September 28, 2016
By Daphne Matziaraki
When I returned home to Greece(click here) last fall to make a film about the
refugee crisis, I discovered a situation I had never imagined possible.
The turquoise sea that surrounds the beautiful Greek island of Lesbos,
just 4.1 miles from the Turkish coast, is these days a deadly gantlet,
choked with terrified adults and small children on flimsy, dangerous
boats. I had never seen people escaping war before, and neither had the
island’s residents. I couldn’t believe there was no support for these
families to safely escape whatever conflict had caused them to flee. The
scene was haunting....
The Greek men that save the lives of so many are heroes as is the tiny island that accepts them willingly. There is no doubt they are doing the work of humanity. These great people need to be considered for a Nobel Peace Prize for the work they are doing.
This is a long lived reality of senseless and brutal war. There are many countries that have been the recipient of refugees over the centuries. There are people alive today that have survived because humanity would not let them die in the killing fields.
Greece and Turkey and the overflow of refugees into Europe have to come to the United Nations for resolutions as to what will bring about the best outcome for the global community. An entire region of the world has been destabilized by an unnecessary war that occurred in Iraq more than 13 years ago. There needs to be a plan to maintain the stability of Europe and conduct whatever intelligence of terrorist threats that exists because of the refugee crisis and migration of danger.
The terrorist threat Europe has now assessed is a global problem. There needs to be an understanding as to who the refugees are and end the danger. The CIA, FBI, Interpol and KGB along with any intelligence from Turkey and if any intelligence from China applies should create a much needed intelligence network. Israel may want to contribute as well. Those that want to kill forever must be stopped. It will take global cooperation to achieve such stability.
The boat in the film was primarily women and children. They can be assimilated into countries globally if they are willing to accept a new country, with new ideals AND THEY UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF PEACE AND COMPASSION.
The ethnicity of the people should be recorded. They may have descriptions of the atrocities they left behind to insure those that are responsible are found and held for trial.
Refugees need to understand the fact humanity saved them and in return they have a debt of peace to honor that act.
This will not go on forever. Syria and Iraq will find stability again and people can return to their homeland when it is safe.
The right of return must be included in any work at the United Nations.
