I want to talk today about people experiencing traumatic event after traumatic event. People who no longer have a house or property. People who lose loved ones overnight. People who have seen things that no one should ever see. People who have insufficient food and drink at their disposal. People who cross the road to a better life on a rickety boat, taking the risk of dying. People who end up in an unknown environment and have lost everything. People who discover that once in another country, a long road with many obstacles is waiting for them.

When you read the foregoing, dear unique person, this may have already given rise to certain feelings. I am sure we all have feelings. Everyone feels good in certain situations and doesn’t in others. Everyone is sometimes happy, sad, angry or scared. I would therefore ask you to allow your feelings while reading this argument. And not only that, I would also like to ask you to realize that all people have feelings and to read my further argument with this knowledge.

I want to talk about refugees. The newspaper is full of articles about refugees and almost everyone has an opinion about the policy we should pursue in this regard. I often read stories about refugees who die at sea. Refugee camps where existence is so inhumane that it barely surpasses their terrible situation from before in terms of quality of life. I hear views from all sides about what we should do with this, and it is not uncommon for people to think that we should not receive refugees because we cannot receive them. I have often heard that they just come here to benefit from us.

Because I was very curious about the story of the refugees themselves and because I found these views very hard and short-sighted, I watched several documentaries and searched for articles where refugees or people who are closely involved with them spoke for themselves . From this research I decided that the refugee problem is very complex and that people who are doing well often do not want to realize that there are people who have a harder time. That may also make sense, because then it is much easier to say that they are not allowed in our country. In the following paragraphs I want to outline their difficult situation and try to explain why you can say a lot about the refugee crisis, but not that it’s the fault of the refugees. I also want to argue for a more humane refugee policy.

A while ago I saw a documentary about a computer scientist who had participated in a demonstration and was subsequently forced by the regime of his country to leave the country within a week. Because he thought it was important to show people all over the world what such a journey with a rickety boat meant, he bought a waterproof camera before he left his country and filmed his entire trip. I hope you believe me when I say those images were terrible. For days he sat with dozens of other people on a small, unstable boat. Everyone and everything smelled of urine and vomit. Adults and especially children became weaker and many became very ill. In the end they were lucky that they were saved by a lifeboat. Unfortunately, the misery was not over after that. Several of these people were followed the following months. Almost everyone suffered from loneliness, the difficult asylum procedures, a sense of loss, a sense of uselessness and the urge to work while this was not allowed. Not only in this documentary, but also in almost all other articles and documentaries, these situations and problems came back.

People don’t want to flee. Leaving your familiar environment, taking the risk of dying, living in urine and vomit for days to feel as if everything has been lost and to experience indifference from people in a well-developed country, aren’t things that you do when there isn’t a big problem. The man in the documentary had to flee, but many others have no other choice either. If you can die at any moment in a country where the war is raging and you see your children suffering, you are also obliged to flee. If we are honest and look at the facts, we all know that we would do exactly the same.

Now you might think that we almost never leave refugees to their ill fate, because there are many refugee camps, for example in Calais. Of course, a number of things are needed for a decent human life. Decent shelter, adequate food and drink, safety and also psychological help are desirable after dozens of traumatic events. I think we can agree that these are really basic needs. Perhaps it would be useful to discuss the presence or absence of these needs in Calais piece by piece.

Of course I do not know what you mean by ‘decent’ shelter, but we can say that tents with sails that barely stop the cold and rain and where people have to sleep with more than double the capacity aren’t decent. I think you can agree on that. Food and drink are available, but in small quantities and the rows behind the posts that provide food, are endless. In one of the articles a father says that he never lets his children walk around alone in the refugee camp, there is far too much chance that something will happen to them. Calais therefore does not score well in terms of safety either. Finally, psychological help is an immense problem. A journalist spoke to parents who were close to despair. Their daughter was traumatized in Syria for life by the actions of the IS fighters. She was raped and saw the most horrible things. The parents are afraid that their daughter will never get over this again, so psychological help is absolutely necessary. Although children and adults in Belgium can count on psychological help, these traumatized children are left to their own devices. Talking to a social worker is often not possible.

Two of my friends recently participated in a project that took them across Europe to visit refugee camps. They told about a place in Belgium where refugees pitch their tents because they are not welcome anywhere else. Because this is not allowed, their sleeping bags and tents are destroyed by the police every week. I understand that this is not allowed, but those people just couldn’t go anywhere else. Sleeping there was their only option.

It isn’t long ago that many Belgians were refugees themselves. During the First World War, a significant part of the Belgian population fled to neighbouring countries (or beyond). They often were received in a humane way. The neighbouring countries, for example, offered basic aid. It is correct that we didn’t fled to countries far away from Belgium, but 85 percent of the refugees now are taken care of in neighbouring areas. Only a small part flees further for various reasons, one of which is the sometimes distressing situation in reception camps in areas close to their home country.

Of course, tensions also emerged between the local population and the Belgian population during the First World War, but there was still a lot of solidarity. This means that we can  learn a lot from our great-grandparents. I think it’s important to realize that anyone can become a refugee, you just have to have bad luck. Being punished for being born in a wrong country is ridiculous, and yet we often do not want to help people who were born in such a wrong country.

I know that refugee policy is very complex. A possible counter argument for a more humane policy (by which we help more people) could be that we should be able to do it financially. Of course I understand this and I also don’t think we can receive all refugees in Belgium. But with other European countries, for example, we could develop a fair system in which we all contribute to capacity and financial opportunities. I know this doesn’t solve everything and I don’t think there is a ready-made solution, but I think we should at least view all people as unique persons with feelings. Only in this way can we guarantee a decent life for all people.

I now have finished my arguments. I think we should remember that almost all refugees come from an untenable and terrible situation. That no one likes to leave their familiar environment and flee, so neither do refugees. That their journey to another country is often very inhumane, and that many people die in this trip. That, once they have arrived at their destination, they still have to take a bumpy and difficult road through refugee camps, asylum procedures and a lot of incomprehension. That, despite everything, we often leave these desperate people to their own devices. That it can also be done differently.

Dear unique person, I hope that you have a beautiful life and that it will stay as beautiful. I really hope so. But I also hope that if you have a beautiful life, you do realize that not everyone is that lucky, but that we are all unique people. Each refugee comes from a family and group of friends. Every refugee has a unique personality and a unique story. All people deserve a home and a life without too much suffering. Because to be honest, you do wish this as well for you and your loved ones, isn’t it?