Ep. 081: The US and Canada Must Accept Refugees
Guest: Sarah Deardorff-Miller, American University
Horrifying circumstances that have forced 13.5 million Syrians from their homes.
More than six million people have been forced to flee fearing for their lives. 147 member states of the United Nations agreed people in fear of their lives can and will be accepted as refugees without prejudice regardless of race, sex, age, disability, religion or nationality.
No one foresaw the magnitude of the crisis in Syria and the profound impact it would have on Europe in particular.
Sarah Deardorff Miller of the American University in Washington, DC says the situation is exacerbated by the strategic objectives of the combatants. “They are not just simply this byproduct of the conflict, but rather tools within the conflict as well, so displacement is happening as a strategy on both the rebels' side, and the Assad regime side.”
Accepting Syrian refugees in Europe is very different than in North America. Canada relies on the UN High Commission on Refugees to identify those people and families that meet our criteria for acceptance. Following a lengthy and rigorous vetting process by the UN, security agencies, embassy staff and others, refugees are then granted approval to come to Canada.
Miller says, “All of these things are going into this really extensive process. Then there's also medical screenings, there's some cultural orientation and more, all of which plays into this long process.”
Miller points out that in the US, since 9/11, more than 800,000 refugees have been accepted and just three of them have been questioned or detained on suspicions of terrorism, two of which were focused on non-American targets. She points out refugees come seeking a safe and better life and the evidence demonstrates they are solid contributors to their new communities.
