Immigration and the EU - so many stances, so little time

Like so many others across the world, my heart broke in two seeing the pictures of Aylan Kurdi's lifeless little body washed up on the shores of Bodrum in Turkey - a startling dichotomy to Bodrum's beach holiday image. An innocent young child, who knew nothing but fear and civil war in his native Syria during his much-too-short three years in this world. He has unwillingly and unwittingly become the human face of the suffering of so many thousands of refugees fleeing a desperate situation. I have heard many compelling arguments and discussions on the topic over recent weeks, but with little Aylan a shift has come. There is a renewed urgency. A renewed sense of necessity and a renewed sense of shame, that the international community has to this point sat back and let such a disgusting human tragedy unfold before us.

This week, The Economist examined the level of countries' acceptance of migrants and refugees, and it made for harrowing and uncomfortable reading.

Germany and Sweden leading the way - from The Economist

This graphic shows the levels of accepted asylum applications in 2014, both total numbers and on a per capita basis. Germany accepted over 40,000 applications in 2014. Angela Merkel has pledged to take in another 800,000 in 2015 - and has said there is no legal limit to the number of refugees they will accept. Sweden is giving a home to refugees at a rate of over 300,000 per 100,000 people: 3:1.

Then on the other hand we have nations like the UK and Hungary. In 2014, Hungary accepted 9.4% of all asylum applications made in the country - the lowest of any of those countries studied. What a disgraceful statistic. In the Telegraph on 2nd September (before the world knew Aylan's name), there was a piece describing David Cameron's resistance to calls "for the UK to take its fair share" of migrants. "The Prime Minister refuses to heed calls for Britain to accept more refugees," the article's sub-heading went, claiming that Cameron will not bow to German pressure. Fast-forward, post-Aylan. Cameron has agreed to take "thousands", claiming no EU nation has done more to aid Syrians. "No European country has done more than Britain in this regard. Were it not for that massive aid, the numbers making the perilous journey to Europe today would be even higher," the Telegraph quotes him as saying. So how many thousands can we expect Britain to welcome with open arms? We won't know exact figures until next week, but according to UN refugee agency spokesperson Melissa Fleming, the UK is aiming to help 4,000 people. Four thousand people. Let's just remind ourselves of the German pledge to take 800,000. Let's let that all sink in for a minute.

And Ireland - shamefully resting at the bottom of the table of accepted asylum seekers. The bar on the chart is so small, I can't even make a guess at how many asylum seekers Ireland has taken in. Worth remembering at this point that these are asylum seekers, not the 'economic migrants' peddled in the Daily Mail. An asylum seeker: someone whose life is at such risk they need to live in another country. Ireland, with its rich history of repression, persecution and emigration should stand ashamed today that Aylan and all he represents are being ignored and refused a safe place to just live their lives.

And zooming outside of Europe - the Arab League, the UN, Canada, the US, Saudi Arabia - calls to help, to do more, to notice. It has transpired Aylan's family only attempted the perilous Mediterranean journey after having an asylum application rejected in Canada. Writing in The Globe and Mail, Mark Mackinnon states that the family's application was for asylum in British Columbia, where - oh, yeah - they had a family willing to sponsor them. Harper's government pledged to accept 20,000 asylum applications in 2015. At the time of Aylan's death, Canada had accepted just over 1,000. The figure should have been approximately 13 times higher.

Listening to Marian Finucane on RTE Radio 1 this morning, I heard one of the success stories: a Syrian refugee who now calls Ireland home. Responding to a caller's question on what she should bring on a mission to Greece next weekend to help those coming in to shore off the rubber dingies, he said "Food would be great. Some clothes if you can. And a smile and a hug, that's what they really need." A smile and a hug. Come on world, the time to act is now - Aylan's blood is on all of our hands.