“(Countries are) blaming Refugees or Muslims while Missing the Boat on Terrorism,” says Ken Roth.

“The estimated one million asylum seekers who have fled to Europe by sea in the past year are among the more than 60 million people now displaced by war or repression—the highest figure since World War II.

“The biggest driving force recently has been the brutal conflict in Syria, due in part to atrocities committed by ISIS and other armed groups but foremost to Bashar al-Assad’s government indiscriminately attacking civilian population centers in opposition-held areas.

• 4 million Syrian refugees initially fled to neighboring countries, including more than
• 2 million to Turkey and
• 1 million to Lebanon where they now comprise nearly a quarter of the population.

A family of Afghan asylum seekers waits to enter the Moria registration center in Lesbos. Many families with children say they are too afraid to wait in line for registration. October 4, 2015. (Photo: © 2015 Zalmaï for Human Rights Watch).

“The million or so reaching Europe in the past year are just a fraction of the populations of the European countries where they are heading—some 1.25 percent of the population in Germany, where the largest group sought refuge in light of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s remarkable leadership and welcome, or 0.20 percent of the total European Union population, if resettlement sharing occurs.

“To a large extent, Europe’s preoccupation with the new refugees as a possible terrorist threat is a dangerous distraction from its own home-grown violent extremism, given that the Paris attackers were predominantly Belgian or French citizens.

“Public discourse has been filled with voices of hatred and fear of Muslims, for whom the refugees are surrogates,” emphasizes Roth.

“These messages need to be countered foremost because they are wrong. In the modern world of easy air travel and rapidly shifting populations, Muslims are part of almost every vibrant community. Like everyone, they should not face discrimination.

“Vilifying entire communities for the unacceptable actions of a few is also counterproductive for the effort to prevent terrorism.”

Roth points out that, “It is exactly the divisive and alienating response that terrorist groups seek to generate more recruits.

“Muslims are often the ones most likely to learn of a terrorist threat based on radical Islam, best suited to dissuade others from such violence, and best positioned to report those who might be planning to use it.

“Tarring all Muslims risks discouraging them from these important forms of law enforcement cooperation.”

“We should learn from the abusive and self-defeating US response to the September 11, 2001 attacks—not only the notorious torture, enforced disappearances in CIA “black sites,” and long-term detention without trial at Guantanamo Bay, but also the use of immigration and “material witness” rules to detain non-citizens because of their religion or ethnicity while circumventing more rights-protective criminal procedures,” said Roth.

“Discarding rights or scapegoating people of a certain religious or social profile harms those people while distancing them from counter terrorism efforts. It is the opposite of what is needed. As painful experience shows, the smart counter-terrorism policy is the rights-respecting one.” warns Roth.