The history of foreign states providing asylum to those fleeing persecution and conflict goes back thousands of years. In the 21st century, natural disasters also force people to seek refuge in other countries.

At the end of World War II, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as the United Nations Refugee Agency, was established to help displaced people from Europe.

The world is currently witnessing the largest population displacement in history. More than 65.6 million people around the world were forced to leave their homes as a result of conflict and persecution at the end of 2016. Among them, about 22.5 million refugees, more than half of whom have not reached the age of 18. An additional 10 million stateless people were denied citizenship and access to basic rights such as education, health care, employment and freedom of movement. In a world where 20 people are displaced every minute as a result of conflict or persecution, the work of UNHCR is more important than ever.

Initial three-year mandate

The UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 with an initial mandate of three years, at the end of which it was to be disbanded. On July 28, 1951, the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted, which became the basic document that guides the UNHCR in its activities. After three years, the Agency has not ceased its activities and to this day provides assistance to refugees.

UNHCR and the decolonization of Africa

In the 1960s, the UNHCR took an active part in resolving the refugee crises that arose as a result of the process of decolonization in Africa. Over the next two decades, UNHCR helped resolve the migration crises in Asia and Latin America. The end of the last millennium was marked by a renewed migration crisis in Africa and, returning to the starting point, a refugee crisis in Europe caused by the wars in the Balkans.

Millions of Syrian refugees

Since the beginning of the crisis, the need for humanitarian assistance in Syria has increased significantly. Millions of people, including several million children, need humanitarian support. Since 2010, over 400,000 people have died.

The Syrian displacement crisis has become the largest in the world. 6.3 million of the country's inhabitants became internally displaced and almost 4 million received asylum in neighboring countries. An estimated 4.53 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in hard-to-reach or besieged areas. School attendance has fallen by more than 50 percent in the country. About a quarter of educational institutions have been damaged, destroyed or used as collective shelters. More than half of the hospitals have been destroyed or badly damaged. Water supplies are less than 50 percent of pre-crisis levels. Some 9.8 million Syrians are food insecure and many more Syrians live in poverty.

Turkey has taken in over 2.9 million Syrian refugees. Most of them live in cities, and some 260,000 are in 21 government refugee camps. Over a million Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanon and 660,000 in Jordan. A growing number of Syrian refugees are arriving in Iraq, where there are already more than 241,000 people. At the same time, UNHCR assists over 122,000 Syrian refugees in Egypt.

South Sudan

In 2016, following the failure of the peace process in South Sudan in July, 737,000 people were displaced by the end of the year.

UNHCR on the ground

UNHCR is headquartered in Geneva, but about 85 percent of the staff works in the field. Today, more than 9,300 employees in 123 countries provide protection and assistance to approximately 55 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons and stateless people. More than five million registered refugees are under the care of the UN's Near East Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees. The bulk of UNHCR's staff is based in Asia and Africa, the leading countries in terms of the number of refugees and internally displaced persons. Often, UN staff have to work in difficult and dangerous conditions, as many people in need of assistance are in hard-to-reach places. Among UNHCR's largest operations are programs in Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1949 to provide services to registered Palestine refugees in the Middle East. In 1950, when the Agency began its work, its mission was to meet the needs of some 750,000 Palestinian refugees. UNRWA is a direct service provider, providing assistance related to primary and secondary education, health care, support and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and response to emergencies, Palestinian refugees, numbering this moment of 5.4 million people in five areas covered by its mandate: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The World Bank has called UNRWA's educational system for 530,000 boys and girls a "global public good". UNRWA is an efficient and well-managed United Nations agency. It has implemented major reforms and austerity measures that have enabled it to cut costs by approximately $300 million since 2015.

Mandate of UNRWA

The definition of refugees given in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the definition of Palestine refugees given by the General Assembly of the United Nations are complementary.

For the purposes of UNRWA's mandate, "Palestinian refugees" refers to persons whose habitual residence was in Palestine between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948 and who lost both their homes and livelihoods as a result of the 1948 conflict. Palestinian refugees and their descendants can register with UNRWA for services provided in its mandated areas.

UNRWA has not changed and cannot change its mandate. This is the mandate of the Member States of the United Nations. Through the United Nations General Assembly, they have tasked UNRWA with providing assistance and protection to the Palestinian refugees until a long-term, just and equitable political solution can be found to lift them out of their predicament.

Because it is not easy to reach a political solution, there are still several protracted refugee crises around the world, that is, situations in which refugee status is retained for several generations in a row. In the view of the General Assembly, in the absence of a just solution to the issue of Palestine refugees, there is a continued need for UNRWA. Without UNRWA, the problems of the Palestinian refugees will not be solved.

Descendants of refugees retain refugee status

In accordance with international law and the principle of family unity, the children of refugees and their descendants are also considered refugees until a long-term solution to the situation is secured. On this basis, both UNRWA and UNHCR hold the view that the descendants of refugees are also refugees, a view that is widely accepted by the international community, including both donor and host countries.

The situation of Palestinian refugees is no different from other protracted refugee crises, such as in Afghanistan or Somalia, where the status of refugees persists for generations and is recognized by the UNHCR, which provides them with appropriate support. Protracted refugee crises are the result of a failure to find political solutions to the underlying political crises.

Supplying refugee camps

Camps in which refugees live are often protected. UN agencies ensure that refugees have access to basic needs such as food, water, sanitation and health care.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been twice awarded Nobel Prize world - in 1954 and 1981.

Migration in the context of climate change and natural disasters

In addition to the persecution and conflicts that force people to seek refuge in other countries, another sad factor has been added in the 21st century - natural disasters (sometimes caused by climate change). The frequency and intensity of such cataclysms as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and landslides are steadily increasing. This mainly results in population movements within countries, but can also force people to seek asylum in other countries. However, in none of the existing international or regional legal instruments in the field of refugee rights, the plight of such people is specifically stipulated.

Factors associated with climate change also provoke mainly internal displacement. However, drought, desertification, salinization of groundwater and soil, and rising sea levels, which are also caused by climate change, often force people to leave their countries.

Man-made disasters and the resulting socio-economic hardships can also force people to flee abroad. While only a few flee persecution, most people leave their countries because they have no real opportunity to stay there. According to , factors such as lack of food and water, limited access to education and health care, and lack of livelihood cannot by themselves justify a claim for refugee status. However, some of these people may need some form of protection.

Thus, conflicts, natural disasters and climate change are major challenges for the international community.

On September 19, 2016, the UN General Assembly organized a high-level meeting to mobilize the efforts of all countries to solve the problem of refugees and migrants.

