51
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Westra et al. (eds.), Ecological Integrity in Science and Law,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_5
Refugees at Sea in a Hostile World
Joseph W. Dellapenna
Abstract In a world where hundreds of refugees are drowning at sea and thousands
are being turned away at the border, the question arises not only as to why so many
nations have become unwelcoming to refugees early in the twenty-first century, but
as to whether national conduct violates international, regional, and national laws
relating to refugees. To explore this question, this chapter not only describes the
laws that are applicable to persons qualifying as refugees, but also seeks to set those
laws in an historical context dating back millennia, with special emphasis on the
experiences during and after World War II that gave birth to the laws now being
flouted by so many nations. The chapter focuses on Europe, the crucible that largely
gave rise to modern refugee law and one of the major locations of the current refusals to fulfil those laws. Special emphasis is given to Italy as one of the frontline
states most deeply challenged by the ongoing refugee crisis.
On 25 July 2019, about 150 “migrants”
1
drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of
Libya (Momigliano 2019); by that date, the toll of drowned “migrants” in the
Mediterranean had already reached at least 423 for 2019. Weeks before, 44
“migrants” were killed in an airstrike on a detention camp in Libya (Walsh 2019).
One could easily add many more accounts of dying “migrants” trying to reach
Europe or other potential safe havens in recent decades. This chapter could focus on
any of the “front-line states” in the European refugee crisis (Italy, Greece, and
Spain). It focuses on Italy not because it is worse, but because it has become the
focal point for such problems in 2019.
Migration and the flight of refugees is not a new story. Nor is resentment or
worse directed at migrants. In order to understand events in Europe, this chapter
begins with a brief overview of the history of refugees fleeing violence to
1 Some, at least, of them might have qualified as refugees, and not merely as “migrants.”
J. W. Dellapenna (*)
Ardmore, Pennsylvania, United States
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Westra et al. (eds.), Ecological Integrity in Science and Law,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_5
Refugees at Sea in a Hostile World
Joseph W. Dellapenna
Abstract In a world where hundreds of refugees are drowning at sea and thousands
are being turned away at the border, the question arises not only as to why so many
nations have become unwelcoming to refugees early in the twenty-first century, but
as to whether national conduct violates international, regional, and national laws
relating to refugees. To explore this question, this chapter not only describes the
laws that are applicable to persons qualifying as refugees, but also seeks to set those
laws in an historical context dating back millennia, with special emphasis on the
experiences during and after World War II that gave birth to the laws now being
flouted by so many nations. The chapter focuses on Europe, the crucible that largely
gave rise to modern refugee law and one of the major locations of the current refusals to fulfil those laws. Special emphasis is given to Italy as one of the frontline
states most deeply challenged by the ongoing refugee crisis.
On 25 July 2019, about 150 “migrants”
1
drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of
Libya (Momigliano 2019); by that date, the toll of drowned “migrants” in the
Mediterranean had already reached at least 423 for 2019. Weeks before, 44
“migrants” were killed in an airstrike on a detention camp in Libya (Walsh 2019).
One could easily add many more accounts of dying “migrants” trying to reach
Europe or other potential safe havens in recent decades. This chapter could focus on
any of the “front-line states” in the European refugee crisis (Italy, Greece, and
Spain). It focuses on Italy not because it is worse, but because it has become the
focal point for such problems in 2019.
Migration and the flight of refugees is not a new story. Nor is resentment or
worse directed at migrants. In order to understand events in Europe, this chapter
begins with a brief overview of the history of refugees fleeing violence to
1 Some, at least, of them might have qualified as refugees, and not merely as “migrants.”
J. W. Dellapenna (*)
Ardmore, Pennsylvania, United States