9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There are times when I feel

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
really quite ashamed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be a European.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In the last year,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
more than a million people[br]arrived in Europe in need of our help,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and our response, frankly,[br]has been pathetic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There are just so many contradictions.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We mourn the tragic death

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of two-year old Alan Kurdi,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and yet since then, more than 200 children

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have subsequently drowned[br]in the Mediterranean.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We have international treaties[br]that recognize that refugees

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are a shared responsibility,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and yet we accept that tiny Lebanon

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
hosts more Syrians[br]than the whole of Europe combined.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We lament the existence[br]of human smugglers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and yet we make that the only viable route

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to seek asylum in Europe.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We have labor shortages,[br]and yet we exclude people who fit

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
our economic and demographic needs

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from coming to Europe.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We proclaim our liberal values[br]in opposition to fundamentalist Islam,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and yet we have repressive policies

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that detain child asylum seekers,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that separate children[br]from their families,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that seize property from refugees.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
What are we doing?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
How has the situation come to this,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we've adopted such an inhumane[br]response to a humanitarian crisis?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't believe it's because[br]people don't care,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or at least I don't want to believe[br]it's because people don't care.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I believe it's because[br]our politicians lack a vision,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a vision for how to adapt[br]an international refugee system

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
created over 50 years ago

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for a changing and globalized world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so what I want to do[br]is take a step back

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and ask two really fundamental questions,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the two questions we all need to ask.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
First, why is the current system[br]not working?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And second, what can we do to fix it?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So the modern refugee regime

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was created in the aftermath[br]of the Second World War by these guys.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Its basic aim is to ensure

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that when a state fails,[br]or worse, turns against its own people,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
people have somewhere to go,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to live in safety and dignity[br]until they can go home.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was created precisely for situations[br]like the situation we see in Syria today.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Through an international convention[br]signed by 147 governments,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the 1951 Convention[br]on the Status of Refugees,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and an international organization, UNHCR,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
states committed to reciprocally[br]admit people onto their territory

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who flee conflict and persecution.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But today, that system is failing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In theory, refugees have a right[br]to seek asylum.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In practice, our immigration policies[br]block the path to safety.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In theory, refugees have a right[br]to a pathway to integration,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or return to the country[br]they've come from.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But in practice, they get stuck[br]in almost indefinite limbo.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In theory, refugees[br]are a shared global responsibility.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In practice, geography means[br]that countries proximate the conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
take the overwhelming majority[br]of the world's refugees.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The system isn't broken[br]because the rules are wrong.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's that we're not applying them[br]adequately to a changing world,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that's what we need to reconsider.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So I want to explain to you a little bit[br]about how the current system works.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
How does the refugee regime actually work?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But not from a top-down[br]institutional perspective,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
rather from the perspective of a refugee.