My Thoughts on the Migrant Crisis in Europe by Olarewaju Precious Olaniyi

Honestly its amazing how world leaders address issues sometimes, European leaders want to address the growing migrant crisis without addressing the on-going war in Syria which is the biggest contributor to the incredible explosion in the number of migrants arriving the shores of Europe finding solace and peace. I think these leaders need to be honest, this issue can only and must be addressed from source, a return of peace to Syria through an agreement between Iran and Russia-backed Assad Regime and Western-backed Syrian Rebel Coalition Forces, seems to be the LIKELIEST path to return of peace in Syria since it seems defeating the Assad's regime is growing increasingly unlikely, and peace in Syria is the ultimate solution to the exploding migrant crisis in Europe. 

I don't want to sound as if i am singling out Syria on this issue, but again, Syria is apparently the biggest contributor to the explosion in the number of migrants arriving the shores of Europe, and this emphasizes the fact that if peace returns to Syria today, we will most definitely witness a decline in the trend of migrants trying to reach Europe. The on-going IS invasion of Iraq and Syria and the subsequent War on IS campaign, the lack of a controlling government in Libya, and of course the African migrants crossing from Africa to Europe, but in the last decade, there seems to be a modest balance in the net movement of migrants from Sub- Saharan Africa to Europe, therefore the sudden explosion in the figure of  immigrants arriving Europe can largely be attributed to the on-going war in Syria and Iraq. 

Data of migrants detected entering Europe illegally from January to June 2015 collated by Frontex shows migrants who arrived from the Eastern Mediterranean front and the Balkan front accounted for the highest number of migrants arriving Europe, majority of the migrants are from Syria, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Pakistan, while a considerably reduction of migrants who entered Europe from the Western Mediterranean Front (Tunisia and Libya) between 2014 and 2015 was observed and the majority of the migrants from this front are from Eritrea (23,878), Nigeria (10,747) and other sub-Saharan Countries (9,766). All together, a total of about 340,000 migrants were detected along European borders in the period under review and about 60 percent of the approximately 340,000 migrants arrived from Syria and Afghanistan. Like i pointed out in the last paragraph, there isn't an outrageous difference between the numbers arriving from Sub-Sahara Africa yearly in the last few years decade. Prior to the Arab Spring in the North Africa, the issue of migrants to Europe through the Mediterranean was relatively silent. 

While Europe continues to play second fiddle to the United State on International affairs, i think now is the time for Europe to call her US ally to action on the need to find lasting solutions to the war in Syria, baring in mind the obviousness of the fact that the Syrian crisis is fueled more by International interest than even the will of the Syrians to get rid of Assad. Now is the time for the United States, Europe and Russia to sit down and agree on a way forward on the Syrian conflict. On a daily basis, one sees aired interviews of Syrians displaced by this conflict, the first thing one notices in such interviews is that, these people are not even happy fleeing their country, they are not in any way happy with their situation and their home is home to them and it is very dear to them. One sees how hard it is for them to leave behind everything they worked for and their dreams, one reason they leave is the search for safety and peace and another opportunity to start all over again and give their lives meaning after most of them lost nearly everything to the on-going war. 

In as much as one appreciates the great sacrifices a lot of Europeans are making at the moment to help and give hope to thousands of refugees and asylum seekers arriving the shore of Europe on a daily basis, politically, the situation can be arrested directly from source. If today Europe decides to channel the same energy committed in addressing the migrant situation into pushing for peace in Syria and other conflict-torn countries which continue to dole out thousands of Refugees and Asylum-seekers and also fight corruption and oppression in countries that dole out economic migrants, at the end of the day, There will be a drastic reduction in the number of people arriving the shores of Europe from these countries. While a lot of Europeans continue to render amazing and extraordinary services to thousands of Refugees in their cities, we must also bear in mind that, only a return of peace to the conflict zones which initially escalated the migrant crisis can guarantee a solution to the crisis and return Europe to the pre-2011 modest migrant movement pattern.

Lastly, Europe must learn to say "No" to America in some situations and how to always call "America" to order, today the pressure is on European border, not American border while on the other hand, America and her military contractor fueled the on-going war in Syria and probably profit from it more than any other country. On the other hand, Russia foreign policy is pretty clear but how Russia continues to look away from the suffering her collective action with the West has brought on the people of Syria is quite unbelievable. While most of the Arab nations continue to fuel anti-West sentiments as evident by the tone of Middle-eastern media (Aljazeera and co), up till this moment, nothing has been done by the super-rich Arab nation league like Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia to assist people fleeing these conflict zones and Aljazeera sits lamely in Doha criticising Europe for not doing enough. 

I hope in the long run, leaders will learn to first take care of epilepsy instead acting like taking care of dandruff is the biggest challenge.