Most of the migrants arriving en masse to Europe are being called "refugees", mostly in an attempt to gain sympathy from the native people and to pull at their heartstrings. "Refugees welcome!" goes the common adage.
But the thing is: These "refugees" are not being treated as refugees. They are being treated as immigrants, which is rather different.
The refugee status is inherently temporary. The original basic idea of a country taking refugees from another country is to provide these people with a temporary safe place to survive, until the life-threatening conflict in their country of origin is over and peace has been restored.
It's in essence no different from a friend giving another friend a place to stay for a while, because of the life circumstances of that person (eg. if they have been evicted, or any other reason why this person is temporarily homeless). Friends help friends, but this solution is always temporary. The other person isn't supposed to move permanently to his friend's home and stay for the rest of his life. He's supposed to stay there only for as long as absolutely necessary, until he can return home or find a new one.
In times of war, neighboring countries may give temporary refugee status to non-combatant civilians, especially children, in the warring country, to remove them from the life-threatening situation. The idea is that when the war is over and peace restored, the refugees can then safely return home.
But that's not how all these millions of migrants who are entering Europe are treated. Nobody, not the politicians making decisions, not the press, nor even the wider public, is treating them as actual refugees, who are expected to return to their country of origin after whatever conflict caused them to flee is over.
No, they are 100% treated as immigrants, not as refugees. Everybody expects them to come and stay forever, to permanently move into the country.
So can we please stop calling them "refugees" since we aren't even treating them as such?
But the thing is: These "refugees" are not being treated as refugees. They are being treated as immigrants, which is rather different.
The refugee status is inherently temporary. The original basic idea of a country taking refugees from another country is to provide these people with a temporary safe place to survive, until the life-threatening conflict in their country of origin is over and peace has been restored.
It's in essence no different from a friend giving another friend a place to stay for a while, because of the life circumstances of that person (eg. if they have been evicted, or any other reason why this person is temporarily homeless). Friends help friends, but this solution is always temporary. The other person isn't supposed to move permanently to his friend's home and stay for the rest of his life. He's supposed to stay there only for as long as absolutely necessary, until he can return home or find a new one.
In times of war, neighboring countries may give temporary refugee status to non-combatant civilians, especially children, in the warring country, to remove them from the life-threatening situation. The idea is that when the war is over and peace restored, the refugees can then safely return home.
But that's not how all these millions of migrants who are entering Europe are treated. Nobody, not the politicians making decisions, not the press, nor even the wider public, is treating them as actual refugees, who are expected to return to their country of origin after whatever conflict caused them to flee is over.
No, they are 100% treated as immigrants, not as refugees. Everybody expects them to come and stay forever, to permanently move into the country.
So can we please stop calling them "refugees" since we aren't even treating them as such?
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