Santander – ESI presentation at UIMP University: How to save lives and preserve the refugee convention in the Mediterranean - lessons (not) learned

29 August 2018
Video: UIMP University

ESI's Gerald Knaus was invited to give a presentation at UIMP University's summer programm "Quo Vadis Europa VI: toward a new European Spring?". He explained the reasoning behind the EU-Turkey agreement and how it lead to a drop in arrivals and deaths in the Aegean. For the Central Mediterranean he argued that the key challenge is to find a humane, legal way of reducing irregular economic migration. Ultimately, this can only be achieved by changing the incentives that currently exist for would-be economic migrants.

In reference to xenophobic populism in Europe and the US, Gerald warned that those making moral calculations must reflect on the fact that the only real alternative – in this imperfect world – is not something better, but something much worse. Demagogues are best defeated by demonstrating, with conviction and through effective policies, that a world in which empathy has a central place, is possible.