Brotkrumenpfad
Migration researchers for the reception of refugees from Moria Resolution of the 6th Annual Conference on Migration and Integration Research in Austria
The participants in the sixth annual conference on migration and integration research call on the Austrian federal government to follow the example of numerous other member states of the European Union and to take in underage refugees from Moria and other refugee camps on Greek islands.
Austria and the other EU countries are jointly responsible for the fact that refugees live in completely overcrowded camps under inhumane conditions. The destruction of the Moria camp was an act of desperation as a reaction to the fact that the European states had not found an answer to this "shame of Europe" for years. Humanitarian admission to other European countries is now the only possible solution. This cannot be postponed with reference to the need for further measures to protect the EU's external borders or returns to Turkey.
There is no empirical evidence to support the argument that the admission of underage refugees would lead to a situation like in summer 2015. It is correct that Austria took in a large number of asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016. The willingness of numerous Austrian communities to accommodate residents of the Moria camp shows, however, that there is sufficient capacity in Austria for humanitarian admissions in an emergency situation. The refusal of the Austrian federal government to take part in these humanitarian actions damages the country's reputation and undermines European solidarity, one of the central principles of the European Union.
We therefore appeal to the Federal Government to reconsider its position and, in accordance with the actions of other European countries, to take in an appropriate number of people from the refugee camps on the Greek islands.
Kontakt:
Kyoko Shinozaki, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology "Social Change and Mobilities"
Department of Sociology | Paris Lodron University of Salzburg
Phone: +43 (0) 662-8044-4109 | Email: Kyoko.Shinozaki@sbg.ac.at
