Adrian Berry has appeared on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story as part of a discussion centring around the people fleeing places such as Eritrea and Syria, and living in makeshift camps in Calais before trying to make the journey to the UK.
Much of the discussion focused on the importance of the language used to describe those coming to Europe from countries such as Eritrea, Syria and Afghanistan, and the tendency for the words ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ to be used interchangeably. As Adrian outlined,
“Most of these people are in fact refugees when they’re from countries like Syria, Eritrea and indeed Afghanistan. Not only are they refugees, but the problem needs to be seen in a humanitarian context … rather than seeing this as a problem of security or of border control … The idea that people are travelling into the European Union merely for economic improvement is specious and is not born out by the evidence.”
This episode of Inside Story can be found on the Al Jazeera website.
Adrian was joined on the panel by Gayru Van Gulik, Deputy director for Amnesty International in Europe and Central Asia, and Francois Gemenne, Research Fellow from the Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Adrian Berry is a member of the Garden Court Chambers Immigration and Asylum Team.
