The Story
Money instead of people
Sounds like a weird ransom story.
How to help people fleeing from Afghanistan and - at the same time - how to avoid a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis when more than 1 million migrants arrived at the bloc's external borders? This is the big question the European Union was dealing with this week. After controversial discussions, the EU interior ministers adopted a text that pledges financial support to “relevant international organizations” and neighboring countries of Afghanistan “to reinforce their capacities to provide protection, dignified and safe reception conditions and sustainable livelihood for refugees.”
The EU wants to keep Afghan migrants outside their bloc.
Looks like. Some countries at least. They fear a repetition of the 2015-16 refugee crisis, a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe (most common nationalities back then: Syrians, Afghans, and Iraqis). Right-wing conservative parties emerged during this period. This fear is probably the reason why the interior ministers couldn’t agree on a certain number of refugees the EU would accept. Such a number could trigger an exodus of thousands of people, they are afraid of.
Are they right?
It is, well, complicated. Indeed, to call a certain number could trigger people to head to Europe. And yes, it might also be in the interests of refugees to stay near their country. So to give money to Afghanistan’s neighboring countries to help those fleeing people is probably a good idea. But doing that does not absolve the EU from taking refugees. This is the time to help. To give money INSTEAD of accepting refugees is not all you can do, right? That would be to give money PLUS let refugees come to Europe.
At least the EU agreed to pay. How much?
EU interior ministers haven’t said.
What?
They couldn't commit to a certain amount of money. The Financial Times surmises it could be around €600 million. When asked about that report German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that “whether this will be enough … also depends on whether the neighboring countries think that this is sufficient.”
How can money buy help?
Think of the many displaced Syrian people. There are 6.6 million Syrian refugees worldwide, of whom 5.6 million were hosted in countries near Syria. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for instance is helping the most vulnerable with cash for medicine and other basic necessities, stoves and fuel for heating, insulation for tents, thermal blankets, and winter clothing, they say.
Back to Afghanistan. How many people were evacuated from Kabul during the last weeks?
More than 123,000 civilians were flown out of Afghanistan by US forces and their coalition partners but it's unclear exactly how many of those were Afghan nationals.
Where were these people taken?
Many of those flown out of the country were taken to emergency processing centers set up in several countries, including Spain, Germany, Qatar, and Uzbekistan (good overview on BBC).
According to the long refugee history of Afghanistan, aren’t there many more Afghan refugees?
An estimated 3.5 million Afghans are currently internally displaced within the country. In addition to those within Afghanistan's borders, about 2.2 million refugees and asylum seekers were also seeking sanctuary in neighboring nations. For comparison: The current population of Afghanistan is 40 million.
Where did they flee to?
The number one refugee host country is Pakistan. Approximately 1.4 million Afghan refugees and asylum seekers temporarily reside there, followed by Iran (780.000) and Germany (147,994). Here is a comprehensive list.
Seems the governments are not doing enough. What can I do?
If you aren’t a pilot, maybe you want to support the UN Refugee Agency or the International Rescue Committee.
Goal achieved...
🇪🇺 It wasn't long ago that the EU Commission was sharply criticized for its sluggish vaccination campaign. Now the EU Commission is celebrating itself: 70 percent of adults in the European Union are now fully vaccinated against Covid-19 said EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen in a video. With that goal, the EU is hitting an end-of-summer target the bloc set for itself in January. According to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, there is a wide range between the countries: from the rate of fully vaccinated adults about 20 percent in Bulgaria to 85.5 percent in Irland.
Here is how the rest of the world is doing.
Looking for replacement...
🇩🇪 Election day is coming soon in Germany (26 September), and the race to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel after 16 years in office is the tightest in years. But the two leading candidates Olaf Scholz from the social democratic party SPD and Armin Laschet from liberal-conservative political party CDU are anything but exciting. That’s how Germans like it, Katrin Bennhold writes at New York Times.
How do the German elections work? > Video
That might be expensive…
🇮🇪 Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has slapped WhatsApp with a €225 million fine for violating EU data protection rules. In addition to the fine WhatsApp has to bring “its processing into compliance by taking a range of specified remedial actions”, the DPC said in a statement. “This includes information provided to data subjects about the processing of information between WhatsApp and other Facebook companies,” the DPC also said. Facebook, which owns WhatsApp, has its EU headquarters in Ireland, and the Irish regulator is the lead authority for the tech giant in Europe. Therefore the fine has pan-European power. WhatsApp announced that it will appeal. The fine is the biggest imposed by the DPC and the second biggest levied against a tech company under EU laws. The DPC is responsible for upholding the EU fundamental right of individuals to data privacy through the enforcement and monitoring of compliance with data protection legislation in Ireland. More at BBC
☞ The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban lays bare Europe’s lack of strategic foresight and dangerous dependence on the United States. The EU must address its shortcomings or risk losing the ability to defend its values and interests, says Judy Dempsey from Carnegie Europe, a think tank in Brussels for foreign policy analysis. Read her analysis here.
☞ The attacks in Paris on the night of Friday 13 November 2015 by gunmen and suicide bombers hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars, almost simultaneously - and left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Now the survivors await the start of France’s biggest ever criminal trial. Read what Angelique Chrisafis in Paris wrote for The Guardian.
☞ Co-housing is helping people cope with rising costs, keep loneliness at bay and live more sustainably. Have a look at what Ilvy Njiokiktjien, an independent photographer based in The Netherlands, created for The New York Times.