Thick board #8: European refugee policy

In this episode, I speak with Josephine Liebl of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) about what a more humane European refugee policy could look like and why we don't have it.

We look at why some politicians prefer to make populist proposals rather than solve problems. Why success is only measured by the fact that fewer people arrive, but not by how they are dealt with. And we also talk about why refugee organisations trust the European Parliament more than the Commission and the member states.

Links to the episode

There are currently 79.5 million refugees in the world. Here is the latest report of the UNHCR

Just before the 1TP3World Refugee Day have been welcomed today, as they are every year, by the UN Refugee Agency... @Refugees published current figures.
Unfortunately, more people are on the run than ever before.
I have summarized key findings in the video.#leavenoonebehind pic.twitter.com/VBZv00zEuy

— Erik Marquardt (@ErikMarquardt) June 18, 2020

The problem is not that there is no right of asylum, but that the right of asylum agreed by Member States is not applied by Member States.

Josephine Liebl, European Council on Refugees and Exiles

You look at rubber dinghies and see that there are people who look like they are from Syria and Afghanistan and then you don't save them, while you would probably save others.

Erik Marquardt