Europe must react to migrants with dignity, humanity, not fear - Red Cross

By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - European countries should respond to the migration crisis not in a spirit of fear, but in a coordinated way that puts the dignity and humanity of people first, a senior Red Cross official said on Tuesday. Several European countries have reacted to the flow of migrants by tightening border controls and building fences. Greece - the main entry point into Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants since early last year, many of them crossing the sea from Turkey - is under intense pressure from its EU partners to tighten border checks. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia said on Monday there should be tighter controls on the borders of Balkan countries bordering Greece if attempts to limit the number coming from Turkey to Greece failed. Austria told Macedonia last week to be ready to "completely stop" the flow of migrants across its southern border, adding that Austria would soon do the same. "We understand this is complex ... but we also have to be careful that we're not making decisions based on fear, based on bigotry," said Garry Conille, under secretary general, programmes and operations, at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Europe is likely to have nearly 3 million migrants by the end of 2017, he said at a press briefing after IFRC meetings to discuss the crisis. The situation is complicated not only because of the number of migrants involved, but also the number of countries, the lack of coordination, and the highly politicised and polarised environment, he said. "There needs to be a consensus in Europe, there needs to be a shared responsibility and most of all there needs to be solidarity," Conille said. "How will history record our collective response to the urgent needs of assistance and protection of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children?" he added. Ever since countries bordering Greece closed their borders to migrants apart from Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis, there has been a major build-up of migrants in Greece, said Angelica Fanaki, head of international relations at Hellenic Red Cross. "We are ready even for that, but the problem is that we need to balance the whole situation in terms of vulnerabilities," she said. Greece is grappling with high unemployment, rising homelessness and other economic woes after six years of deep recession induced by austerity imposed under the terms of three international financial bailouts. Athens has said the number of migrants is too big for it to handle, it cannot turn back boatloads of refugees and migrants into the sea, and that Ankara must do more to stop the migrants leaving its shores. Meanwhile, Italy is receiving a growing number of people from neglected crises in Africa, Italian Red Cross President Francesco Rocca said. In January, four times as many migrants arrived in Italy by sea as in January 2015. Rocca said they expect as many as 300,000 people could make the dangerous sea crossing from north Africa this year, double last year's 150,000. Many come from the Horn of Africa, "a forgotten part of the world at the moment", he said. The IFRC is the world's largest humanitarian network, comprising 190 national societies, with 17 million volunteers. (Reporting by Alex Whiting, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)