WEBVTT

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There are times when I feel

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really quite ashamed

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to be a European.

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In the last year,

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more than a million people
arrived in Europe in need of our help,

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and our response, frankly,
has been pathetic.

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There are just so many contradictions.

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We mourn the tragic death

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of two-year old Alan Kurdi,

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and yet since then, more than 200 children

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have subsequently drowned
in the Mediterranean.

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We have international treaties
that recognize that refugees

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are a shared responsibility,

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and yet we accept that tiny Lebanon

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hosts more Syrians
than the whole of Europe combined.

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We lament the existence
of human smugglers,

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and yet we make that the only viable route

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to seek asylum in Europe.

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We have labor shortages,
and yet we exclude people who fit

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our economic and demographic needs

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from coming to Europe.

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We proclaim our liberal values
in opposition to fundamentalist Islam,

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and yet we have repressive policies

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that detain child asylum seekers,

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that separate children
from their families,

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and that seize property from refugees.

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What are we doing?

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How has the situation come to this,

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that we've adopted such an inhumane
response to a humanitarian crisis?

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I don't believe it's because
people don't care,

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or at least I don't want to believe
it's because people don't care.

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I believe it's because
our politicians lack a vision,

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a vision for how to adapt
an international refugee system

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created over 50 years ago

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for a changing and globalized world.

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And so what I want to do
is take a step back

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and ask two really fundamental questions,

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the two questions we all need to ask.

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First, why is the current system
not working?

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And second, what can we do to fix it?

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So the modern refugee regime

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was created in the aftermath
of the Second World War by these guys.

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Its basic aim is to ensure

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that when a state fails,
or worse, turns against its own people,

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people have somewhere to go,

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to live in safety and dignity
until they can go home.

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It was created precisely for situations
like the situation we see in Syria today.

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Through an international convention
signed by 147 governments,

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the 1951 Convention
on the Status of Refugees,

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and an international organization, UNHCR,

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states committed to reciprocally
admit people onto their territory

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who flee conflict and persecution.

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But today, that system is failing.

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In theory, refugees have a right
to seek asylum.

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In practice, our immigration policies
block the path to safety.

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In theory, refugees have a right
to a pathway to integration,

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or return to the country
they've come from.

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But in practice, they get stuck
in almost indefinite limbo.

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In theory, refugees
are a shared global responsibility.

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In practice, geography means
that countries proximate the conflict

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take the overwhelming majority
of the world's refugees.

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The system isn't broken
because the rules are wrong.

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It's that we're not applying them
adequately to a changing world,

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and that's what we need to reconsider.

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So I want to explain to you a little bit
about how the current system works.

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How does the refugee regime actually work?

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But not from a top-down
institutional perspective,

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rather from the perspective of a refugee.