The Refugee Crisis: facts, myths, numbers and solutions with Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen

Everyone has heard about the refugee crisis and this is by no means a coincidence: the world is currently experiencing the largest number of refugees and displaced persons since the the Second World War. Pictures of refugees marching along the highways through Europe placed the issue at the top of the political agenda. Borders have gone up and European states fiercely compete to adopt the most draconian measures to push asylum-seekers away. Meanwhile, countries in the Middle East are struggling to cope with millions of refugees, and thousands die each year in the attempt to reach Europe.

But how big a challenge is the current refugee crisis? How did it emerge? How does it affect the world’s refugee? What are the real number of refugees in Europe? Is it really true that they pressure Europe’s economic system in a serious way?How did we get to this?

Political science and international law are the research subjects that study this matter seriously. In this talk, Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen takes a step back to explain why the crisis emerged, how it affects the world’s refugees, why the current policies are failing and what kind of solutions might work instead. Going through the numbers, Gammeltoft-Hansen busts several myths often flaunted in the public discourse and highlights case studies that might help re-boot the current situation that seems to be stuck for while.

[youtubetroll]

God should gives rich nations 365 days to fix refugee crisis, or all rich nations perish.

[deniseg-hill]

I wonder if people would worry if the majority of refugees were Christians.