Migrant problem

First the riot police went in, then the bulldozers. By the time their work was done, the makeshift migrant camp on the outskirts of Calais had been wiped away. Politicians on both sides of the Channel expressed their conviction yesterday that this will help solve the migrant problem that has plagued the French port for almost a decade. If only it were that simple. …

First, politicians should look to where the migrants in this area originate. Most are from troubled states such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan. If governments want to get to the root causes of the migration problem, rather than simply treating the symptoms, they should be making greater efforts to stabilize those nations and reduce the incentives for their populations to seek a better life elsewhere. Second, our leaders need to dispense with the fantasy that it is within their power to control migration flows. Some people from poor countries will always want to escape poverty or persecution, and they will endure extraordinary risks and hardship to do so. Furthermore, modern transportation and the open borders of Europe make it impossible to shut them out entirely. The objective should be to deal with the implications of the inevitable flow of people in the fairest and most humane way possible.

Europe urgently needs to face up to the challenge of migration and work together to manage its consequences. Demolishing squatter camps and turning back boats of desperate people are not policies, but displacement activities and morally bankrupt at that.

— The (London) Independent