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News Tip: EU Refugee Plan ‘Woefully Insufficient,’ Expert Says

EU ministers approved a plan for distributing thousands of refugees

The European Union ministers on Tuesday approved a plan for distributing thousands of refugees.•    Quotes: “While a landmark European agreement, the arm-twisting required of the EU decision to distribute 120,000 refugees through a ‘burden-sharing’ quota scheme only serves to undermine the moral commitment it sought to engender,” says Suzanne Shanahan, who directs the Kenan Refugee Resettlement Project at Duke University."While the European refugee-sharing agreement was approved over the objections of four Eastern European countries, it is Britain’s steadfast refusal to participate in any European scheme which is perhaps most noteworthy.”“With more than half-a-million refugees having arrived in Europe this year and thousands more arriving daily, taking in 120,000 seems woefully insufficient.” •    Bio:Suzanne Shanahan is co-director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics and director of the Kenan Refugee Project at Duke University. Launched in 2010, the community-based research project works with Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Egypt and Jordan as well as helping refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Bhutan and Vietnam settle in North Carolina. Shanahan also works closely with a network of migrant and refugee-led NGOs in Dublin, Ireland.http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/people/kie-faculty-senior-fellows/suzanne-s...•    For additional comment, contact Shanahan at:Suzanne.shanahan@duke.edu