I see humans, but I see no humanity. Nothing could’ve echoed more accurately than these words the way the Syrian refugee crisis is being handled. All that the media glorifies (which somehow always becomes a widely accepted truth) is how the EU is stepping up efforts to resolve the refugee crisis. But little known is the fact that the trip across the Mediterranean Sea doesn’t always mean leading a better life than back home. There’s more to everything than what you’re being told. There’s always something that you’re oblivious to. Not everything is as rosy as it seems. Not everything is as perfect as it sounds. The indifference and defiance being shown to one of humanity’s worst crisis is quite simply bewildering and shocking. Ah! Humans know no bounds to being inhuman.

It may seem like I’m exaggerating facts and discrediting the contributions made by many. Well, think again. There are things which don’t make it to your mainstream newspaper headlines and you tend to take it for granted. Excerpts from the testimony of a few refugees who were lucky enough in the first place to make it across the treacherous sea:

Anas, a Palestinian Syrian 17-year-old boy who survived the 11 th October sinking – “ “I was detained in Malta for three days. I was throwing up blood but still they took me to detention. Their main priority was getting my fingerprints.”

October sinking – “I was detained in Malta for three days. I was throwing up blood but still they took me to detention. Their main priority was getting my fingerprints.” Syrian teen of Palestinian origin speaking on the condition of anonymity – “I made it to Greece after 2 attempts. The first time, we were pushed back towards Turkey by the coast guards. They mistreated us, beat us up for no reason, put us on the same boat and sent us back. I don’t want to apply for asylum in Greece. I was more afraid of the Greek police than the military in Syria”

A teenager from Damascus who spoke on the condition of anonymity: I was put in a camp. We were taken to an office where they took fingerprints. The head of police said I would be arrested if I refused. After that I was free so I went to Milan. I left Syria to pull the rest of family out, but now I am fingerprinted and I can’t bring my family here. Our first experience of Europe is a lie. My experience didn’t just destroy my dreams; it destroyed my families’ dreams. I am destroyed completely

These are just a few instances. This is what homeless, shelter less, malnutritioned, tired and hungry refugees who probably haven’t had a morsel for weeks are subject to on reaching Europe. Quite amusingly the general perception among many I know is that Europe is an excellent escape route for refugees. How exactly is it any better than the situation in Syria? (Well, at least there’s this comfort of the home back there). God forbid what degree of pain and suffering millions of other helpless people are going through right now as you’re reading this. Very disheartening reading all this, right? Does it aggrieve you? Are you riled up already? Well, save some of that anger because things are going to take a turn for the worse.

The Slovakian government recently announced that it would help share the burden of the influx of tens of thousands of migrants into Europe by taking in 200 Syrian refugees. 200? 200 out of millions of people? Really? Just in case you thought this is beyond ridiculous, here’s another statement to go with it which makes it all the more glaring. “In Slovakia, we don’t have mosques . We only want to choose the Christians”. These are the exact words spoken by an Interior Ministry spokesman from Slovakia. Oh. And here’s something that’ll leave you in a fit of rage. “Since Slovakia is a Christian country, we cannot tolerate an influx of Muslim immigrants who would like to start building mosques all over our land and trying to change the nature, culture and values ​​of the state,” Words of the Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico who feels there is absolutely no moral obligation to take in refugees as Slovakia had and has no part to play in the on going Syrian civil war.

And if you thought all this was only the case with only a select few nations, you couldn’t be more wrong. There’s widespread chaos at Hungary’s border to. The border with Serbia has been shut down to stem migrant influx and people are in dire straits. They wait, day and night, hoping someone sympathizes with them. But all they’ve been getting over the last month is frequent clashes with police resulting in bloodshed, water cannons, head-cracking batons, tear gas and pepper spray. Hundreds have been detained, jailed and sentenced to years together in jail according to “the new refugee laws”.

The point is if countries with a robust economic set-up and resource set don’t come forward, then who will? It’s pretty evident that Europe isn’t able to handle (not choosing to, to be more precise) this huge influx. Arrangements are being made to send back those seeking asylum and try and accommodate them in Turkey.

There are close to 2 million war refugees already taking shelter in Turkey and the count is only going to increase as there seems to be no haven in sight for the war-torn country. A historic joint address to the European Parliament took place in Strasbourg on Wednesday and countries were urged to decide on and implement a bail-out plan as soon as possible. It was decided that efforts have to be made to provide Turkey with even more assistance to host the refugees. The question is how much more can Turkey take? Their stack of resources isn’t unlimited and some day, its government will have to give up on allowing any more refugees. It’s just a matter of when rather than whether or not it’ll happen.

Jordan is one another such example which is finding it difficult in terms of dealing with the huge influx of Syrians. Jordan’s economy is among the smallest in the Middle East, with insufficient supplies of water, oil, and other natural resources underlying the government’s heavy reliance on foreign assistance. Other economic challenges for the government include high rates of poverty, unemployment, inflation, and a large budget deficit. Yet, it is hosting close to 800,000 and the number is expected to hit the million mark by the year end. For Jordanians, the highly visible presence of many thousands of refugees living in their midst – mostly in urban areas, rather than camps – has raised fears over competition for resources and opportunities. Increased rents, price hikes and strains on public services and public order have left local inhabitants feeling increasingly disenfranchised and neglected by the Jordanian government and international donors. It does not look like refugees will be able to return to Syria any time soon, no matter how hard life in Jordan becomes. The discontent is slowly, but undoubtedly, growing and increasingly disenfranchised Jordanian periphery is steadily rising. This issue needs to be resolved else one problem will lead to another and one can only imagine what will happen when the natives turn on the refugees. Jordan is in no way equipped to handle such a crisis at such a sensitive period in time.

It’s time we realize tough talk at “historic” conferences won’t fill their empty stomachs, won’t send their children to school, and won’t give them a roof over their head. The UNHCR reports that its appeals for cash are underfunded. The graphic below shows what rich countries have given to UNHCR to deal with the problem – leaving a gap of almost 40% between what it needs and what has been donated.

A UNHCR request for £14m to deal with the specific problems of conduit countries such as Italy, Hungary and Bosnia has only reached 9% of the target. Anyways, it is not enough to throw money at the problem until the news agenda changes. It requires a much broader approach, which includes helping conflict-affected populations deal with the trauma of displacement and brutality, come to terms with their new realities and prepare for an uncertain future. There needs to be persistent and a collective effort. We need a decisive something to rise up, act quickly and start taking action.

. If countries like Jordan and Turkey which are relatively small sized countries in terms of landscape and economy, as compared to the European powerhouses, can take in millions of refugees, then just imagine what sort of a number can countries like Italy accommodate, whose GDP is nearly 50 times that of Jordan and land area 4 times as large. It’s not just about Italy or Hungary, for that matter. Think about how well the situation can be handled if each one of the countries owns up to helping solve the crisis and accept to provide asylum for a few thousand refugees? A gesture which will change the lives of millions forever. A move which will be etched into the books of history as the time when humanity rose above all other differences.

Sadly, there seems to be no route to respite possible in the near future for the innocent people ISIS is ripping heads off at will. The govt. is slaughtering the rebels and the Europeans stance, measures and opinions are divided and the route to a consensus on the way forward will, without a shadow of a doubt, take a long time. The doors are shutting on the refugees and there’s no place to go. No place for humanity, it seems. The future is bleak. Being crudely honest, there is NO future. There will be long lasting impacts if this drags on. Alas, the common man is the one who ends up at the receiving end of all this. (When has it not been the case?) So many issues and no solutions. So many questions and nobody has the answers. Some food for thought, perhaps? Live and let live is all I have to say.