The Beacon THE STUDENT VOICE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND SINCE 1935 October 1, 2015 • Volume 118 • Issue 5 • upbeacon.com
Students witness refugee crisis
Photo cour tesy of AP Photo/ Kerstin Joensson
Refugees wait on a bridge after police stopped them at the border between Austria and Germany in Salzburg, Austria, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. UP students studying in Salzburg have had the chance to witness this historic event firsthand. By Alina Rosenkranz THE BEACON An organized chaos of aid volunteers, grocery carts full of food and supplies, a temporary medical area and a swarm of Red Cross workers greeted sophomore Molly McSweyn as she arrived at the Salzburg train station to begin her year of studying abroad. Salzburg, Austria, a storybook city just south of the German border known for being the birthplace of Mozart
and the setting for “The Sound of Music,” is now receiving international attention for taking in and helping to facilitate the movement of refugees. As thousands of men, women and children pour into the city and throughout Europe, the Salzburg study abroad students have been advised against taking individual trips, but the gravity of this historic migration is not lost on them. “Wow. It feels like, you know, a first world problem,
‘Why can’t we travel this weekend?’” McSweyn, a communications major, said. “And then it was like, no, this is a moment in history that’s very, very big and I think it was a humbling experience when you finally realized how big it was.” As the Salzburg program began a few weeks ago, increasing numbers of refugees and migrants, mostly fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq, started to make their way from Hungary through
Austria
Turkey Syria
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This is one of the most humbling experiences I have ever had in my life.
Molly McSweyn Sophomore
Hannah Baade • THE BEACON
Austria toward Germany and the Scandinavian countries. According to Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maizière, as many as 10,000 refugees arrive in the country each day. UP Director of Studies Abroad Eduardo Contreras explained that he is working closely with the UP resident director in Salzburg, René Horcicka, as the situation unfolds. They have requested that Salzburg students not travel internationally for now.
Background Info: In 2011, peaceful anti-government demonstrations began in Syria, criticizing President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian government responded by attacking citizens. The Free Syrian Army was formed to fight back against the regime. The Syrian civil war has killed over 220,000 people, according to Mercy Corps’ website, and has destroyed basic infrastructure in many big cities. Most refugees from Syria live in Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey, but the number of refugees fleeing overseas to Europe is rising. Due to the unstable situation, it was easy for the Muslim extremist group ISIS to expand its power in Syria and Iraq. There are also refugees and migrants from Africa and the Balkans coming to Europe, but the majority of people involved in the so-called “migrant crisis” come from Syria and Iraq. Most refugees are hoping to begin anew in
“My approach to working with students abroad has always been to assess the situation with the local partners who are there,” Contreras said. “Based on what the director there said, they’re perfectly safe within Austria, they’re perfectly safe within the city of Salzburg.” Together with 25 other UP students, McSweyn attended Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany last weekend, against
See SALZBURG page 2
Germany or the Scandinavian countries, which means passing through Hungary and Austria on their way north, including Salzburg on the border of Germany. European countries have reacted to the refugee crisis in a variety of ways. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann was quoted in a CNN report saying that Austria is working to find a humane and lawful response. This is in stark contrast to Hungary, which has received widespread criticism for its behavior. Human rights activists told the BBC that migrants in Hungary are being treated like animals. The European Union has passed quotas in order to split the large influx of migrants and refugees between its members, and also agreed to strengthen border controls. According to the BBC, 108,897 Syrian refugees applied for asylum in Germany alone.