Five years after Kurdish death: escaping is more dangerous

Alan Kurdi’s body was washed on a beach in Turkey on September 2, 2015. File photo.Image: Nilufer Demir / AP / TT

Eleven other Syrians died on the same ship. But it was the image of Alan Kurdi that got stuck in millions of retinas after his lifeless body was washed up on a beach in Turkey.

The dead three-year-old boy from Kobane in Syria became a symbol of the hundreds of thousands of people who fled the horrors of the war against Europe. In the days after the image was released around the world, on September 2, 2015, the hashtag #refugeeswelcome became a trend on social media and many became involved in the refugee cause.

– The image aroused empathy and became a blow to the stomach for many people, says Jacob Sohlberg, a researcher at the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg.

Kurdish’s death was also highlighted by politicians in Europe. The boy’s fate was lifted when Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (S) in a now known speech said “My Europe does not build walls”. Critics cite him often, because his government in the fall that followed instead adopted a much stricter immigration policy, like other European countries.

– Many leaders spoke about the importance of a more generous refugee policy. But as the flow of refugees increased, countries changed their policy, including Sweden. The shakeup may have come even earlier if it weren’t for Kurdi’s image, but we can only speculate, Sohlberg says.

However, Kurdis’s death shocked public opinion, according to a panel study conducted by Sohlberg and his colleagues with the same respondents several times in 2015. Support for a generous refugee policy increased immediately after fate was known. by Alan Kurdis, especially among those who saw the image. about him in direct connection with them answering the questions.

However, over time, the support waned and in December it returned to the same level as before Alan Kurdi’s death. Sohlberg says that images have the potential to spark debate, but that how people are affected by them changes over time.

– This type of image can point to a social problem at this time. But the overwhelming feeling when you first see her can never come back.

In 2015, around a million people tried to cross the Mediterranean into Europe. One in four was a child, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef. In 2019, the number dropped to around 120,000, but children still accounted for a quarter. The same proportion was observed in the first months of 2020, according to Unicef, which states that almost 52,000 refugee and migrant children were in Italy, Greece and the rest of the Balkans in mid-March this year.

Many children take the same dangerous path as Alan Kurdi and his family. But since countries toughened up and tried to dissuade people from coming to Europe, the flight is even more dangerous today, according to Karin Ödquist Drackner, director of the program and a child rights lawyer at Unicef.

– Wars will be no less. Syria continues. Fewer people flee to Europe today, but more people die or are seriously affected when they do so because the escape routes are so dangerous, she says.

– There will continue to be families with children who have no other alternative. Many are hesitant to part ways as opportunities for family reunification become increasingly difficult and thus flee together as a family.

The image of Alan Kurdi led to a wave of humanism that Karin Ödquist Drackner hoped would lead to real change. But five years later, the climate has hardened, especially in Europe, he believes.

– On paper, we have a common asylum system in Europe, but it does not work. The EU has been working to develop a new revised system for several years without success, says Ödquist Drackner.

– We still have crowded boats in the Mediterranean and there are not enough legal roads, so many desperate people are forced to embark on a life-threatening journey. It is proof that we have not succeeded.