http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/21/opinion/sunday/exposures-uncertain-journeys.html?ref=opinionUncertain Journeys
By ASHLEY GILBERTSON NOV. 21, 2015
AFTER the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, our resolve to help refugees should be stronger than ever. As we express our anger and grief, we must remember that they are fleeing precisely the type of violence that France experienced that night. Rather than turning them away, the United States and Europe need to fully commit to managing their safe passage, screening and settlement, and not leave it up to the ragtag teams of volunteers who have so far been stepping in where governments and agencies have failed.
I recently spent three weeks photographing the refugee crisis in Greece, the Balkans and Germany, on assignment for Unicef. On the rocky shores of the Greek island of Lesbos, people scrambled out of their boats, welcomed by an ad hoc group of dedicated and passionate volunteers. Almost 700,000 refugees have arrived in the country this year after making the dangerous passage by sea from Turkey.
Governments and NGOs generally have sophisticated systems in place to manage the flow of people in emergency situations in developing countries. But I came across only occasional interventions by organized agencies.
The volunteers, many on vacation from throughout Europe and the United States, were filling the gaps. Some of them had medical training; a group of Spanish lifeguards patrolled the coast, diving into the frigid waters to rescue people; some handed out sandwiches they were making all day; and others distributed warm, dry clothes collected from towns and suburbs back home.
“Welcome to Europe!” they called out, hugging relieved refugees. There were many tears. Children, then parents, were wrapped in metallic space blankets. They were given medical assistance and provided with information about the next steps in their passage.
Their welcome is some of the only warmth in a cold and arduous journey. Men, women, children, the disabled, the elderly — no matter — they’re all packed one on top of the other into crowded train cars; screamed at in foreign languages; marched to buses by platoons of cops in full riot gear; kept in lines or clear of border fences by police officers using tear gas and batons; forced to wait for days at a time in filthy, backed-up transit centers; and generally treated like undesirables, or worse, like criminals.
I expected the scenes of grief, trauma and desperation. I was surprised to find the many moments of relief, even joy, as the refugees built bonds and passed through hardship together. It is crucial that we bear witness to all of these aspects of the story.
As members of the public, I believe, we need to act as the watchdogs of governments and local authorities. We have to demand that policy makers provide systematic humanitarian assistance and not leave it solely up to volunteers to do the work.
We should be pressuring governments to treat the refugees as members of their own families. And everybody could be donating clothes, money or even our vacation time to receive them where they arrive.
We should not let that terrible night in Paris diminish our sense of humanity and responsibility. Let’s remember that the society that we are so protective of is built on the will of refugees — our own families and the families making the frightening journey today — with the hope of providing a better life for our children.
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