1
00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,256
There are times when I feel
really quite ashamed

2
00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:05,520
to be a European.

3
00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,055
In the last year,

4
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:12,656
more than a million people
arrived in Europe in need of our help,

5
00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,960
and our response,
frankly, has been pathetic.

6
00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:19,320
There are just so many contradictions.

7
00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:22,816
We mourn the tragic death

8
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,000
of two-year-old Alan Kurdi,

9
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,856
and yet, since then,
more than 200 children

10
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,240
have subsequently drowned
in the Mediterranean.

11
00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:35,416
We have international treaties

12
00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,656
that recognize that refugees
are a shared responsibility,

13
00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,736
and yet we accept that tiny Lebanon

14
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:45,400
hosts more Syrians
than the whole of Europe combined.

15
00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,720
We lament the existence
of human smugglers,

16
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,776
and yet we make that the only viable route

17
00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:55,880
to seek asylum in Europe.

18
00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,696
We have labor shortages,

19
00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:04,176
and yet we exclude people who fit
our economic and demographic needs

20
00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,040
from coming to Europe.

21
00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,936
We proclaim our liberal values
in opposition to fundamentalist Islam,

22
00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:14,160
and yet --

23
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,216
we have repressive policies

24
00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,560
that detain child asylum seekers,

25
00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:23,960
that separate children
from their families,

26
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,720
and that seize property from refugees.

27
00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:30,200
What are we doing?

28
00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,056
How has the situation come to this,

29
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:37,880
that we've adopted such an inhumane
response to a humanitarian crisis?

30
00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,696
I don't believe
it's because people don't care,

31
00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,896
or at least I don't want to believe
it's because people don't care.

32
00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,736
I believe it's because
our politicians lack a vision,

33
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,376
a vision for how to adapt
an international refugee system

34
00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:54,536
created over 50 years ago

35
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,360
for a changing and globalized world.

36
00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,336
And so what I want to do
is take a step back

37
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,776
and ask two really fundamental questions,

38
00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,256
the two questions we all need to ask.

39
00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,576
First, why is the current
system not working?

40
00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,000
And second, what can we do to fix it?

41
00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:16,816
So the modern refugee regime

42
00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,920
was created in the aftermath
of the Second World War by these guys.

43
00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,136
Its basic aim is to ensure

44
00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:29,376
that when a state fails,
or worse, turns against its own people,

45
00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:30,976
people have somewhere to go,

46
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,656
to live in safety and dignity
until they can go home.

47
00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,960
It was created precisely for situations
like the situation we see in Syria today.

48
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,536
Through an international convention
signed by 147 governments,

49
00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,576
the 1951 Convention
on the Status of Refugees,

50
00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,776
and an international organization, UNHCR,

51
00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,576
states committed to reciprocally
admit people onto their territory

52
00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,120
who flee conflict and persecution.

53
00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,280
But today, that system is failing.

54
00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:06,360
In theory, refugees
have a right to seek asylum.

55
00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,840
In practice, our immigration policies
block the path to safety.

56
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,616
In theory, refugees have a right
to a pathway to integration,

57
00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:17,680
or return to the country
they've come from.

58
00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,600
But in practice, they get stuck
in almost indefinite limbo.

59
00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,320
In theory, refugees
are a shared global responsibility.

60
00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,376
In practice, geography means
that countries proximate the conflict

61
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,000
take the overwhelming majority
of the world's refugees.

62
00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,456
The system isn't broken
because the rules are wrong.

63
00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,400
It's that we're not applying them
adequately to a changing world,

64
00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:43,840
and that's what we need to reconsider.

65
00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,936
So I want to explain to you a little bit
about how the current system works.

66
00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,120
How does the refugee regime actually work?

67
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,336
But not from a top-down
institutional perspective,

68
00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:57,680
rather from the perspective of a refugee.

69
00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,696
So imagine a Syrian woman.

70
00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:02,320
Let's call her Amira.