Due to the current situation in geopolitics, the modern world is going through a process of active resettlement of citizens from the Third World countries and the countries of the post-Soviet space. The main reasons for migration are: low living standards, unemployment, lack of social guarantees and support from the state, human rights violations, military conflicts, unfavorable climate. As a rule, Western countries today are the most attractive for emigration due to the high standard of living and the powerful social policy of the state in relation to its citizens.

Globalization contributes to the process of migration, as living conditions in Third World countries are deteriorating every year, the economy of these states is operating in an occupation mode, which means stable inflation and rising prices for goods and services, housing and communal services tariffs, fuel, a constant increase in taxes, fines, low the quality of food, the rise in the number of unemployed, the high number of people living below the poverty line, poverty, high crime rates, environmental problems, high levels of corruption and the indifference of public authorities towards the well-being of their people.

In addition, in a number of countries, due to the unstable political situation, the crisis of power, military conflicts may occur, in connection with which, part of the population becomes refugees who are forced to leave for other countries to live.

Today, the problem of refugees is present in the Donbass and in the countries of the Middle East. Many citizens of the DPR and LPR were forced to migrate to Russia, where they are now experiencing problems with legal stay in the country.

The issue of illegal migrants and refugees was especially evident in the European Union, when refugees from Africa and the Middle East, as well as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, began migrating dramatically in 2015 in huge numbers. As a result, the authorities European Union faced the problem of a massive influx of illegal migrants and the impossibility of a quick legal resolution of issues of granting refugee status and issuing documents. In this regard, camps with terrible living conditions have been created for migrants from Third World countries, where thousands of people stay. In addition, Europe is faced with the fact that most of the refugees profess Islam, they were brought up in religious families, where, according to the norms of Islam, the European way of life is simply unacceptable. As a result, this caused a culture shock and a misunderstanding of the liberal values ​​of the local population among the visiting guests.

Inhabitants European countries were sharply criticized and condemned by migrants, which led to a wave of crimes, riots and a threat to the future future of European society.

It is clear that the EU authorities initially listened to the advice of the main globalists from the United States and the recommendations of liberal politicians who instill in the population of the EU countries tolerance for all people, regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, religious beliefs. These same gentlemen are promoting in Europe the idea of ​​legalizing prostitution, same-sex marriage, promoting transgender people, gender reassignment, legalizing drugs and other things. As a result of the influx of migrants, the European Union is now in a migrant crisis, which could lead to major clashes between natives and refugees, and even escalate into civil war.

In addition to the European Union, problems with labor migrants exist in Russia and the CIS countries. Due to the current economic and political situation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 90s and 2000s in the post-Soviet countries, Russia found itself in the most favorable conditions in terms of economy and living standards. The market economy, the arrival of foreign corporations in the country, have made Russia an attractive country for the immigration of citizens from Vietnam, China, and more recently for citizens from Africa and the Middle East. Most of the labor migrants arrive in big cities Russia, in particular to Moscow and St. Petersburg due to high wages and a sufficient number of jobs.

Unfortunately, in the situation with migrants in Russia, a number of serious problems: corruption among employees law enforcement, illegal entrepreneurship associated with the migration registration of foreign citizens, the issuance of patents for work, registration at the place of residence, etc.

Here you can also add the arrival of illegal migrants to the country, whom employers illegally hire, creating slave working conditions for them and paying low wages. wages. In this situation, employers commit a number of offenses and criminal offenses against illegal migrants, without paying them any money for their work, forcing them to work in gross violation of the Labor Code. As a result, this leads to constant inspections of firms and enterprises by law enforcement officials who deal with migration issues and identify violations of the law, followed by the deportation of visiting migrants from the Russian Federation.

In addition, labor migrants periodically commit crimes in our country for various reasons: poverty, inability to get a job, cultural conflict based on religious norms and beliefs, ethnic strife and nationalism.

In general, this creates a negative attitude towards visiting migrants among some Russians, which leads to conflicts that are close to extremist activities on the part of active citizens with ultra-right views. There are cases when migrants themselves become victims of crimes by Russian citizens, which speaks of extremism and non-compliance with the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Over the past 5-7 years, the problem of emigration has become widespread in Russia as well. The constant drop in living standards, low wages, rising utility tariffs, corruption, the indifference of the authorities to the problems of the population, the poor quality of roads and medicine, the lack of social guarantees, decent pensions and benefits, the low level of security, unemployment, etc., makes some Russians think about emigration to the countries of the West, or to countries with a hot climate for the purpose of downshifting. Thus, over the past 5 years, more than 2-2.5 million Russians have emigrated from our country abroad.

To solve the problems of population migration in different countries, governments and other elites of the Third World and CIS countries should clean up the national economy, create jobs and build enterprises, pay decent wages, and not force their citizens to immigrate abroad in search of work and better conditions life. Their internal policy is sometimes simply monstrous in relation to their own population.

It is necessary to purge the fifth column among the legislative and executive authorities, introduce tough measures to combat corruption and completely abandon the political course of serving the global elites of the globalists, for whom migration only benefits and helps them solve their geopolitical tasks.

As practice shows, practically everywhere in the world migrant workers are treated not so kindly as second-class people, especially those who are in a foreign country illegally. This happens even in a number of countries of the European Union, the USA, Canada, Israel, etc. Tolerance and a mysterious European smile, by which one can not understand what a person has in mind, will not always speak of friendliness and respect for migrants, even from CIS countries. Sometimes in the process of work, native citizens of any of the Western countries indirectly try to "push" more work onto a foreign citizen. In other words, - "It's good where we are not."

The text is large so it is divided into pages.

When did the first refugees appear?

The problem of refugees in the form in which we understand it now arose precisely at the beginning of the 20th century. However, as Yury Morgun, an employee of the Representative Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belarus, wrote in his article “Refugees - a global problem of the 21st century”, the history of mankind is full of tragic pages associated with refugees. “Back in 695 BC. e. 50 thousand people fled to Egypt, fleeing the Assyrian army of King Sennacherib, who entered Judea. At the beginning of the new era, about 300 thousand Goths fled from the invasion of the nomadic Huns to the lands of Rome. The process of disintegration under the blows of the barbarians of the Great Roman Empire (410) was accompanied by an unprecedented exodus of masses of people before that ("great migration of peoples"). In the VIII-IX centuries. as a result of the devastating Viking invasions of Britain, about 40 thousand islanders fled to France. The First Crusade (1096-1099) caused a mass exodus of Muslims from the "holy places" captured by the knights. More than 500 thousand Arabs and Turks became refugees. Waves of refugees were generated not only by wars. Thousands of people in Europe and Asia fled the frequent plague epidemics. The real exodus began in the first half of the 13th century, when the Mongol hordes, sowing death and destruction, marched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Chinese, Arabs, Russians, Persians, Poles, Hungarians fled to neighboring countries, trying to escape the terrible invasion. In 1492, after the verdict of the king and queen of Spain, more than 200 thousand people who did not accept Christianity became refugees.

