World Politics News   Articles for World Politics Course

The refugee crisis is causing the EU to bend its own rules but also international law.  German Chancellor Merkel reached an agreement with Turkey that includes the following elements:

• The EU will admit one refugee for every refugee that is sent back from Greece to the Turkish refugee camps.
• Turkey is asking for around 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) to house and feed the new migrants, as well as the 2.5 million refugees already in Turkish camps.
• It has also called on the EU to grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens throughout the bloc – a perk Turks have long craved.
• It is also calling for an acceleration of EU accession talks, which have been languishing for nearly 30 years.

The agreement needs to ratified by the EU, but sending back refugees violates the EU Convention on the treatment of refugees as well as the international convention on the status of refugees.

Since the beginning of the Cold War, both Russia and China have been staunchly opposed to intervention for humanitarian reasons.  The reason for that position was clear: both feared Western intervention to defend minorities in their countries who might have warranted protection.  But that position seems to be changing.  Both China and Russia are now a little more favorable to intervention since it now can be used to diminish the role of the West in propping up favorable regimes.  If this trend takes hold (as it appears to have done in the cases of Crimea, North Korea, Syria, and the South China Sea), there could be greater instability in the international system.