The relationship between refugees, radicalization, and NGOs : why criminalizing NGOs jeopardizes human rights and European security

Abstract

Whether or not policy realistically can be utilized to meet the goals it was designed for is debate that has plagued governments since states first began publicizing their actions for public digestion. In the current geopolitical landscape of Europe and the titular “West,” perhaps no such example is currently more thought-provoking than the official international response to what is in recent years being referred to as “the migrant crisis” – the current influx of irregular migrants towards/into Europe due to the violent and chaotic circumstances afflicting significant portions of the Middle East and Northern- and Sub-Saharan-Africa. There are complaints being circulated about the economic impacts of such migrants, but no complaint has been as well-publicized as that of security and the rampant belief that allowing refugees to settle would make host countries vulnerable to the violent effects of radicalization. And although this paper will take a very different approach and do not subscribe to the idea that refugees represent a threat, it is first important to note that I am not dismissing these fears – there are indeed reports of violent attacks being committed by or associated with refugees and migrants in Europe, and in fact very recently the conviction of one such attacker has brought the discussion about refugee violence back to the forefront of conversations about migrants and security. It is understandable that this would generate fear, but that does not necessarily mean that the specific fears being generated or the EU responses to those events at the policy level are justified or productive. Examining the actual relationship between refugees, radicalization, and security requires looking past sensational headlines and politically-angled statements from government officials. This research will rely on both quantitative and qualitative analysis for several reasons. The first is that quantitative analysis serves as a necessary numerical representation to highlight that findings are not case-specific; moreover, statistical evidence is often used to support and incite policy change at the governmental level. To have a truly well-rounded and established piece of research on the topic of radicalization, it will be necessary to support certain claims with actual data about the people and circumstances I will be discussing. A review of the literature will be present throughout the paper as different sources are relevant to different aspects that will be brought into the fold as my research progresses, however it will be featured most heavily in Chapter 1 because this chapter will focus on painting a more holistic picture of the current situation regarding refugee circumstances and radicalization. Because this paper’s research question itself directly challenges “official” governmental conceptions and policies, I will be reviewing literature from an extremely wide variety of sources (as opposed to only those which would be palatable to current EU government opinions, which have thus far fallen short). Although the purpose of this paper is to be productive and provide insight into the current components of the refugee experience in relation to European security, focusing exclusively on EU approved sources would massively skew the perspective in favor of the same system that has created the situation I am attempting to analyze. Such a bias would be a fatal flaw in a paper meant to critically examine the effectiveness and rationale of decisions at the executive level, so although I will vet my sources carefully, I will intentionally examine very different perspectives driving different literary pieces and conclusions. Although interviews with criminalized members of NGOs would undoubtedly be an asset to this paper, I made the conscious decision to avoid the ethical dilemma that would come with interviewing people formerly or currently being prosecuted about the activities they are being indicted for. This would go directly against the nature and purpose of this research, and I am confident that other available sources, such as public statements from NGOs and articles written about them, will also be effective at presenting that perspective. Likewise, I will not be interviewing refugees as they are members of a vulnerable population that may fear retaliation for speaking about their experiences. Instead, I will use pre-existing trustworthy sources that utilize refugee voices to fill in the gaps. Finally, I will utilize miniature case studies of individual acts of terrorism, refugee camps, and specific countries throughout the paper to highlight how different conditions can impact outcomes both in the experiences of refugees in Europe and actual border security. This is important because of the breadth of this study, which would not lend itself well to only one or two major case studies; the nature of radicalization and the limited number of terrorist attacks involved in such a limited number of examples would not be reliable or persuasive enough to make an argument. A more complete picture of circumstances must include similar and contrary examples through every facet of the study – camp conditions, NGO roles/criminalization/support, country policies, et cetera – to ensure that the information and conclusions being presented have actual basis and are wide spread enough to be relevant.