Unfortunately, the right thing is not to throw open the borders of European countries. Although a dead child is tragic and very emotive, it should not be the basis of foreign policy. Inevitably, relaxing our border controls will lead to more dead bodies and help no-one.
Before asking where my compassion is, you should first ask yourself two basic questions -
- Why was the Syrian family on a boat travelling from Turkey? They were already in a safe country and did not need to get into an unsafe boat. In fact the beach the child washed up on is a popular destination for many British tourists, yet there have been no warnings from the government not to travel there.
- If Syria was so unsafe that the family needed to flee, how come they were able to return to bury their child? Indeed, if you were fleeing in terror why on earth would you even want to return?
So, although a tragic case, the cause of this child dying is not immigration policies of European countries. Why then are European leaders in some sort of grotesque competition to open their borders to prove they are more compassionate than all the rest? Ultimately these actions will encourage many more to make dangerous journeys and therefore more tragic deaths.
Is it perhaps a sense of guilt? After all, our foreign policies over the last few years are at least partly to blame for the current situation in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan etc. - you know, the countries where this mass exodus of people are coming from.
And let's be clear - are they really refugees? The vast majority are male and working age - do refugees leave their young and their women behind when fleeing from danger? Should refugees really be demanding which country they are to be transported to? Or should they be relieved that they have reached safety. Many seem to be dissatisfied with the safety and protection they now have because they are not yet in the country of their choice. You'd have thought that they would feel relief, not some indignant sense of entitlement as soon as they cross a border into a 'lesser' European country.
I have no doubt that there are genuine refugees coming to Europe and they should be helped. But by opening the borders and allowing thousands of people in almost unchecked, how many terrorists are also being allowed across our borders? What hashtag poster will the posturing politicians be holding up in self-publicising poses when a terrorist beheads someone in this country? #terroristswelcome?