71
00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,760
And Amira to me represents
many of the people I've met in the region.

72
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,896
Amira, like around 25 percent
of the world's refugees,

73
00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:12,200
is a woman with children,

74
00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,096
and she can't go home
because she comes from this city

75
00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:18,136
that you see before you, Homs,

76
00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:20,896
a once beautiful and historic city

77
00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:22,416
now under rubble.

78
00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,280
And so Amira can't go back there.

79
00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:29,336
But Amira also has no hope
of resettlement to a third country,

80
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:30,856
because that's a lottery ticket

81
00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,320
only available to less than one percent
of the world's refugees.

82
00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,136
So Amira and her family

83
00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:39,336
face an almost impossible choice.

84
00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:41,760
They have three basic options.

85
00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:47,520
The first option is that Amira
can take her family to a camp.

86
00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,680
In the camp, she might get assistance,

87
00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,856
but there are very few prospects
for Amira and her family.

88
00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,136
Camps are in bleak, arid locations,

89
00:04:58,160 --> 00:04:59,400
often in the desert.

90
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,736
In the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan,

91
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:07,160
you can hear the shells
across the border in Syria at nighttime.

92
00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,176
There's restricted economic activity.

93
00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,360
Education is often of poor quality.

94
00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:15,296
And around the world,

95
00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,416
some 80 percent of refugees
who are in camps

96
00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:20,976
have to stay for at least five years.

97
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,896
It's a miserable existence,

98
00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,296
and that's probably why, in reality,

99
00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,920
only nine percent of Syrians
choose that option.

100
00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,976
Alternatively, Amira can head
to an urban area

101
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,040
in a neighboring country,
like Amman or Beirut.

102
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,040
That's an option that about 75 percent
of Syrian refugees have taken.

103
00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:44,920
But there, there's
great difficulty as well.

104
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:50,016
Refugees in such urban areas
don't usually have the right to work.

105
00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:53,000
They don't usually get
significant access to assistance.

106
00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,136
And so when Amira and her family
have used up their basic savings,

107
00:05:57,160 --> 00:06:00,840
they're left with very little
and likely to face urban destitution.

108
00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:04,120
So there's a third alternative,

109
00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,640
and it's one that increasing
numbers of Syrians are taking.

110
00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:14,016
Amira can seek some hope for her family

111
00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,776
by risking their lives
on a dangerous and perilous journey

112
00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:19,296
to another country,

113
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,840
and it's that which we're seeing
in Europe today.

114
00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:28,696
Around the world, we present refugees
with an almost impossible choice

115
00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:30,536
between three options:

116
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,760
encampment, urban destitution
and dangerous journeys.

117
00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,840
For refugees, that choice is
the global refugee regime today.

118
00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:42,240
But I think it's a false choice.

119
00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:44,840
I think we can reconsider that choice.

120
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,800
The reason why we limit those options

121
00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:52,520
is because we think

122
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:57,456
that those are the only options
that are available to refugees,

123
00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:58,680
and they're not.

124
00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,616
Politicians frame the issue
as a zero-sum issue,

125
00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,576
that if we benefit refugees,
we're imposing costs on citizens.

126
00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:08,656
We tend to have a collective assumption

127
00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,336
that refugees are an inevitable cost
or burden to society.

128
00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:14,440
But they don't have to.
They can contribute.

129
00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:16,296
So what I want to argue

130
00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,296
is there are ways in which we can
expand that choice set

131
00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:21,336
and still benefit everyone else:

132
00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:23,216
the host states and communities,

133
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,560
our societies and refugees themselves.

134
00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:29,056
And I want to suggest four ways

135
00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,920
we can transform the paradigm
of how we think about refugees.

136
00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:35,960
All four ways have one thing in common:

137
00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:40,216
they're all ways in which we take
the opportunities of globalization,

138
00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:42,296
mobility and markets,

139
00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,560
and update the way we think
about the refugee issue.