According to the well-known Russian political scientist Fyodor Shelov-Kovedyaev, it was in international law that the term "refugee" appeared after the First World War, when, as a result of the treatment that the civilian population was subjected to, primarily by the German troops, hundreds of thousands of residents of France and other European countries were forced to leave their homes. In the future, the problem of refugees worsened more than once, starting in the 1930s. For example, as a result of the policies of the Nazis and fascists in Nazi Germany, Francoist Spain and Italy under Mussolini. Also classic are the cases of Eastern and Western European refugees during and after World War II, Afghan and Jewish (to Israel, from Islamic countries due to persecution and the Arab-Israeli wars) refugees, Iraqi Kurds fleeing the regime of Saddam Hussein, Cambodians who fled from the Pol Pot regime and many others. Among the internal refugees, there are Colombian (as a result of the activities of the FARC rebels) and Mexican (as a result of the seizure of power by revolutionary radicals in one of the states of Mexico). AT recent times the greatest attention was drawn to the problems of refugees that arose during the collapse of the USSR; during various military operations in Rwanda, as a result of the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes; in Sudan, due to a sectarian war; in Iraq after the US-led coalition forces entered that country.

There are tens of millions of refugees in the world today, most of them in Africa. The United Nations Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees operates within the framework of the United Nations. The status and rights of refugees are regulated by international instruments. Chief among them are the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees, which were not recognized by the USSR and signed by the Russian Federation; and the Organization of African Unity Convention on Refugees in Africa. Large compact concentrations of refugees are a breeding ground for various kinds of criminal and extremist groups and organizations, often enjoying support from abroad. For Russia, the most pressing issues were refugees after the collapse of the USSR - from the former Soviet republics: Meskhetian Turks, Azerbaijani Armenians, from Transnistria, Georgians from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Georgia proper as a result of civil war in this country, as well as, in connection with the separatist movements in the North Caucasus, from Chechnya and Dagestan.

If earlier under this definition hit anyone, but now it looks more specific. And so, by the word "refugees" it is customary to understand persons who left the country in which they permanently resided as a result of hostilities, persecution or other extraordinary circumstances. ( Economic reasons, famine, epidemics, natural or man-made emergencies, as a result of which a person left his place of residence, are not such circumstances). As a rule, these people cannot or do not want to use the protection of their country for fear of being deceived and suffering even more and, as a result, they are not able to return there. That is why a refugee or asylum seeker cannot be sent back to his country of origin.

It is worth recalling that in domestic jurisprudence there is also such a term as "forced migrant". Their rights are in many respects similar to the rights of refugees, and the main difference is that, unlike a refugee, a forced migrant enjoys all the rights of Russians. They are citizens of the Russian Federation and foreigners legally residing on its territory.

A person who has committed serious crime non-political nature before arriving in Russia, or really suspected of committing a crime against peace and humanity, or a war crime. (We should especially take this point into account, especially as regards the crossing of our border by deserters from the Ukrainian army). Also, a person cannot be recognized as a refugee, for whom the competent authorities of the state in which he lived recognize the rights and obligations associated with the citizenship of this state. Here we have in mind, first of all, unpaid taxes and conscription for military service (although in the situation with Ukrainian citizens, all these bureaucratic formalities may well not be observed on their part). If you answer the question of where is the line between settlers and refugees, then according to the official UN statute, only those who fled violence and wars are considered refugees, but not their descendants born in another land.

How to get refugee status

It is necessary to know that in a strictly legal sense, a person does not become a refugee as such after recognition, but is due to the onset of already existing circumstances. In other words, a person is recognized as a refugee because he is a refugee. Recognition of a person as a refugee provides for:

1) applying for recognition as a refugee (hereinafter referred to as the application);

2) preliminary consideration of the application;

3) making a decision to issue a certificate on consideration of the application on the merits (hereinafter referred to as the certificate) or on refusal to consider the application on the merits;

4) issuance of a certificate or notice of refusal to consider the application on the merits;

5) consideration of the application on the merits;

6) making a decision on recognition as a refugee or on refusal to be recognized as a refugee;

7) issuance of a refugee certificate or notification of refusal to be recognized as a refugee.

When crossing the border legally, the law does not establish a deadline for applying for recognition as a refugee. If a person crossed the border of the Russian Federation illegally, then any border control authority or migration service should apply as soon as possible with an application for refugee status. It must be borne in mind that the daily circulation period begins from the hour of crossing the State Border of the Russian Federation.

In the application (or questionnaire), he will need to briefly state, as far as possible, all the most important circumstances for which he was forced to leave his place of permanent residence (interethnic strife, hostile campaigns, riots and pogroms, the death of relatives due to ethnicity, etc.). ), because it matters a lot.

The certificate of consideration of an application for recognition of a person as a refugee is a document proving the identity of the applicant. Upon receiving it, a potential refugee submits a national passport or other identity document for storage at the immigration control post or the Migration Department of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

If a person already has a residence permit in the Russian Federation, then his application is not considered and the refugee status is denied. It is believed that such a person can settle down on his own, and he does not need state guarantees provided to refugees.

The certificate is the basis for registration with the internal affairs body. The certificate is also the basis for a person and members of his family to receive a referral to a temporary accommodation center. Upon receipt of the Certificate, a person is paid a one-time cash allowance in the amount of one minimum wage, a referral is issued to the Center for temporary accommodation of refugees or persons applying for recognition as such.

Refugee status is granted for a period of up to three years (as a rule, for three years), then it can be extended by decision of the territorial department of the Federal Migration Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, while maintaining the circumstances in the state of nationality (former usual residence) of the person, according to which the person was recognized as a refugee.

Upon granting refugee status, a refugee certificate is issued. Information about family members recognized as refugees who have not reached the age of eighteen years is entered in the certificate of one of the parents.

In case of refusal to be recognized as a refugee, a person has the right to appeal this decision to a higher authority or to a court.

How to solve the problems of refugees

Of course, in the situation with Ukraine, one should not scatter critical statements and succumb to panic attacks, but in the same way, one should not turn a blind eye to the risks posed by refugee flows. This is the danger of an outbreak of an epidemic of various diseases in the camps for displaced persons, as happened during the tragic exodus of refugees from Rwanda to Zaire in 1994, when total number persons qualified as refugees rose to 1.2 million in just one week. This is also the danger that after the relative stabilization of the situation in their homeland, the refugees may again find themselves in a whirlpool of wars and chaos, and all measures to protect them will be in vain. This is also the danger of conflicts between refugees and the indigenous population, when overpopulation of the territory sets in and people begin to divide it.

