn't find him I couldn't find him I couldn't find him I kept calling Hamza Hamza Hamza Hamza there was no Hamza.

Refugees in Turkey

The BBC Arabic was reporting on how Syrian refugees trying to reach Europe handle their transit through Turkey.

First, they set up camps in the parks:

Then, they hang their laundry in the trees:

There's NGOs handing out food, as long as you wait in line:

There's lot of shops selling life jackets for the treacherous boat ride:

The shopkeepers stock them right alongside the clothes.

This man says that he paid 1200 euros (or dollars?) to the smugglers. Now he's got to pay living costs here. So he has no excess money!

Refugees in Europe

Sometime around September 22, the European Union reached an agreement about how many refugees it was going to accept.

They did some kissing and hugging in the hallowed legislative halls:

But on the same day, there were clashes between refugees and the police in Croatia. I think this was where they were using hoses to keep people back. Or maybe that was another country.

Here, they're trying to carry a man over the police lines, or something.

One of quotes from the EU leaders was something like: the EU must send a message that it is open to the world.

The OECD was having a meeting on the same day, and they chimed in: the EU must work in cooperation and coordinate to figure things out.

Meanwhile, the US announced that they will accept 85,000 refugees next year:

On the 26th, the BBC Arabic showed a little report from Austria. Here, some newcomers are celebrating Eid:

And here they are showing a reception center that can hold 1000 people:

Stoppage on the Serbian-Croatian border

These images played on the BBC Arabic. Whenever I see those long rows of still trucks, it always makes me stare.

Since the border is closed, the refugees are walking yet again:

Refugees in Croatia

There are 7000 refugees in Croatia right now. Well, it's a mix of refugees fleeing war and people who better economic opportunities. The BBC Arabic was on the scene.

See the lady in the green scarf below:

I'm pretty sure she was from Syria. She was explaining in Arabic to the BBC Arabic reporter what was happening. "We want to go to Germany," she said, "they're the only ones who take us, we want to study there."

"Why won't the police let you pass?" asked the BBC Arabic reporter, over the shoulder of the police.

"We don't know," was the answer.

Refugees on the move

When the Hungary train station in Budapest was turned into a refugee camp around September 4, I was keeping half an eye only on the BBC Arabic, so I might have missed something. But when I had time to pay attention, they were not. The BBC Arabic was having deep discussions about the crisis in Yemen, or the crisis in Syria. I guess the crisis of a few tens of thousands of refugees in Europe was not as pressing.

By Saturday and Sunday, when the refugees were being let into Austria and Germany, the coverage picked up a little. It was the top story. But if they did any in depth analysis on it, I missed it completely. 

I'm sure they did, though, because the BBC Arabic has been doing in depth shows on refugees in Europe for a long time: here and here.  

Two days ago, they had a short story about some refugees who were able to swim to shore after their boat capsize:

There were others on that boat that died. 

And they were showing the situation in Germany:

Refugees and who is most unjust towards them

The BBC Arabic spent an hour discussing refugees in the middle of June.

First, they showed these pictures of Syrian refugees who I think were rushing over a fence on the Turkish border. The pictures are entitled: 'What more can be said?'

You can see in the next picture how the 'polis' fence gets knocked down.

They focused on Arab refugees, but they also talked about people fleeing in South Sudan:

They showed the boats that refugees are crossing on, and the shipwrecks, too:

And they talked about the persecuted Rohingya minority in Burma:

Then they started debating. This man was corresponding via video. He said: Europe is lying when it says it wants to help the refugees. Instead of helping, they are actually engaged in military operations in all these suffering countries.

This lady, though, put more of the blame on the Arab countries. She said: all these governments are just going to war and they are awfully corrupt.

The anchor probed her further. He said: Why is it always the West that is blamed? We always seem to blame others. What about our role in the problem?

That's exactly what I was saying, the lady said. But you know, we should also keep in mind that this world has a minority (the West) that has a lot and a majority (everyone else) who has very little.

There was another man in the studio with a bright blue tie:

He said: now that there's internet, Arabs see how other people live. They see the difference, so they want to go to these more modern places.

But, he added, the very dangerous boats that people are crossing the Mediterranean on, the ones that kill so many people - people never took that risk just because they wanted a more western life. They are taking that risk now because there are so many wars and people are desperate. Before all these crises, the people who just were seeking a better life did not take that route.

Then, it was the turn of the man on the video link-up again. He said: Well, it's the West's fault. They act like they are martyrs to all the illegal immigrants, but really, they deal with it in a military way rather than trying to help the people. The EU says it wants to defeat terrorism with their military operations; but they won't help countries like Nigeria and Chad that are suffering from the most of it.

