Refugees are human beings and not goods

Last week, Europe witnessed a massive flow of refugees in Greece being shipped back to Turkey. Meanwhile, European leaders were sitting in their houses, probably enjoying their morning coffee and thinking that they made a great deal, thus solving the crisis. However, what Europe fails to understand is the fact that sending all refugees back to Turkey is not a long-term solution, and it won’t be long before we read about refugees escaping camps to cross the Turkish borders. What happens then? Who do we blame then, Turkey for not being able to deal with Europe’s refugees or Europe for not finding a long-term solution to the crisis?

How long are we going to continue playing the blame game, when it comes to the refugee crisis? It is about time that we stand up for these people and look for a long-term solution because their own countries do not offer peace and safety. We cannot keep closing our eyes and ears because this is happening right in front of us. Either we get involved and work to find a solution in these war-torn countries or we distribute the responsibility of the refugees between countries.

We are dealing with human lives and not the transport of goods in order to make deals to shuffle people back and forth. The main issue is the fact that we do not actually value the lives of these people, and maybe they are just ‘goods’ that need to be transported, but what if we put ourselves in their shoes? How would that make you feel, knowing that you can be shipped off to another place any second?

— The reader is a Swedish student based in Stockholm