This and certain load to the state budget, since the sources of financing the costs of receiving, traveling, accommodating and accommodating refugees and internally displaced persons are federal budget funds allocated for the implementation of federal migration programs, as well as funds from the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation allocated for the implementation of regional migration programs.

The issues of returning to the places of their former residence and restoring the rights of refugees from natural and/or environmental disasters; and also, in a number of situations, political refugees, as was the case after the independence of some African countries or in Cambodia after the fall of the Pol Pot regime. A special practice here is the cases of population exchange between the states - Turkey and Greece after the Greek-Turkish war in the middle of the 20th century, Poland and the USSR and Poland and Czechoslovakia, on the one hand, and Germany, on the other, after World War II. In conflicts on ethnic, racial or religious grounds, the political efforts of the parties and the world community and economic support from international organizations are not enough for the massive return of refugees and the restoration of their rights, especially property rights.

One of the most successful recent refugee reintegration programs has been the integration of millions of Mozambicans who had to leave their homeland as a result of the civil war in the 80s and 90s. In the 90s. in Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNHCR assisted 3.5 million people during the conflict that engulfed the former Yugoslavia, causing mass displacement and widespread destruction. One of the most complex emergencies in UNHCR's history was the African Great Lakes crisis, which began in 1994 and forced millions of people to flee their homelands.

Thus, ideally, the solution to the problem of refugees lies in the creation of an exclusive paradise on earth, where there would be no poverty, hunger, civil wars and political repression. If we talk about refugees from Donbass at the moment, then, of course, they need to be provided with all kinds of assistance and they will not be able to use any state budget. Moreover, they may even prove useful as a skilled workforce. But the worst thing is that all these complex operations to accommodate refugees and return them to their homeland were carried out by various international organizations, and now they are either limited to general phrases, or just accompany humanitarian cargo so we have to rely only on ourselves.

National Research University - Higher School of Economics

Faculty of Law

Department of International Public Law

FINAL QUALIFICATION WORK

Problems of refugees in international law

Students group number 5MPP

Kokoreva Marina Dmitrievna

scientific adviser

Professor, Doctor of Law

(position, title, full name)

Moscow 2013

Introduction………………………………………………………………………..…….…..3

Chapter 1. Refugees as a social and legal phenomenon …………………………………………………………………………………5

1.1 Refugees in the world: background……………………………….…………..7

1.2 Legal status refugees………………………………..………………....18

1.3 Problems of refugees in the modern world……………………………….....22

1.4 Timely and durable solutions……………………………….26

Chapter 2 International legal regulation of assistance to refugees………………………………………………………….……………………..29

2.1 Universal level institutions………………………………………...32

2.2 Regional level institutions …………………………………………34

2.3 Domestic institutions for the protection of refugees…….………….54

Conclusion……………………………………..………………………………………58

List of used literature……………………………………………….63

Introduction

Today, just like decades ago, refugees are among the most vulnerable categories of the population. Official statistics show that every year hundreds of thousands of people leave their homes and countries of residence in order to save themselves and their families from the problems associated with religious persecution, armed conflicts, as well as various types discrimination.

Not a single summit of the united European Parliament is complete without speeches that are devoted to the problems of refugees and internally displaced persons, since continental Europe annually provides asylum to several hundred thousand applicants.

The reason for such massive flows of refugees has always been emergency situations associated with world and local wars, interethnic and religious conflicts, dictatorial political regimes, accompanied by gross violations of basic human rights, which forced people to leave their homeland, often without any means of subsistence, fleeing from persecution. and persecution.

Although the problem of refugees became acute for the first time after the First World War, it still continues to be relevant. According to UN statistics, at the end of 2004 there were about 17 million classical refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and stateless persons in the world. By the current 2013, their number has almost doubled, and every year these numbers continue to grow. Moreover, about 80% of them are women and children who need protection of their fundamental rights, especially the right to a decent human existence. Hence the justice of the words of Pope John Paul II, who called the refugee problem "the shameful wound of our time," is obvious.

The tragic situation of refugees, as well as the complication of relations between states, which caused their mass flows, led to the realization by the international community in the mid-40s. 20th century the need to create a stable universal international legal mechanism for the protection of the rights of refugees, as well as the development of international and national legal procedures for granting asylum and refugee status. This contributed to the formation of a special institution of international law - the law of refugees. The significance of this institution in the modern world is emphasized in the Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit. In it, the heads of state and government of the UN member states declared their obligation to uphold the principles of refugee protection and fulfill their obligations to improve the plight of refugees, including by supporting efforts aimed at on addressing the causes of refugee movements, ensuring their safe return, finding durable solutions to the problems of refugees while maintaining their status for a long time and preventing refugee movements from becoming sources of tension in relations between states.

The main purpose of this work is to consider the legal problems of refugees in international law.

To achieve this goal, the following particular tasks are solved in the work:

consider the issue of refugees as a social and legal phenomenon;

consider international cooperation on issues;

consider international legal regulation of assistance to refugees;

identify the problems of international regulation in the issue under consideration;

consider international system protecting the rights of refugees.

Chapter 1. Refugees as a social and legal phenomenon

In the past 50 years, the number of refugees in the world has grown dramatically and, despite the fact that the level of such migration was initially contained and even reduced, the figures began to rise and from 9.9 million people in 2006 they rose to 11.4 million. at the beginning of 2008. This was mainly due to an increase in the number of refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq in neighboring countries, as well as changes in the classification and assessment methodology in several countries around the world. By the end of 2012, there were already 42.5 million of them in the world, of which more than 15 million were refugees and about 26.5 million internally displaced persons. Thus, statistics show that the number of refugees last year increased by about 800,000 people. This was stated in the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The figure has become a record for the last 10 years.

The reasons for such mass movements are crises, wars, the consequences of the Arab revolutions.

Currently, 3 crisis points are identified: Mali, Syria, Sudan - South Sudan. There are others:

- Afghanistan– 8.7 million people, which is 50% more than in 2010;

- Syria- 4.2 million people;

The number of Syrians who have fled the country due to the ongoing bloody conflict since 2011 has reached 4 million, and this figure is projected to double or triple by the end of 2013.

- Iran- 1.7 million people;

- Iraq- 1.1 million people;

- Somalia- 2.7 million people;

- Vietnam- 2.1 million people;

- Sudan- 2 million people;

- Myanmar- 415 thousand people;

- Colombia- 395 thousand people;

- China- 184 thousand people;

- North Korea- 2,737 thousand people

In the CIS, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict generated the most refugees - more than 1 million people. As a result of the conflicts, more than 600,000 people left a thousand people in Georgia, 400,000 in Russia, and 100,000 in Moldova.