So the BBC Arabic anchor put forth the question: Well, don't you think the EU wants to help, but they know those governments are corrupt and that the money won't go anywhere?

This made the man on the video very mad.

He said: Actually, the UN has said that they will take care of the money transfers, so there's no need to be worried. And also, what about all the refugees arriving in Bulgaria and Italy. Why won't the EU help them?

Then he got even more mad:

And he continued: plus, the total number of refugees in Europe has not reached 100,000 yet (either I misunderstood him, or he was making that number up. I think there's 80,000 Syrians in Sweden alone) and meanwhile, Jordan and Lebanon have millions of refugees each, and they're both poor countries.

Plus, the man on the video added, there's 4 million Syrian refugees total and the EU now says that they'll take 40,000 of them, and that's just not good enough. And the UN is taking care of a lot of people, but no one helps it.

Then it was the turn of the man in the bright blue tie again. He said: What about the supposedly Muslim countries of the Gulf. They haven't taken even one Syrian refugee. (That actually is not true, either. The bloated, baggy-eyed 60-year-old men of the Arabian Gulf have actually taken quite a few Syrian refugees - the 13-year-old girls that they are marrying.)

The BBC Arabic anchor was quite intrigued on this point. He asked: do the Arabic Gulf countries just hate the Syrians, what's going on?

I didn't catch exactly how the man in the blue tie answered him, but it might have been in the affirmative, because he tacked on to the end: there's always been Syrian laborers working in the Arabian Gulf, from even before the war starting. But those laborers aren't even allowed to bring their families over.

Then, the man in the bright blue tie started piling it on:

He said that in Turkey and Lebanon (and maybe Jordan, I'm not sure), they don't even refer to the Syrian refugees as 'refugees'. That's a problem, because designating someone has a 'refugee' comes with certain obligations of having to take care of them and help them. But Turkey and Lebanon just call the Syrians 'guests' or 'displaced people', so they really have no permanent rights. If a new government comes into power in Turkey and has new politics, they can choose to kick all their 'guests' out, because they never labeled them officially as refugees.

Meanwhile, the man on the video link up sat with his head cast down as he listened to bad Muslims who won't treat their fellow Muslim refugees properly:

The lady in the black and white dress added a word about Iraq. She mentioned how in Iraq, the Iraqi citizens of Anbar have been blocked from fleeing to other parts of the country at the very moment when Daa-esh (ISIS) was taking over their towns. So actually the movement of the refugees was restricted inside of the country. And she added that for those who are internally displaced in Syria, they face the same problems that different sects will bar each other from coming into their territories.

And then the lady reminded everyone that 'really, Africa is the forgotten continent'. Apparently, five of the countries with the most refugees are in Africa, and there's no plan and no help for them.

The man in the bright blue tie came back in: It's not just the right-wing parties in the EU who are against helping refugees, but actually, there's really bad movements against refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. And for example, Jordan still has not provided electricity for its largest refugee camp, the one in Zaatari.

Well, the BBC Arabic anchor challenged him, you know that Jordan is a very poor country.

Sure, said the man in the bright blue tie. But so is Lebanon, and Jordan has fewer refugees than Lebanon. Not to mention that the refugees in Lebanon and Jordan are not even going to school. We must do something so that going forwards, this crisis does not explode into the future.

And the lady in the black and white dress had more stories about bad treatment: It's true that Turkey has taken in lots of refugees, but two months ago they shut the borders and the police were very brutal to those who ended up coming illegally, anyways.

Looks like the man on the video link-up was too embarrassed to say any more. Naw, it was just that he couldn't stay any longer - his spot on the TV is empty!

A refugee is a refugee, the two guests remaining explained: you're not allowed to stop them from coming, like what was done in Iraq with those fleeing from Daa-esh.

Now it was coming towards the end, and they were very despairing at this point, so the question was: Why does all this happen in the Middle East?

Well, said the lady in the black and white dress, because there's no justice in the whole region. It's all corruption, governments don't care. Add to that the religious and political conflicts and there you go.

If that's the case, the BBC Arabic anchor asked her, why should anyone else care?

Because, the lady said, we are all partners on this planet. It's just like with global warming. What affects one affects all. What happens in the Middle East will affect everyone.

And the man in the bright blue tie closed the conversation by saying: if we'd given a strong role to the UN at the very beginning to forge a solution, then we wouldn't have reached this point of four million Syrian refugees.

Migrant deaths on the Mediterranean

The BBC Arabic had a discussion about migrants from Africa and the Middle East who cross the Mediterranean on boats. A lot of these boats have sunk recently, and many migrants are drowning.

The report describes that a lot of these migrants are trying to escape the hell of their own countries to the Heaven they imagine in Europe.

