RefugeesUN refugee chief: Anti-Muslim refugee rhetoric helps ISISI propaganda, recruitment

Published 22 December 2015

The UN refugee chief, criticizing U.S. and European politician who want to block Syrian refugees from resettling in their countries, told the Security Council Monday that “Those that reject Syrian refugees, and especially if they are Muslim, are the best allies of the propaganda and the recruitment of extremist groups.”

Seal of ISIL // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Those who reject Syrian refugees are the “best allies” of ISIS militants and other extremists, the UN refugee chief told the Security Council Monday, criticizing U.S. and European politician who want to block Syrian refugees from resettling in their countries.

More than 4.3 million Syrians have fled the country since the war there began in February 2011. Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for refugees, told the Security Council that “Those that reject Syrian refugees, and especially if they are Muslim, are the best allies of the propaganda and the recruitment of extremist groups.”

“We must not forget that — despite the rhetoric we are hearing these days — refugees are the first victims of such terror, not its source,” Guterres said. “They cannot be blamed for a threat which they’re risking their lives to escape.

“Yes, of course there is a possibility that terrorists could try to infiltrate refugee movements. But this possibility exists for all communities — and homegrown radicalization is by far the biggest threat, as all recent incidents have shown,” he said.

The International Business Times reports that Gutterrs said a UN survey of 1,200 Syrians who had fled to Europe found that 86 percent of them had a secondary school education and almost half had gone to university.

“Syria is experiencing a massive brain drain,” said Guterres, who will step down at the end of the year.

“One can only imagine the disastrous consequences of such an exodus on the future post-conflict reconstruction of Syria.”