On June 21, 2016, RIAC Program Manager Elena Alekseeenkova attended a Valdai Discussion Club event with António Guterres, a UN Secretary-General candidate, UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2005-2015 and Portuguese prime minister in 1995-2002.
On June 21, 2016, RIAC Program Manager Elena Alekseeenkova attended a Valdai Discussion Club event with António Guterres, a UN Secretary-General candidate, UN High Commissioner for Refugees in 2005-2015 and Portuguese prime minister in 1995-2002.
Mr. Guterres presented his vision of the origins and ways to overcome the global migration crisis, and then answered numerous questions on migration, which he sees as a natural and inevitable process that can be hardly blocked. What the states can do is improve the relevant regulation mechanisms and make the process legal and streamlined. Europe requires clear-cut resettlement programs in order to rearrange the migration flows and avoid a situation in which a country on its own is trying to redirect he newcomers into the neighbor state and place it in charge.
According to Mr. Guterres, the crisis has been generated by the ultimate failure of the world community in conflict prevention, while it seems only investing in development of the source countries that may alleviate the migration flows.
Ms. Alekseeenkova pointed out the connection between migration and terrorism along the lines of a recent RIAC’s working paper on worldwide recruitment of combatants covering the EU, Russia and Central Asia. With about 30,000 foreign fighters operating on the ISIS side in Iraq and Syria, even a major damage to the group by the U.S., Russian and other forces would hardly eliminate the problem, and some of the terrorists would definitely move to other countries of the region and their homelands. Hence, it seems proper to make sure if the global community has tools to counter the threat, and there is a future for Russia-EU cooperation handling the foreign fighter problem.
Mr. Guterres sees the only way out in properly guarded frontiers and stringent examination of each newcomer. But there also is home-grown terrorism fed by the second- and third-generation migrants who are EU citizens. As for this threat, the only solution could be found in proper operation of security services.