As for our country, according to well-known politicians, Russia has never really faced the "refugee problem" - this problem will become really relevant only in 2014, when the United States withdraws its troops from Afghanistan. Then Russia will not be able to avoid a multi-thousand flow of refugees.

Thus, it is clear that the international migration of the population has increased significantly in recent decades. Such active movement creates objective difficulties for the states involved in this process. Obviously, the states will not be able to cope with these difficulties on their own. Realizing this, the international community is unanimous in its opinion that the problems of refugees and population migration in general should be clearly and effectively regulated by international legal norms.

Forced migration itself is complex and multifaceted. And if natural migration is the process of self-regulation of the economic, social and demographic system of society, then the situation when people are forced to leave their homeland and places of permanent residence due to the threat of persecution and physical violence, natural disasters is extreme. Obviously, it is impossible to manage this process without understanding the underlying causes that caused such a spontaneous migration movement.

Contemporary refugee law cannot be understood without knowledge of the broader global context in which it emerged and began to develop. In this regard, the purpose of this chapter is to uncover this context in order to prepare the basis for the study of refugee law.

1.1. Refugees in the world: background

Refugee law is an institution of human rights law - an independent branch of international law, although the codification process in the field of refugee rights began earlier than the regulation of human rights at the international level. The formation of the institution of refugee rights is closely connected with the development of international relations. Moreover, the events in the international arena had a decisive influence both on the formation of the mechanism for the international protection of the rights of refugees, and on its subsequent evolution. Thus, the revolution in Russia and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire gave rise not only to mass movements of people, but also to the need to form a coherent international policy aimed at helping people who have lost their homes and, most importantly, protecting the country of their citizenship.

It is safe to say that the history of forced displacement begins with the history of mankind itself. Since ancient times, people, fleeing violence or its threat, were forced to leave their homeland and seek shelter in foreign territories, in foreign countries. Such plots are easy to find in the historical heritage of almost all countries and peoples: they are present in historical chronicles, annals, folklore, etc.

Refugee flows of various sizes arose in all epochs. The major wars of the Middle Ages and modern times gave rise to forced migration both within Europe and beyond. A significant part of the American colonists in the XVII century. were immigrants from England who left the country after the bourgeois revolution. The Thirty Years' War caused significant forced displacement of civilians within the Austrian Empire. Revolutionary events of 1820 - 1840s. in Europe also generated significant refugee flows. In the 19th century, the Russian Empire became a country that received a huge number of refugees, primarily from countries subject to the Ottoman Empire.

The onset of the 20th century was perceived by contemporaries as the beginning of a new era - more technological, progressive, civilized. But the very first decades showed that the scale of forced migration is growing rapidly. This was facilitated by the events of the First World War and a series of revolutions in different parts Sveta. The most significant was the flow of refugees from Russia during the civil war, when more than one million people were forced to leave the country for fear of persecution for political opinion or social origin. In this situation, the international community could no longer turn a blind eye to the problem.

The League of nations

Issues of international protection of forced migrants and their legal status are the subject of international cooperation of states already long time. Refugees became the first category of forced migrants.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the League of Nations was created - the first world body of interstate cooperation, the predecessor of the United Nations (UN) - launched a number of unprecedented initiatives to help refugees in Europe.

It was then that the Council of the League of Nations organized and held a conference in Geneva on the issue of refugees. The conference was held due to the First World War, massive flows of refugees from the former Russian Empire and the collapsed Ottoman Empire, the number of which exceeded 1.5 million people. The conference resulted in the appointment of Dr. Fridtjof Nansen as High Commissioner for Russian Refugees. This Department performed the following functions: determination of the legal status of refugees; organization of repatriation and accommodation of refugees; carrying out works to provide assistance with the assistance of charitable organizations. Later, the mandate of the Office was extended to other groups of refugees, namely Armenians (1924), Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans and Turks (1928).

In 1928, at the Geneva Conference, three international agreements on the issue of refugee protection were adopted: on the legal status of Armenian and other refugees; on the extension to other categories of refugees of certain measures taken in favor of Armenian and other refugees, and on the functions of the representatives of the High Commissioner of the League of Nations for Refugees. Data international relationships laid the foundation for the formation of the legal basis for the global system of international refugee protection.

In 1930, the League of Nations decided to establish the Nansen International Bureau (after his death) for refugees as an autonomous body under the control of the League of Nations. The bureau was managed by the Council of Governors, whose chairman was appointed by the Assembly of the League of Nations. The Bureau dealt with humanitarian issues, issues of assistance to refugees and carried out its activities until the end of 1938. Commissioner for Refugees headquartered in London. However, the functions and powers of the High Commissioner were very limited, and this position was abolished in 1946.

One of the first attempts to solve the problem of refugees was the holding in Evian of an intergovernmental conference to discuss the "question of forced emigration" of refugees from Germany and Austria, in which representative states took part. The result of the conference was the establishment of the Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees, whose mandate extended to all categories of refugees. In 1947 the committee was reorganized into the International Organization for Refugees.

Results of international cooperation of states in the field of international protection of refugees in the period 1921 - 1945. were insignificant for several reasons. First of all, the League of Nations did not have a sufficient material and financial base, which was necessary to finance expensive projects to help refugees. Also, the system of universal and regional international treaties in the field of forced migration, which covered all aspects of the international protection of forced migrants in that historical period. Most of the states parties to international treaties of that period were limited only to the adoption of the texts of international treaties, but did not ratify them. An example of this is that the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1933 was ratified by eight states, while the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees from Germany was ratified by only two states.

Consequences of World War II

Second World War sharply worsened the situation in the field of forced migration. The number of refugees and displaced persons at the end of the war exceeded 21 million. The League of Nations, could not cope with its tasks, and therefore was dissolved. To help the plight of the millions displaced throughout Europe during the years of conflict, the Allies established the United Nations Relief and Post-War Reconstruction Administration (UNRRA) in 1944, tasked with providing emergency assistance to displaced people. At the end of the war, this institution organized the return of millions of refugees to their homeland, but many did not want to return, as serious ideological changes had taken place in their home countries.

After the end of the Second World War, the problem of refugees was included as a priority issue on the agenda of the first session of the UN General Assembly in 1946. The following principles were developed, which formed the basis of the global system of international refugee protection:

The refugee problem is international in nature;

· none of the displaced persons or refugees who have expressed an objection to being returned to their country of origin may be forcibly returned to their country of origin (this was the basis of the basic principle - the principle of non-refoulement of refugees);

· the fate of refugees and displaced persons will be the concern of an international body or organization to be established;

· the main task is to encourage and provide any assistance to refugees in order to return to their country of residence as soon as possible (this is how the principle of voluntary repatriation of refugees was formed).