Here is footage of such a migrant boat taken by the Italian coast guard (it's usually Italy that these boats are trying to reach):

In 2015 so far, 1750 migrants have died in such a way, according to UN and International Migration Organization statistics:

See, you can read Arabic, too!

And, there was a big disaster I think last week when maybe over 700 died.

Apparently in some of these cases, the Italian military will carry the coffins:

And they have a funeral with relatives, clergy, and politicians all mixed together:

And a harpist and his instrument is brought in:

And there's a military salute:

And over in Brussels, the political leaders of the European Union had a moment of silence:

Here's an image of people whose boat landed safely. I didn't catch if these migrants came with or without papers, but any case, the doctors and police are on hand to meet them:

And there were all these people standing there, waiting to give the newcomers flowers of welcome. That kind of made me tear up.

After this footage, the BBC Arabic had its discussion. First, they talked to a man from Sudan called 'Ahmed' who now lives in Britain. He left Sudan because the government is so bad. He first went to Libya; and from there went to the coast. Then finally through contacts he got a trip over to Italy, and from there to France. He was smuggled in secretly. He sitting in a little cage, or something, he was completely hidden, for five weeks during journey. He says he feels like he completely lost his human identity during that time. He never saw the sun, and didn't know it had been five weeks until he finally was able to leave his hiding place. Ahmed did not want his identity made known, so the BBC Arabic blurred his face. But he was wearing a suit and tie. 

Then they talked to a man who is of Arab descent, but must be an Italian citizen, and is in fact in the Italian parliament. He name is Khaled Showky. 

They asked him: why are some Europeans, especially extreme right political parties, so scared of illegal immigration?

And Mr. Showky said: Of course, that fear is due to terrorism and due to the violence in Libya today. And of course the economic situation in Europe is not so good right now. And there's also the challenge of integration in Europe. This is something that all of Europe has to cooperate on. Because a single country like Italy cannot handle the situation all on its own, both when it comes to rescuing migrants from drowning, and when it comes to the politics of integration.

Everyone listening intently to Mr. Showky:

One of the BBC Arabic anchors asked: Can a dramatic story like what we just heard from Ahmed, about his trip from Sudan to Britain, can that help people understand what these migrants are going through?

And Mr. Showky said: We all know stories like Ahmed's, we've all heard stories about refugees. We talk about it every day. This information is out there. But unfortunately there are political movements that act against people's conscience and this is a big challenge facing Europe today and all of Europe's leaders. There is not clear agreement between the values that Europe holds, values of humanity, and the reality of the political practices.

So then they turned back to 'Ahmed' from Sudan and asked him: Europe, in light of recent tragedies, has decided to increase the amount of coast guard money they spend, and the amount of money they will spend to rescue migrants at sea. Do you think that this is enough?

Ahmed: I don't think this will be enough, because the amount of migrants and refugees leaving their countries every day is huge. I don't think a single country like Italy can deal with it. It needs more work from all the countries, and actually it needs work from the countries that are producing the migrants. If we can just improve the situation inside these countries, then we people will not have to leave in the first place. I mean, people want to stay in their countries.

Then Mona, the lady in the light blue silk blouse, asked Ahmed: You, a person who made the journey from Sudan to Britain: do you understand from where people's fears about illegal immigration are coming from?

Ahmed: Yes, I do and I respect them. I do put myself in their shoes, because all people care about their future and their countries. When there's a big wave of migrants coming towards you, in addition to all the fears about contagious diseases they might bring and the fears that they are linked to terrorist and extremist groups, I believe that Europe's leaders have  a right to be worried about their countries and to want to take care of that. But at the same time, I cannot force a person who is living miserably in his home country to expect death at the sea (I think that's what his last sentence was).

So then they went back to Mr. Showky in Italy and asked him: is the general population and civil society in Europe scared of illegal immigrants?

Mr. Showky: We see that civil society and European NGOs have great sympathy for migrants. Like here in Italy, even the Vatican and church has been urging everyone to provide help to the immigrants. But this is a role that cannot be limited to just civil society and NGOs. I think that Arab leaders and the leaders in Libya need to as soon as possible find a political solution to their problems because the drownings happening on the Mediterranean are also their responsibility, and we have to find a solution not just for the sake of stopping illegal immigration to Europe, but also for the sake of getting to the roots of the problems and actually making things right. Today in Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan - all these countries have problems and this is the root of what is happening, and we need to fix things at their source.

Then they turned back to Ahmed for one last question: What are your goals now?

Ahmed: My goals are to return to my country and work there. Because I am one of the people who can do something to improve the situation in Sudan. I am a person who is educated. I have graduate degrees, and I ought to be able to serve my land.

For the full program, which was the first quarter hour of a longer show on the BBC Arabic called 'Extra', click on the YouTube link here.