Grant refugees safe, affordable travel

“The Hot Tea” is a weekly column dedicated to unearthing the intricacies of London’s social, political and millennial issues in context of Pittsburgh’s own complex culture.

LONDON — A refugee’s experience with transportation — deadly conditions, seemingly-endless perserverence, dimming light at the end of a metaphorical tunnel — is a travesty.

But to officials at St. Pancras International Railway Station, that’s nothing compared to the “inconvenience” of the delay their passage inflicts on passengers.

Last week, my friends boarded a high speed Eurostar train bound for France — a trip I had made a month ago. It took just two hours for me to get from London to Paris thanks to the Channel Tunnel — colloquially known as the Chunnel — which snakes beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

During my friends’ ride, the station delayed theirs by three hours while a brigade of Syrian refugees attempted to escape Calais, a port city in northern France known as the “Jungle.” These refugees braved a perilous journey through the Chunnel on foot, blocking up the railways and risking their lives.

Eurostar representatives offered my friends compensation for their wait while police officers dispersed the refugees. The rail company wanted to give each customer an extra train ticket as reimbursement for their wait. My friends had a sure-fire privilege check that day.

Refugees often make dangerous treks between their home country and their asylum state, typically by foot or boat. Both Europe and the United States have a duty to reconcile this travesty and help refugees find a safer route of transportation, specifically by loosening the airline restrictions.

According to World Vision, the crisis in Syria has displaced more than 12 million Syrians from their homes, half of which are children.

In early September, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel opened the country’s borders to refugees. Later that month, the European Union agreed to a quota system to reallocate about 120,000 Syrian, Iraqi and Eritrean refugees across border states. Considering the fact that conflict has displaced millions of refugees, this effort is not enough. Europe faces great pressure to accept Syrian refugees due to its relative proximity.

The United States may not feel the same proximal obligation, but it should accept a greater number of refugees, nonetheless.

In a Newsweek article, writer Lucy Westcott called the United States’ efforts lackluster.

“Historically, the U.S. has been a leader in refugee resettlement, and sadly it has not been leading in the Syria crisis,” Wescott writes.

While the overall United States effort to accommodate refugees is scant, Pittsburgh — along with other national cities — are working to change the United States’ limitations on aid.  In late September, Mayor Bill Peduto signed a letter encouraging the president to increase the number of Syrian refugees the United States will welcome in 2016, citing his willingness to accept Syrian refugees in Pittsburgh.

To accomdate more refugees, the EU and United States must break down the financial and legislative barriers preventing these migrants from utilizing airline travel.

A flight from Ethiopia to Sweden is only €400, from Lebanon to the United Kingdom is also €400 and from Egypt to Italy is only €320, according to the Foundation for Economic Education.

The EU doesn’t exactly make it simple for airlines to accept refugees into their client base. EU Directive 2001/51/EC, which the Council of the European Union created to curb illegal immigration, places a “carrier liability” on airlines transporting asylum seekers. If, for some reason, a refugee used that airline to cross national borders but did not have legitimate paperwork, it becomes that company’s responsibility to pay all the costs in returning the refugee from where he or she came.

So, even if a refugee is legal to fly into another country, an airline can turn him or her away for simply fearing their status and doubting the legitimacy of their paperwork.

According to Alexander Betts, a columnist for the New York Times, it’s imperative the EU set up a form of working “humanitarian visas” for refugees. A working document, such as this legal endorsement, would incentivize airlines to take on more refugees. This would prevent travelers from attempting passage to other parts of Europe through illegal smuggling on ships or by foot through the Chunnel.

The United States and Europe must implement legislation to provide safe transportation for refugees. While it would take grandiose EU and United States effort to pass any type of legislation, there are simple ways people have aided asylum seekers.

In Seattle, the International Rescue Committee — a foundation that responds to the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises — rolled out a new procedure called the Metro Transit Incentives Programs. Under the new program, citizens who renew their license plate tabs receive eight free bus tickets from the government. The program asks residents to donate these bus tickets to their centers so they can redistribute them to refugees who need transportation to health centers, appointments, interviews and more.

Refugee Air — an airline set up by two Swedes who felt asylum seekers had been wrongly turned away from commercial carriers — aims to open up routes to refugees by carrying out pre-departure checks at camps in Turkey and Jordan to ensure everyone with a ticket is a refugee, according to The Guardian.

I don’t want to see more images of refugee families huddled together in clumps, dragging their belongings through dark tunnels. Nor do I want us to simply share images of dead children washed up on shore after a frightful boat journey gone wrong. I want to know these refugees have adequate transportation to help them escape the surronding terror. This is basic human decency — something the United States and Europe certainly need to brush up on.

The migrant crisis is escalating — we should escalate our aid efforts to match.

Courtney Linder is a senior columnist at The Pitt News, primarily focusing on social issues and technology.

Write to her at CNL13@pitt.edu.