In 1947, two years after its creation, the UN established the International Refugee Organization (IRF). It was the first institution to comprehensively address all aspects of international refugee protection: registration, status determination, repatriation, resettlement, legal and political protection.

However, due to the political situation in Europe, most of the refugees no longer wanted to return to their homeland, so they were resettled in other countries. The MOB has found itself at the center of growing tensions between East and West, with many countries sharply criticizing its resettlement activities as ideological bias, seeking to provide the West with labor, and even aiding subversive groups. This hostility, along with the fact that only a few countries contributed to the budget of the MPS, led to its dissolution in 1951.

Creation of UNHCR

By the end of the 1940s, the MOB fell into disgrace, but it was clear that some kind of refugee agency would still be needed, at least for the foreseeable future. After a heated debate at the UN about what kind of institution it would be, in December 1949 Resolution 319 (IV) of the UN General Assembly The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established as a subsidiary body of the General Assembly. The resolution provided that the UNHCR would operate for three years beginning in January 1951; this was the result of disagreements among States on the political implications of establishing a permanent body.

The core mandate of UNHCR was originally set out in its Charter– annex to General Assembly resolutions 428 (V) UN(1950). Subsequently, it was significantly expanded by the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). UNHCR is mandated to provide international protection to refugees on a non-political and humanitarian basis. People who, at the time of the adoption of the Statute, were already receiving assistance from other UN bodies were excluded from UNHCR's mandate. Likewise, it did not cover people displaced by the Korean War who were subject to the mandate of the United Nations Organization for Reconstruction in Korea (UNROC, now dissolved). The men, women and children cared for by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are also outside the UNHCR's purview. However, UNRWA is authorized to help not all Palestinian refugees, but only certain categories of them located in the geographical area of ​​its activities. UNHCR's mandate has been repeatedly extended by resolutions of the General Assembly, and in 2003 the Office was authorized to continue its work until the solution of the problem of refugees in general and their protection in particular.

After 1950, General Assembly and ECOSOC resolutions expanded UNHCR's responsibilities. It was mandated to provide humanitarian assistance and protection not only to refugees, but also to other people - in particular, stateless persons, and sometimes internally displaced persons.

1951 convention

By establishing UNHCR, governments also adopted the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. The convention still underpins international law relating to refugees. It defines who is a refugee and sets standards for the treatment of those who meet that definition. The Convention serves as an important milestone in shaping the global community's commitment to addressing forced displacement.

The convention reflected the political concerns of the time: its scope was limited to only persons who became refugees as a result of events that occurred before 1951. In addition, States were given the opportunity to declare that the Convention applies only to European refugees. However, it soon became clear that refugee crises continued, and not only on the European continent. In 1956 UNHCR helped to coordinate the mass exodus of refugees after the uprising in Hungary. A year later, this organization was assigned to help Chinese refugees in Hong Kong. At the same time, she participated in helping Algerians who fled to Morocco and Tunisia after the Algerian War of Independence. UNHCR's response to these crises marked the beginning of its involvement in major refugee protection and relief operations.

In the 1960s, the shocks of decolonization led to many movements of refugees in Africa; this became a huge challenge for UNHCR and ultimately transformed the organization. Unlike Europe, in Africa there was often no clear durable solution for refugees. Many of them fled to countries that were also unstable. In just one decade, the focus of the organization's work changed dramatically, and by the end of the decade it was spending more than two-thirds of its budget in Africa. In response to these new realities, the international community adopted the 1967 Protocol to the 1951 Convention. The Protocol lifted the earlier restriction that only refugees displaced as a result of events before 1951 fell under the definition of a refugee in the Convention, and also removed the geographical restriction that allowed some states to consider only those who became refugees as a result of events in Europe as refugees. Although the 1967 Protocol largely solved the problems of the newly independent countries of Africa, in 1969 the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union), after consultations with the UNHCR, adopted its own refugee convention.

In the 1970s, refugee crises erupted in Asia. The most acute of these were the mass exodus of millions of East Pakistanis to India before the formation of Bangladesh, and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, many of whom left the country in boats unsuitable for navigation by sea. In those years, it was difficult to find solutions for all these refugees, which once again reminded us of the importance of international solidarity and burden-sharing. The most important events of that time were international initiatives to assist refugees from Southeast Asia, in particular, the Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP) adopted in the late 1980s. The CAP provided for the massive resettlement of refugees in countries North America, Europe and Asia, as well as to Australia.

By the end of the 1980s, many countries began to abandon the former, generous conditions for granting asylum. This was largely due to the sharp increase in the number of refugees around the world and the fact that they were now fleeing from countries that were fighting for independence. These refugee flows increasingly arose due to inter-ethnic conflicts in the newly independent states. In such conflicts, attacks on the civilian population increasingly became an element of military strategy, so even relatively “small” conflicts could lead to massive displacement of the population. Everywhere, whether in Asia, Central America or Africa, these conflicts were often fueled by superpower rivalries and exacerbated by social and economic problems, making it particularly difficult to find durable solutions for refugees. UNHCR increasingly had to provide long-term assistance to refugees living in camps, often located in insecure areas.

After the end of the Cold War, inter-ethnic violence continued to generate refugee flows. In addition, humanitarian interventions by multinational military forces have become more frequent. In the 1990s, as in previous decades, international action was largely stimulated by the media, and its nature was largely determined by the interests of powerful countries. In 1999, for example, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states, concerned about the destabilization of the neighboring former Yugoslavia, quickly intervened as the situation in Kosovo worsened. On the other hand, in 1994, calls to send a significant UN peacekeeping force to Rwanda to stop the genocide going on there fell on deaf ears. Even when rich countries have taken action in regions where people have been displaced, they have often tightened the conditions for asylum on their own soil.

European Union

As for the European Union, it should be noted that this international organization initially did not pursue the goal of regulating migration flows, but was created for the purpose of economic integration. However, in connection with the gradual development and expansion of the EU, it became necessary to regulate not only labor, i.e., by its nature, economic, not forced migration, but also the migration of refugees and other categories of the population who left their places of residence against their will.

For a long time, the problem of forced migration was generally ignored within the EU. The only EU legal act to include refugee provisions before 1999 was Regulation 1408/71 on the coordination of social security systems in the Member States. It provided for the explicit inclusion of refugees in its content and a definition of refugees, which is in line with the definition given in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. When in 2001 the right of refugees to equal treatment in the social security system guaranteed by the regulation was challenged, the ECJ refused to interpret the regulation in the interests of refugees, holding that the regulation required that a person be enrolled in the social security system of several Member States, then it can use it. Since refugees do not have the right to free movement, they are locked up in one Member State and do not have the opportunity to integrate into the social security system.

