難民大量流入 欧州の支援策は奏功するのか

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Will refugee assistance measures by EU countries prove effective?
難民大量流入　欧州の支援策は奏功するのか

The true value of European Union cooperation will be put to the test through EU efforts to slow down the influx of refugees and illegal migrants from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere and build a system to assist them in an orderly manner.
　中東やアフリカなどから難民や不法移民が流入するスピードを抑え、秩序だった難民支援の体制を構築できるのか。欧州連合（ＥＵ）の協調の真価が試されよう。

The EU recently held a summit of its leaders and pledged at least an additional €1 billion (about ¥130 billion) to international organizations, including the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This is to support refugees in countries neighboring Syria.
　ＥＵは、首脳会議を開き、国連難民高等弁務官事務所（ＵＮＨＣＲ）など国際機関に少なくとも１０億ユーロ（約１３００億円）を追加拠出することを決めた。シリア周辺国で難民を支援するためだ。

More than 4 million people have fled Syria, a country where a civil war continues, to such countries as Turkey and Jordan.
　内戦が続くシリアからは、４００万人以上がトルコやヨルダンなどに流出した。

To reduce the number of refugees heading for Europe, it is vital to help stabilize the lives of people living as refugees in Syria’s neighbors. The EU’s assistance can be considered a desperate measure to tackle the refugee crisis, as a path to ending the civil war is not in sight.
　欧州に向かう難民を減らすには、周辺国での難民生活を安定させることが肝要である。ＥＵの支援は、内戦終結の道筋が見えない中での苦肉の策と言えよう。

The leaders of EU member countries have also agreed on establishing facilities for registering refugees and taking fingerprints in Greece and Italy, European gateways for refugees, by the end of November. It is to differentiate legitimate refugees from illegal migrants. The EU and its member countries will also cooperate in tightening border security.
　首脳会議は、難民流入の玄関口であるギリシャとイタリアに、難民登録や指紋採取を行う施設を、１１月末までに設置することでも合意した。難民と不法移民を区別する狙いだ。ＥＵと加盟国が連携して国境警備を増強するという。

A thorny problem for the EU is how to fairly share among member countries refugees who have entered Europe.
　ＥＵにとっての難題は、欧州入りした難民の受け入れについて、加盟国がどう分担するかだ。

During a justice and interior ministers’ meeting, held prior to the summit talks, the ministers decided that the member countries would jointly take in 120,000 refugees, now hosted by Greece and Italy, over the next two years.
　首脳会議に先立って開催された法相・内相理事会では、ギリシャとイタリアが抱える難民１２万人を２年間で、加盟国が共同で受け入れることを決めた。

As Hungary, Slovakia and two other East European countries opposed the refugee sharing plan, the ministerial meeting had no other choice but to reach its conclusion through an unusual majority vote.
　ハンガリーやスロバキアなど東欧４か国が反対し、異例の多数決で決着せざるを得なかった。

Sustainable system needed

The number of those refugees applying for European asylum is forecast to top 1 million this year. The latest decision on sharing refugees will be like a drop in a bucket, we think. Building a sustainable system to accept refugees is urgently needed.
　欧州での難民申請者は今年、１００万人を超えると予測されている。今回の分担決定は焼け石に水ではないか。持続的な受け入れ体制を作ることが急務である。

The EU has hammered out the latest measures, including one to contain the influx of refugees, as its member countries are alarmed that the large numbers of refugees and migrants crossing their borders will threaten the social stability of their countries.
　ＥＵが流入抑制を含む対策を打ち出したのは、大量の難民らが殺到することが各国の社会の安定を脅かすという危機感からだ。

In Greece, a country burdened with fiscal woes, a far-right anti-immigrant party placed third in the general elections held on Sept. 20.
　財政危機のギリシャで２０日行われた総選挙では、反移民を掲げる極右政党が第３党になった。

Germany, an economic powerhouse which has been generous in taking in refugees, began, in the middle of this month, limiting the influx of refugees with border checks. The measures are linked largely to protests by local authorities, whose capacity to accommodate refugees has surpassed their limits due to the upsurge in the influx. Also evident are the activities of ultra-right groups opposed to accepting the refugees.
　経済大国ドイツは難民を寛大に受け入れてきたが、今月中旬、国境検問による制限を始めた。流入急増で収容能力を超えた地元当局が抗議の声を上げたことが大きい。受け入れに反発する極右集団の活動も顕在化している。

The influx of refugees into Europe has now become an issue that the international community as a whole must tackle. The United States and Australia have pledged to accept more Syrian refugees.
　欧州への難民流入は今や、国際社会全体が取り組むべき問題だ。米国やオーストラリアはシリア難民の受け入れ拡大を表明した。

Japan, for its part, has focused on extending such assistance as the provision of food to refugees in Syria’s neighbors and the improvement of water supply systems in these countries, contributing more than $1.1 billion (about ¥130 billion).
　日本は、シリア周辺国の難民に対する食料供与や上水道整備など支援に力を入れ、１１億ドル（約１３００億円）以上を拠出してきた。

It is time for this country to rack its brains on how it can contribute further, in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis.
人道危機の深刻化を受け、一層の貢献へ知恵を絞る時である。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 28, 2015)