140
00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:47,976
The first one I want to think about

141
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,000
is the idea of enabling environments,

142
00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,576
and it starts from
a very basic recognition

143
00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,296
that refugees are human beings
like everyone else,

144
00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,720
but they're just
in extraordinary circumstances.

145
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,256
Together with my colleagues in Oxford,

146
00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:03,936
we've embarked on
a research project in Uganda

147
00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,000
looking at the economic lives of refugees.

148
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,896
We chose Uganda not because
it's representative of all host countries.

149
00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:13,400
It's not. It's exceptional.

150
00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:16,336
Unlike most host countries
around the world,

151
00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:17,816
what Uganda has done

152
00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,216
is give refugees economic opportunity.

153
00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:23,600
It gives them the right to work.
It gives them freedom of movement.

154
00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,096
And the results of that are extraordinary

155
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,720
both for refugees and the host community.

156
00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,456
In the capital city, Kampala,

157
00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:37,895
we found that 21 percent of refugees
own a business that employs other people,

158
00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:40,376
and 40 percent of those employees

159
00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:42,376
are nationals of the host country.

160
00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:44,576
In other words, refugees are making jobs

161
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,240
for citizens of the host country.

162
00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,256
Even in the camps,
we found extraordinary examples

163
00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:54,840
of vibrant, flourishing
and entrepreneurial businesses.

164
00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,136
For example, in a settlement
called Nakivale,

165
00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,136
we found examples of Congolese refugees

166
00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,696
running digital music exchange businesses.

167
00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:08,496
We found a Rwandan
who runs a business that's available

168
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:11,256
to allow the youth to play computer games

169
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,040
on recycled games consoles
and recycled televisions.

170
00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,256
Against the odds of extreme constraint,

171
00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:20,600
refugees are innovating,

172
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,749
and the gentleman you see before you
is a Congolese guy called Demou-Kay.

173
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,856
Demou-Kay arrived
in the settlement with very little,

174
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,176
but he wanted to be a filmmaker.

175
00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,136
So with friends and colleagues,
he started a community radio station,

176
00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:36,896
he rented a video camera,

177
00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:38,416
and he's now making films.

178
00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,416
He made two documentary films

179
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,416
with and for our team,

180
00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,760
and he's making a successful business
out of very little.

181
00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:48,616
It's those kinds of examples

182
00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,376
that should guide
our response to refugees.

183
00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:52,736
Rather than seeing refugees

184
00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,016
as inevitably dependent
upon humanitarian assistance,

185
00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:59,440
we need to provide them
with opportunities for human flourishing.

186
00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,426
Yes, clothes, blankets, shelter, food

187
00:10:04,438 --> 00:10:07,216
are all important in the emergency phase,

188
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,840
but we need to also look beyond that.

189
00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:14,536
We need to provide opportunities
to connectivity, electricity,

190
00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:16,840
education, the right to work,

191
00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:19,120
access to capital and banking.

192
00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:21,696
All the ways in which we take for granted

193
00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:23,856
that we are plugged in
to the global economy

194
00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,440
can and should apply to refugees.

195
00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,760
The second idea I want to discuss
is economic zones.

196
00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,056
Unfortunately, not every
host country in the world

197
00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,120
takes the approach Uganda has taken.

198
00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,816
Most host countries don't open up
their economies to refugees

199
00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:41,040
in the same way.

200
00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,960
But there are still pragmatic
alternative options that we can use.

201
00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,696
Last April, I traveled to Jordan
with my colleague,

202
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:51,680
the development economist Paul Collier,

203
00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,256
and we brainstormed an idea
while we were there

204
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,736
with the international community
and the government,

205
00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,096
an idea to bring jobs to Syrians

206
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,736
while supporting Jordan's
national development strategy.

207
00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,560
The idea is for an economic zone,

208
00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:10,616
one in which we could potentially
integrate the employment of refugees

209
00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,120
alongside the employment
of Jordanian host nationals.