However, gradually, with an increase in the number of people wishing to move to Europe as refugees, and the realization of the need for more detailed legal regulation of territorial asylum, the EU began to adopt special documents aimed at solving migration problems. To regulate the flow of forced migrants, the EU member states use various legal instruments: the conclusion of international treaties and the adoption of documents within the Union itself.

In 1990, the EU member states adopted the Dublin Convention, which determines the state responsible for examining asylum applications filed in one of the member states of the European community. One of its goals was to reduce the number of so-called refugees in orbit (rebugees in orbit). First this concept was provided for in the memorandum of non-governmental organizations on the draft UN Convention on Territorial Asylum in October 1976. In the memorandum transmitted to the Council of Europe, UNHCR explained that this term should be considered refugees who are not expelled or returned to the state of origin where there is a threat persecution, but at the same time they are not granted asylum in the state in which they applied and are forced to move from one country to another. It was the Dublin Convention of 1990 that was called upon to resolve this situation. The doctrine notes that this category of refugees is not new: Fridtjof Nansen, the High Commissioner for Refugees of the League of Nations, who was mentioned earlier, has already encountered the problem of such refugees, in respect of whom the responsibility was shifted against each other Germany and Poland. But these refugees were called "ping-pong refugees".

However, difficulties soon arose in the application of the Convention. For example, the initial problems associated with identifying third-country nationals who have already applied for asylum in another Member State. All the problems that have arisen have been taken into account in the further improvement of the legal framework for regulating migration within the EU.

We should also mention the Schengen agreements, which are more related to voluntary migration. In particular, they mention the obligations of states under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Closely related to these documents is the EU Border Code, which was adopted to unify all rules on the establishment of internal controls at the borders. However, in the doctrine, EU border control rules are characterized as complex and controversial, especially at initial stage becoming. We are talking about the right of States to exercise control and checks at internal borders. With the adoption of the Code, the question arose, in particular, of whether it would in any way improve the Schengen Convention, which does not explicitly prohibit Member States from simply refusing to admit asylum seekers at external borders. It has been suggested that, taken together, the references to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in the Schengen Rules and the Borders Code, as well as human rights granted by the general principles of EU law (after the integration of the Schengen achievements into EU law) could be interpreted as that the provisions of the Schengen Regulations and the Borders Code would prohibit the refusal of asylum at the border.

Among the important aspects of the legal regime of asylum-seekers in the Dublin Convention and the 1990 Convention Relating to the Application of the Schengen Agreement is the fact that they are subject to state action. These categories of forced migrants do not have real rights and access to effective protection. Their fate depends on the will of the Member State. Both treaties provide for three principles in relation to asylum seekers: firstly, if one Member State examines an asylum application and rejects it, the denial is valid for all Member States (despite the fact that recognition of an asylum refugee is an act valid in the territory of only one State).

Secondly, Member States determine in which of them the asylum seeker has the right to submit and examine his application for asylum. Thus, the fact that a person has second-degree relatives or friends or employment opportunities in one Member State but not another and wishes to apply for asylum in that Member State is irrelevant in the allocation of responsibility between the participating States in accordance with the above treaties.

Thirdly, the responsibility for deciding on asylum applications and the responsibility for the person who submits the application is considered in both treaties as a burden and punishment of the Member State that allowed the person to enter the Union territory.

1.2 Legal status of refugees

The modern definition of the concept of "refugee" is formulated within the framework of international and national systems of law. It has been repeatedly transformed under the influence of new trends in migration processes and the causes that generate refugee flows.

Within the framework of the League of Nations in 1926-1938. various special agreements and conventions relating to the status of refugees have been adopted.

The first definitions of the term “refugee” in the above-mentioned agreements and conventions were quite simple system criteria to clearly distinguish between refugees and persons who left their country of origin solely for personal reasons. A group or categorical approach was used, in which the relevant nationality (Russian, Armenian, Jewish, etc.) and the absence of protection from the government of the state of origin were sufficient conditions for recognition of a person as a refugee. This categorization was easy to interpret and made it easy to identify who was a refugee. It should be noted that although not all agreements adopted within the framework of the League of Nations required the stay of an individual outside the country of origin, this condition was implied. The purpose of the agreements was to issue identity cards to secure travel and relocation. An exception was the activities of the Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees, established in 1938, which also included those persons who had yet to emigrate.

A feature of the mentioned definitions is the absence of indication of the reasons for which the individual is forced to leave his country of origin. Such reasons certainly existed. First of all, these include the consequences of the First World War, the change in the political system in Russia and, as a result, the reaction of certain circles to this event, as well as religious contradictions in some Asian countries. There is no doubt that the behavior of states gave rise to critical situations, which resulted in flows of refugees. Thus, the problem of refugees inevitably acquired a political content, since the fate of this category of citizens depends on the attitude of the state towards them.

Attempts to introduce a political aspect into the legal definition of "refugee" were made twice between 1921 and 1939. political events that have arisen in the territory of his nationality. In 1938, the resolution on the powers of the above-mentioned Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees recognized as such persons who were forced to leave their country of origin because of their political opinions, religion and racial origin. The mentioned resolutions did not have the status of legally binding documents, but their contribution to the formation of the international legal definition of a refugee is undeniable.

An analysis of the agreements adopted within the framework of the League of Nations makes it possible to identify trends that eventually became the basis of the current definitions. One such trend has been the gradual narrowing of the concept of "refugee" within specific legal criteria. Such criteria filled in the gaps in the concept of "refugee", enshrined in previous agreements, related to the lack of indication of the reasons that prompted a person to leave the country of his citizenship or permanent place of residence. This practice was reflected in the documents adopted after the Second World War - the Charter international organization Refugee Affairs and the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the provisions of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

The Statute of the MPS provided the broadest definition of a refugee of any of its predecessors, which could be considered an important achievement, although it was also drafted using a categorical approach. The concept of "refugee" according to the Statute of the MPS includes:

· persons who have left the country of which they are citizens, or their former habitual residence, or persons who are outside their borders, and regardless of whether they have retained their citizenship, are victims of fascist and Nazi and collaborating regimes;

In recent days, there have been reports in the press about some steps taken by Washington to meet Russia on the Syrian issue. In particular, John Kerry, who met with Sergey Lavrov three times during the week, said: "We welcome Russia's intention to focus its efforts on the Islamic State."

