Some misconceptions and home truths about the current refugee crisis in Europe (September 2015).

1. Refugees
Our world as it is
David Alexander
University College London

2. Refugees as a "threat"
The role of misleading information

3. The current European refugee crisis
has interesting parallels with the ways
in which disaster is misunderstood
- often deliberately...

4. "We are being swamped by migrants."
Most of the migrants are refugees,
hence the term 'migrants' is misleading:
the 'migration' is involuntary or coerced.

5. "OK, we are being swamped by refugees."
Only 14% of refugees attempt to come
to Europe. Vastly larger numbers are
present in Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

6. "This wave of immigrants is unprecedented."
Or so say the Jutes, Saxons, Vikings,
Normans, Mediterranean Celts,
Huguenots, Picts and Romans
(and the vast numbers of Britons
who settled abroad).

7. "The Calais entrance to the UK
is 'under siege'".
Fewer than 1% of migrants to Europe
arrive at Calais. France offers better
benefits to refugees than does Britain,
so they would be advised
to stay where they are.

8. "Send them all back."
It is cheaper to integrate refugees
than repatriate them.

9. "They are welfare tourists."
Refugees use health services less
than indigenous populations do.

10. "The UK is the preferred destination."
The UK is not a particularly attractive
destination for refugees and it offers
fewer and smaller benefits than do
some other European countries.
Per capita, Greece has proved to be
a more attractive destination.

11. "The UK is doing its bit."
Although the UK provides funding to
accommodate refugees in Lebanon and
other countries, until late 2015 it had
taken in only 139 Syrians out of 4 mn.
It will now take 20,000, but over 4 years.

12. "We are not really involved."
European countries have a legal obligation
to resettle refugees without discriminating
against them. It comes from the
UN Convention and Protocol, not the EU.

13. "They are a burden on our economy."
The aging population of Europe needs
to be rejuvenated by in-migration, or
tax revenues will decline and economies
will suffer the 'Japan syndrome'.

14. "There will be rivers of blood."
(Enoch Powell)
Integration of refugees in Leicester
was highly successful and
rejuvenated the economy.

15. "They are taking over our country."
Many refugees would rather go home
if it were safe to do so.

16. "We will build fences and
walls to keep them out."
Futile: even the Great Wall of China
was a failure.

17. "We are being dictated to
by the European Union."
Member states decide EU policy
- alone or by common compromise. Many
have refused to do their duty by Europe.

18. "We are on top of the situation."
There is a dreadful, hand-to-mouth
lack of foresight, cooperation
and pre-planning.

19. Current responses to refugees:
The Czech Republic writes numbers on
people's arms: Hungary uses forced labour
to build a fence around the country.

20. 1840-1979
Afterword: Iraq was partitioned in 1920
on the basis of European interests, not
local ones; Iran was constantly coerced
by Britain, the USA and other countries;
Arab nationalists and their families were
bombed; Afghanistan was conquered...
Ancient instabilities were propagated
to other parts of the Middle East.