210
00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:18,256
And just 15 minutes away
from the Zaatari refugee camp,

211
00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,416
home to 83,000 refugees,

212
00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:22,456
is an existing economic zone

213
00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:25,200
called the King Hussein
Bin Talal Development Area.

214
00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:28,696
The government has spent
over a hundred million dollars

215
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,536
connecting it to the electricity grid,
connecting it to the road network,

216
00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:34,176
but it lacked two things:

217
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,936
access to labor and inward investment.

218
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,856
So what if refugees
were able to work there

219
00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:41,696
rather than being stuck in camps,

220
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,736
able to support their families and develop
skills through vocational training

221
00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:47,200
before they go back to Syria?

222
00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,136
We recognized that
that could benefit Jordan,

223
00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,936
whose development strategy
requires it to make the leap

224
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,776
as a middle income country
to manufacturing.

225
00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:59,496
It could benefit refugees,
but it could also contribute

226
00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:01,896
to the postconflict
reconstruction of Syria

227
00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:04,696
by recognizing that we need
to incubate refugees

228
00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,280
as the best source
of eventually rebuilding Syria.

229
00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,816
We published the idea
in the journal Foreign Affairs.

230
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,056
King Abdullah has picked up on the idea.

231
00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,056
It was announced at the London
Syria Conference two weeks ago,

232
00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,680
and a pilot will begin in the summer.

233
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,720
(Applause)

234
00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:27,816
The third idea that I want to put to you

235
00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,456
is preference matching
between states and refugees

236
00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,616
to lead to the kinds of happy outcomes
you see here in the selfie

237
00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,520
featuring Angela Merkel
and a Syrian refugee.

238
00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:42,440
What we rarely do is ask refugees
what they want, where they want to go,

239
00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:44,816
but I'd argue we can do that

240
00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,920
and still make everyone better off.

241
00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,776
The economist Alvin Roth has developed
the idea of matching markets,

242
00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:57,040
ways in which the preference ranking
of the parties shapes an eventual match.

243
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,776
My colleagues Will Jones
and Alex Teytelboym

244
00:13:00,800 --> 00:13:04,936
have explored ways in which that idea
could be applied to refugees,

245
00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,496
to ask refugees to rank
their preferred destinations,

246
00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:12,296
but also allow states to rank
the types of refugees they want

247
00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,136
on skills criteria or language criteria

248
00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:16,856
and allow those to match.

249
00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:18,976
Now, of course
you'd need to build in quotas

250
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,256
on things like diversity
and vulnerability,

251
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,816
but it's a way of increasing
the possibilities of matching.

252
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,336
The matching idea
has been successfully used

253
00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:33,496
to match, for instance,
students with university places,

254
00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,016
to match kidney donors with patients,

255
00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:40,176
and it underlies the kind of algorithms
that exist on dating websites.

256
00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,296
So why not apply that
to give refugees greater choice?

257
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,368
It could also be used
at the national level,

258
00:13:45,392 --> 00:13:47,376
where one of the great challenges we face

259
00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:51,136
is to persuade local communities
to accept refugees.

260
00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:53,616
And at the moment,
in my country, for instance,

261
00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,816
we often send engineers to rural areas
and farmers to the cities,

262
00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:59,696
which makes no sense at all.

263
00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:04,296
So matching markets offer a potential way
to bring those preferences together

264
00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:08,256
and listen to the needs and demands
of the populations that host

265
00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,120
and the refugees themselves.

266
00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,560
The fourth idea I want to put to you
is of humanitarian visas.

267
00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,936
Much of the tragedy and chaos
we've seen in Europe

268
00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:19,960
was entirely avoidable.

269
00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:24,496
It stems from a fundamental contradiction
in Europe's asylum policy,

270
00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:25,896
which is the following:

271
00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,416
that in order to seek asylum in Europe,

272
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,456
you have to arrive spontaneously
by embarking on those dangerous journeys

273
00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:34,680
that I described.