From my point of view, only an American layman, who is completely deprived of the opportunity to critically analyze the situation in the world, can believe in the sincere peacefulness of representatives of the State Department today. For those who are not deprived of this opportunity, it has long been clear that the "solution" to the problems of the "Islamic State" and, consequently, the refugees, the United States sees only through the prism of another "problem" - getting rid of Bashar al-Assad.

This alone is the goal of American foreign policy in the Middle East - to eliminate (where possible) the "wayward" leaders of independent states: Hussein, Gaddafi, Saleh, Assad, and so on. and replacing them with puppets.

Washington sees the problem not in the strengthening of extremist groups in the countries of the Middle East, not in the hundreds of thousands of dead and not in the millions of refugees, but in the fact that on their path to global domination, once again, an obstacle has arisen in the face of, as they believe, another "dictator ".

The situation in the Middle East will only get worse

Today it is clear that American politicians cannot be trusted, and it is impossible to agree on anything with them (although it is still necessary to try to negotiate) due to their inherent hypocrisy. Thus, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook recently said that "the US Department of Defense is ready for consultations with Russia in the future if it takes part in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria." It’s as if the State Department is fighting ISIS, and Russia is avoiding it in every possible way, although the situation is exactly the opposite.

The fact that American games are becoming more and more dangerous for the world is confirmed, in particular, by the position of Israel. It is known that the leadership of this country, which maintains formal neutrality, for example, on the issue of Ukraine, on the Syrian issue no longer clearly shares the point of view of the State Department. That's why Benjamin Netanyahu, who led the Likud party to victory in the recent Knesset elections through tough anti-Iranian rhetoric, arrived in Moscow on Monday, where he intends to get acquainted with Russia's position on the Middle East.

The day before, foreign media reported that within the next few weeks an agreement will be signed between Israel and the United States on the creation of joint missile defense systems. But it is one thing to go towards a traditional ally in the implementation of its global geopolitical plans in the air, and another thing is to confront radical Islamists directly on the ground today.

I believe that the hypocrisy of Washington's position towards ISIS in Israel is quite understandable. It is also understandable that the deliverance of the region from plunging into a global war (in which Israel's main adversary will not be Iran, but, most likely, the "Islamic State") can come from Russia.

The author of these lines also has no illusions about the immediate future of the region. I believe that the flow of refugees from Iraq, Syria, Libya and other Afro-Asian countries to Europe will continue. Well, in the case of the surrender of Damascus to the militants of the ISIS or the Free Syrian Army, this flow will certainly increase sharply.

But what are the US and EU doing today to prevent such an undesirable prospect? Almost nothing.

The flow of refugees to Europe today is resisted as best they can by the governments of Hungary, Serbia and Croatia. Bulgaria recently announced the closure of its borders for refugees. And even in Germany, politicians are talking about the need to limit the number of migrants received. In a word, European countries act according to the principle - "Save yourself, who can!". The European Union turned out to be unprepared to confront a new and obvious threat - just like NATO, whose numerous divisions are now busy with anything but ensuring European security.

Bulgaria bans overflight of Russian planes with aid to SyriaEarlier it was reported that due to the ban, two Russian aircraft will deliver aid to Syria through Iran. After Bulgaria's ban, the issue of using Greek airspace is removed.

May the reader forgive me, but in relation to the current situation in modern Europe, it is just right to introduce the politically incorrect term "Euroidiocy".

Unfortunately, the euro-idiots who have been filling the offices of the EU and the governments of a number of European countries in recent years seem unable to take advantage of even those activities in the direction of solving the refugee problem that Russia, for example, brings to them on a silver platter. So, last week, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry banned the flight of Russian aircraft with humanitarian aid for Syria in the airspace of its country.

Priority steps to be taken by Europe

I am sure that the solution of the problem of refugees must begin with the official recognition of the wars that were unleashed in the Middle East with the participation of the West as the reason for the flow of migrants to Europe.

It must be recognized that the "democratization" of Iraq, Libya and Syria through military intervention by the United States and NATO in the affairs of these countries did not ensure the formation of democracies in them, but led to the destruction of traditional statehoods, the activation of nationalist Islamist forces and the escalation of terror, including against Christians. and the West itself. This is the first.

FSB: the number of refugees is growing because of ISIS, not because of support for AssadThe flow of refugees to Europe comes not only from Syria, but from many countries, and it is not a consequence of Russia's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, FSB First Deputy Director Sergei Smirnov said.

Secondly, the European Union should agree that the overthrow of Assad in Syria will not stop the flight of the population to Europe, but, on the contrary, will only increase this flow, since the fall of Damascus will be a signal to millions of refugees "hanging" in Turkey and Lebanon to forget about returning home for a long time, if not forever.

The consequence of these confessions will inevitably be the conclusion that today the first thing to do is to stop the IS and only after that to solve the problem of Assad.

Thirdly, ISIS should be stopped at specific borders in Syria and Iraq by bringing militants into contact zones with government forces of these countries peacekeeping forces UN with the participation of Russia and NATO.

In parallel, it will be necessary to reorganize the existing refugee camps in transit territories (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, etc.) with their provision of the necessary humanitarian assistance. After that, it is necessary to finance the construction of comfortable settlements and camps for temporary detention of migrants in these countries.

It is also necessary to outline measures to help refugees, which are not limited to the payment of social benefits to them upon arrival in European countries and are more related to earnings based on the results of the organization public works in transit countries (services in the same settlements for refugees, work at reception centers for migrants, at stations and sea crossings, etc.).

It is clear that the solution of practical issues is not the kind of chatter from the stands that officials of the EU, PACE and other bureaucratic institutions are accustomed to, and in order to comprehensively resolve the refugee problem, it is necessary to create a special coordinating body, the decisions of which, regarding migration policy, should become binding on EU officials.

I believe that units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of European states should be transferred to the operational disposal of this body, and if this is not enough to ensure effective control over migration flows, then also individual divisions NATO.

These and other similar measures are obvious, but the EU, in my opinion, is hardly capable of adequate action simply because it is not allowed to discuss and make decisions that go beyond the framework of intra-European politics.

It is for this reason that today many European leaders are waiting for concrete action from Russia, and not from European officials. This, in fact, is the moment of truth, confirming that the European Union is an anti-European structure created and existing in order to manage and command Europe in the interests of the State Department and TNCs. This is also the moment of truth for NATO, a military alliance that, at such a difficult moment in European history, considers countering Russia and helping the Kyiv regime as its priority task, rather than fighting terrorists. Well, for example, German politicians are proud that German fighters patrol the airspace not over Syria, but over the Baltic states.

The level of Euro-idiocy is gradually approaching the boiling point, threatening to turn into steam not only the unity of Europe, but the entire architecture of the post-war world order.