Studia Europejskie (Oct 2019)
The Validity of Human Rights in Europe in the Wake of the Crisis of Refugees from the Middle East
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to analyse the loss of validity in the principles of universality and equality that lead the international system of Human Rights, in the wake of the refugee crisis that arose in Europe in 2014. The main idea is that the massive arrival of refugees due to the violence in the Middle East revealed severe humanitarian contradictions in the European countries when providing the right to asylum, integration, acknowledgement and intercultural dialogue in favour of those affected by the war. Through an analysis of the debates that arose in Europe after the arrival of refugees to the continent, this article seeks to evidence the diminishment in the social support to the values of freedom, international cooperation, multiculturalism and Human Rights; as well as an increase in the xenophobic and isolationist expressions. This work approaches the situation of Human Rights from the theoretical perspective of social movements, bearing in mind that the progressive incorporation of these prerogatives in the national and international legal frameworks, has been encouraged by collective actions that generationally have managed to increase the repertoire of rights that protect human dignity. Nevertheless, the inconvenience now, is that regressive movements have begun to arise nowadays, threatening to move aside institutions that behold the ideal of a liberal and cosmopolitan democracy. To state evidence of such challenge, this work compiles the opinion of the European population in topics that reflect their point of view on HumanRights. In this context, the research methodology was oriented to discourse analysis of online comments posted by readers of the newspapers with the highest circulation in six European countries, in relation to news that, because of their impact, appalled society and made them take part in the repercussions for their countries.
