The EU׳s Regional Refugees Approach׃ A Promising, yet, Contesting Approach

Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Social sciences, Humanities and Education

Year: 2022

DOI:

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The EU׳s Regional Refugees Approach׃ A Promising, yet, Contesting Approach

Lina Al Eassa

 

ABSTRACT: 

The EU has drawn on its migration policy in the Middle East and North Africa as a method of region-building that sets resilience as the “Governing Rationale״ to respond for the crises since 2015.The EU migration policy as a region-building initiative might be a promising approach, yet, it has had contesting, albeit, understudied effects. The EU, by its resilience building of the host states of refugees, could ultimately endanger the stability of those states. Those overburdened states by its own problems have greater social economic strains because of refugees. In addition, resilience does not put an end to those refugees’ suffering in these countries; many difficulties including medical care, and labor still exist. Accordingly, they are struggling to find their way to Europe. Hence, resilience may seem jeopardizing rather than safeguarding the security of the EU or the host states, and here is the challenge. However, building on the case of displacement from Syria, the article targets the EU’s refugee approach in its neighborhood, and employs in-depth analysis for the EU׳s refugee cooperation with Jordan, one of the key regional hosts to argue that there might be challenges related to resilience, however, the EU and Jordan are working to tackle these challenges. They are doing that by trying to keep a balance between refugees and local communities, and enhancing the capacities of the them both to preserve Jordan’s social cohesion. More importantly, resilience׳s role in preserving Jordan’s economic, social stability and social cohesion, makes it a better approach than providing humanitarian assistance.

keywords: Migration Policy, Region-building Initiative, Resilience, Security, The Syrian Refugee Crisis.