274
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:40,256
But why should those journeys be necessary
in an era of the budget airline

275
00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,696
and modern consular capabilities?

276
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:45,056
They're completely unnecessary journeys,

277
00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,856
and last year, they led to the deaths
of over 3,000 people

278
00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,360
on Europe's borders
and within European territory.

279
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:54,976
If refugees were simply allowed

280
00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,776
to travel directly
and seek asylum in Europe,

281
00:14:57,800 --> 00:14:59,096
we would avoid that,

282
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:00,656
and there's a way of doing that

283
00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,976
through something
called a humanitarian visa,

284
00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:06,536
that allows people
to collect a visa at an embassy

285
00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,696
or a consulate in a neighboring country

286
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,616
and then simply pay their own way

287
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,200
through a ferry or a flight to Europe.

288
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,976
It costs around a thousand euros

289
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,416
to take a smuggler
from Turkey to the Greek islands.

290
00:15:19,440 --> 00:15:24,896
It costs 200 euros to take a budget
airline from Bodrum to Frankfurt.

291
00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:28,696
If we allowed refugees to do that,
it would have major advantages.

292
00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:30,000
It would save lives,

293
00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,696
it would undercut
the entire market for smugglers,

294
00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:38,056
and it would remove the chaos
we see from Europe's front line

295
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,136
in areas like the Greek islands.

296
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:44,400
It's politics that prevents us doing that
rather than a rational solution.

297
00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,216
And this is an idea that has been applied.

298
00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:49,896
Brazil has adopted a pioneering approach

299
00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:54,216
where over 2,000 Syrians
have been able to get humanitarian visas,

300
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,616
enter Brazil, and claim refugee status
on arrival in Brazil.

301
00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:01,536
And in that scheme,
every Syrian who has gone through it

302
00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,520
has received refugee status
and been recognized as a genuine refugee.

303
00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,400
There is a historical precedent
for it as well.

304
00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,256
Between 1922 and 1942,

305
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,056
these Nansen passports
were used as travel documents

306
00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:21,616
to allow 450,000 Assyrians,
Turks and Chechens

307
00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:23,136
to travel across Europe

308
00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,920
and claim refugee status
elsewhere in Europe.

309
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:29,256
And the Nansen
International Refugee Office

310
00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:31,136
received the Nobel Peace Prize

311
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:34,120
in recognition of this
being a viable strategy.

312
00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:38,216
So all four of these ideas
that I've presented you

313
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,560
are ways in which we can expand
Amira's choice set.

314
00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:45,176
They're ways in which we can have
greater choice for refugees

315
00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,016
beyond those basic,
impossible three options

316
00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:50,256
I explained to you

317
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,360
and still leave others better off.

318
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,336
In conclusion,
we really need a new vision,

319
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:59,136
a vision that enlarges
the choices of refugees

320
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:01,696
but recognizes that they
don't have to be a burden.

321
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,175
There's nothing inevitable
about refugees being a cost.

322
00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:08,455
Yes, they are a humanitarian
responsibility,

323
00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:12,096
but they're human beings
with skills, talents, aspirations,

324
00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:14,800
with the ability to make
contributions -- if we let them.

325
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:17,760
In the new world,

326
00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:20,576
migration is not going to go away.

327
00:17:20,599 --> 00:17:23,576
What we've seen in Europe
will be with us for many years.

328
00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:25,415
People will continue to travel,

329
00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,296
they'll continue to be displaced,

330
00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:30,816
and we need to find rational,
realistic ways of managing this --

331
00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,856
not based on the old logics
of humanitarian assistance,

332
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:35,976
not based on logics of charity,

333
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:37,616
but building on the opportunities

334
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,016
offered by globalization,
markets and mobility.

335
00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,456
I'd urge you all to wake up
and urge our politicians

336
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,336
to wake up to this challenge.

337
00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:47,616
Thank you very much.

338
00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:56,524
(Applause)