Alexander Betts
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New York Times Quotation of the Day, “The Syrian crisis places the entire humanitarian system at a crossroads. It requires us to radically rethink how we protect and assist such large numbers of displaced people.” - Alexander Betts, April 2015. 


Here is a selection of my media commentary (my top pieces are *ed)


*Guardian, 'Refugees Can Be Used as a Political Resource to Help Those Left Behind', 22/1/17
Refugees Deeply, 'The Political Lives of Refugees', 4/1/17
BBC World Service, 'Jobs For Syrian Refugees', 2/1/17
IRIN, 'Migration Trends to Watch in 2017', 21/12/16
Foreign Policy, 'Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2016', 10/12/16
Wired UK, 'Give Refugees Based Economic Freedoms', 3/11/16
Financial Times, 'The Numbers Must be Up for Flawed Global Asylum System', 23/9/16
The Irish Times, 'UN Summit Fails to Offer Solutions', 20/9/16
Guardian, 'A Glimmer of Hope for Those Stuck in Refugee Camps', 17/9/16
Refugees Deeply, 'Experts to Watch: Innovating Refugee Response', 3/8/16
*Washington Post, 'What Brexit Tells Us About the Crisis of Liberal Politics', 28/6/16
The Economist, 'From Here to Eternity', 28/5/16
Foreign Affairs, 'Jordan's Refugee Experiment', 28/4/16
*Foreign Affairs, 'The Elephant in the Room: Islam and the Crisis of Values in Europe', 2/2/16
BBC One, 'This Migrant Crisis if Different from All Others', 24/12/15
Guardian, 'Global Issues Don't Live in Boxes. Why No Mention in Paris of Refugees?', 13/12/15
Slate, 'Resettling Syrian Refugees: An Alternative', 16/11/15
*Foreign Affairs, 'Help Refugees Help Themselves: Let Displaced Syrians Join the Labour Markets', 20/10/15
*New York Times, 'Let Refugees Fly to Europe', 25/9/15
*Guardian, 'Human Migration Will be a Defining Issue of this Century', 20/9/15
BBC World Service, In the Balance, 'Economics Without Borders', 19/9/15
BBC Radio 4, Today Programme, 'Discussion of Eurostat Asylum Data', 17/9/15
Huffington Post, 'Q&A With Alexander Betts', 12/9/15
Newsweek, ‘Refugees vs Migrants: What’s the Right Term to Use?’, 11/9/15
*Guardian, ‘Five History Lessons in How to Deal With a Refugee Crisis’, 10/9/15
El Pais, ‘Europe Needs a Global Refugee Policy’, 10/9/15
New Scientist, ‘Why Welcoming More Refugees Makes Economic Sense for Europe’, 10/9/15 
New York Times, ‘Britain Tries to Deter Migrants, Even as It Lets More In’, 9/9/15
Sky News, ‘The UK Government Proposals for Resettlement’, 8/9/15
BBC World Service, Have Your Say, 'Q&A with Audience on Refugee Crisis', 8/9/15
Cape Talk, ‘The Root of the European Refugee Crisis and Why Responsibility Should be Shared’, 7/9/15 
BBC News Channel, ‘Cameron’s Proposals are Welcome but Inadequate’, 4/9/15
USA Today, ‘Migrants Press On, Hoping to Find Refuge Anywhere in Europe’, 1/9/15
CNN, Amanpour, ‘Alexander Betts Discusses Solutions to Europe’s Refugee Crisis’, 31/8/15
Al Jazeera, Inside Story, ‘Finding Solutions to Europe’s Refugee Crisis’, 28/8/15
New York Times, 'Europe needs a comprehensive global refugee policy', 28/8/15
BBC Radio 5 Live, ‘Refugees Use Technology and Innovate’, 27/8/15
BBC World Service, Newsday,   Is the increase in asylum-seekers arriving in Europe a spike or a long-term trend?, 24/8/15  
Deutsche Welle, ‘Obama Praise for Merkel Highlights US’s Own Problems on Syrian Refugees’, 27/8/15
BBC Online, Viewpoint, ‘Treat refugees as a development issue’, 27/8/15
Washington Post, 'Refugees Race into Europe as Hungary's Border Fence Nears Completion', 25/8/15
BBC World Service, The Inquiry, 'Migrant Crisis: What Else Can Europe Do?', 23/8/15
Washington Post, 'Is it Time to Ditch the Word Migrant?', 24/8/15
BBC News Channel,  ‘Alexander Betts discusses the increasing numbers seeking asylum in Europe’, 19/8/15
BBC News Online, 'What Happens to Failed Asylum Seekers?', 13/8/15
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, ''From "Swarm" to "Illegal": Dissecting How We Discuss Migration', 10/8/15
Guardian, ‘ Is Creating a New Nation for the World’s Refugees a Good Idea?’, 4/8/15
BBC News Channel, ‘Alexander Betts discusses the Calais migrant crisis’, 3/8/15
Vice UK,  ‘We Asked an Expert How to Solve the Calais Crisis’, 3/8/15
Independent,  ‘UK Urged to Take in More Asylum Seekers’, 2/8/15
Washington Post, 'Why the Language We Use to Talk About Refugees Matters so Much', 30/7/15
BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight, 'There Are Better Ideas than the Refugee Nation', 27/7/15
Washington Post, 'A Silicon Valley Mogul Wants to Solve the Global Refugee Crisis By Creating a New Nation', 23/7/15
Guardian, 'Innovation at Za'atari', 22/7/15
Reuters, 'Harness the Ingenuity of Refugees, Aid Agencies Told', 17/7/15
American Prospect, '16 million refugees are not some other country's problem', 1/5/15
Al Jazeera, Inside Story on 'the Global Refugee Crisis', 22/6/15
Washington Post, 'New UN Report Says Refugee Crisis Worse than Anyone Expected', 18/6/15
Talk at ODI, 'Europe's Migrant Crisis: What Can Be Done?', 30/4/15
*Observer, 'Forget the War on Smuggling; We Need to Be Helping Refugees', 26/4/15
El Pais, 'Una Tragedia a la Deriva', 26/4/15
*CNN, 'Why the Mediterranean Traffickers Aren't the Problem', 23/4/15
BBC World News Business Edition, 'We Should not See Refugees as a Burden', 22/4/15
BBC World News, 'Why Europe's Response to the Mediterranean is Disappointing', 22/4/15
'Here and Now' for NPR, 'Migrant Deaths in the Mediterranean', 22/4/15
The Conversation, 'To Deal with the Refugee Crisis, You Need to Understand the Cause', 23/4/15
Deutsche W
elle, 'Global Displacement Crisis Straining Europe', 21/4/15
Washington Post, 'Experts Say European Response is Inadequate', 23/4/15
New York Times, 'UN Calls on Western States to Shelter Syrian Refugees', 17/4/15

Planet Money for NPR, 'Doing Business Like a Refugee' 30/7/14
Guardian, 'Five Things They Tell You About Refugees That Aren't True', 20/6/14
Central China Television, 'The Global Refugee Crisis - World Refugee Day', 21/6/14
Voice of America, 'Refugees Boost Local Economy', 20/6/14
IRIN, 'Refugee Economies - The Ugandan Model', 30/6/14
New York Times, 'UN Reports Sharp Rise in Refugees as Civil Wars Cripple Nations', 17/6/14
Independent, 'Out of Africa: A Scheme Where Helping Refugees Helps Everybody', 17/11/12 ​