A terrifying attack to the City of Love, Paris
On Friday 13 November 2015, at approximately 9pm, Paris experienced a series of coordinated attacks at Bataclan concert hall, near the national stadium ‘Stade de France’ and at several restaurants and bars. 129 people were killed and more than 300 people were injured.
It is alleged that there were eight attackers in total, operating in three separate groups.
Seven of the attackers died on the night and an international manhunt is currently underway to find the eighth. A Syrian passport was reportedly found near the body of one of the suicide bombers at the Stade de France.
French Officials have stated that the passport may have been ‘planted’ by the Islamic State Group who have claimed responsibility for the attack, to take advantage of the refugee crisis.
The terrible even heightened the refugee and asylum seeker crisis
The repercussions of this terrible event in Paris have further worsened the international refugee and asylum seeker crisis, with some media reporting that the refugees and asylum seekers travelling from Syria allowed terrorists to sneak into Europe.
In a fearful reaction to the news, several countries including Poland and the U.S have closed their borders and politicians in the U.S have called for a “pause” on Syrian immigration.
However, developments in the story so far, have revealed that all the attackers are French and Belgian nationalits/citizens, none of which are refugees from Syria.
Refugees and people of the states should have a balanced protection
It is imperative that international refugee law is enforced so that refugee protection should be denied to persons seriously implicated in grave crimes, to protect the security interests of states and their people. It is additionally crucial that the protection needs of genuine refugees who are escaping persecution and violence are imposed. A reasonable balance between these two important measures needs to be accomplished.
Melissa Fleming from the United Nations Refugee Agency highlights the fact that asylum seekers and refugees “… are fleeing extremism and terrorism – from the very people associated with the Paris attacks”. Fleming goes on to state that “Refugees should not be turned into scapegoats and must not become the secondary victims of these most tragic events”.
Peaceful world can only be attained if decisions are made based on unity and love
In times of tragedy and great grievance people rightfully demand answers to questions such as how could this happen? Who has allowed this to happen? And who is responsible? Understandably people deserve answers to these significant questions.
In the chaos and search for immediate answers, we can be provided with information that obscures the truth and fails to give us the whole story.
When a crisis occurs, it is important that we remain united and make decisions based on what is best for humanity as a whole, as opposed to what is best for each individual country or person, as this is the kind of mentality that caused this crisis in the first place.
If we can move away from making decisions originating from fear, but rather from love and unity, we can create a world where these kinds of tragedies do not happen.
