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In recent months across Europe, a dramatic spike in refugee arrivals to Greece and 39 dead bodies of Vietnamese citizens discovered in an abandoned lorry in Essex provoked a return of the migration crisis in news coverage. Some headlines and articles warned of an emergency reminiscent of 2015 the early days of Europes refugee crisis thatthe EU Commission declared over nine months ago.

Prolonged; spread over a large land mass; the need for a multi-agency response; intense suffering all features of a humanitarian crisis, a term frequently bandied about by European politicians usually to describe events far away and in need of European support, funding or comment.

When the almost five-year-long migration crisis in Europe began, publications and politicianswere tentative about referring to it as such. But soon it was almost exclusively labelled as the refugee or migrant crisis. In some cases, European was inserted for clarity, while heated debate about the correct use of the words "refugee" and "migrant" raged on.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

French police officers and gendarmes stand by tents during the evacuation of the Grande Synthe migrant camp, northern France, on September 17, 2019.

Francois Lo Presti/AFP/Getty

French gendarmes walk by tents during the evacuation of the Grande Synthe migrant camp, northern France, on September 17, 2019.

Francois Lo Presti/AFP/Getty

French police officers move migrants on from a camp in Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Care4Calais/PA

French police officers move migrants on from a camp in Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Care4Calais/PA

A bulldozer at work as French police officers move migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Police officers moving migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, France,17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Migrants at the Espace Jeunes du Moulin gym in Dunkirk as people awaited eviction from the camp 12 September 2019.

Steve Parsons/PA

Aran Quader, 6, and his sister Yaran, two, at the Espace Jeunes du Moulin gym in Dunkirk on 12 September 2019, days before refugees were evicted.

Steve Parsons/PA

Hamdren Quader 32, with his wife Xalat, 26, and children Kajhan, 8, Aran, 6, and Yaran, two, at the Espace Jeunes du Moulin gym in Dunkirk, France, on 12 September before refugees were evicted from the camp days later.

PA

A bulldozer at work as French police officers move migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Police officers moving migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Police officers moving migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

French police officers and gendarmes stand by tents during the evacuation of the Grande Synthe migrant camp, northern France, on September 17, 2019.

Francois Lo Presti/AFP/Getty

French gendarmes walk by tents during the evacuation of the Grande Synthe migrant camp, northern France, on September 17, 2019.

Francois Lo Presti/AFP/Getty

French police officers move migrants on from a camp in Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Care4Calais/PA

French police officers move migrants on from a camp in Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Care4Calais/PA

A bulldozer at work as French police officers move migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Police officers moving migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, France,17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Migrants at the Espace Jeunes du Moulin gym in Dunkirk as people awaited eviction from the camp 12 September 2019.

Steve Parsons/PA

Aran Quader, 6, and his sister Yaran, two, at the Espace Jeunes du Moulin gym in Dunkirk on 12 September 2019, days before refugees were evicted.

Steve Parsons/PA

Hamdren Quader 32, with his wife Xalat, 26, and children Kajhan, 8, Aran, 6, and Yaran, two, at the Espace Jeunes du Moulin gym in Dunkirk, France, on 12 September before refugees were evicted from the camp days later.

PA

A bulldozer at work as French police officers move migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Police officers moving migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

Police officers moving migrants from a camp near Grande-Synthe, Dunkirk, France, 17 September 2019.

Help Refugees/PA

The differences between the ways we describe these emergencies are incredibly important. Declaring a humanitarian crisis shifts responsibility and focus to states and their leaders, whereas placing migrant before the crisis, suggests that the fault of the crisis is, at least in part, theirs. Contrarily, a crisis that is humanitarian invokes images of Darfur, Syria, Congo or Afghanistan all countries significant numbers of Europes refugees have fled.

Humanitarian crises unfold in these countries in response to major events and indicate that a large group of people are in dire need of assistance. In Europe, however, the refugee crisis arrived, it did not unfold or develop. It threatened Europe, too, and the humanitarian aspect was eliminated from the get-go.

Between 2014 and 2019, at least 17,428 people lost their lives in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe,according to the IOM Missing Migrants project, and these figures are notoriously easy to underestimate. How the seemingly sudden, catastrophic flow of people reaching Greek and Italian shores in 2015 was framed has been frequently attached to the hostile response that greeted them. A number of European politicians continue to exploit the word crisis but will not declare it humanitarian, as it appears they are dedicated to ensuring the response is, instead, preventative and punishing.

A humanitarian crisis demands protective measures, yet, in Europe, an unrelenting attack onpillars of refugee law andwell-established principles of the law of the sea have been the hallmarks of response.

Predictably, people have continued to reach Europe and these policies have radically exacerbated the risks to their lives and health. A controversial deal with Turkey means Greek islands have essentially become open-air holding prisons, as well as collectivelybeing nearly five times over capacity.

Italy has pursueda series of policies of shutting down ports and arresting those who operate rescue missions. In 2018, less people crossed the Mediterranean than the year before but of those who did, six drowned every day.

Even prior to the recent Turkish incursion in Northern Syria, the numbers arriving to Greece had spiked where conditions are infamously inhumane. Fires regularly destroy areas of camps and remaining belongings; children are not provided specialised services or separate sleeping facilities and self-harm and suicide attempts, increasingly by children too, are engrained in every-day life.

When the Commission declared the migration crisis over, it was starkly clear that it is a crisis that continues to be treated as one Europe is subjected to, rather than one it caused. The number of people arriving may have reduced but their suffering has multiplied.

In Europe, the success of the response has been measured in alleviating the pressure on member states, rather than reducing humanitarian distress. That arrivals have suddenly increased and camps in Greece face a looming catastrophe not only proves this crisis is far from over but that this humanitarian response,widely believed to be the most expensive in history, has failed.

Turkeys Erdogan threatens to send millions of refugees to Europe unless it backs Syria safe zone

Indeed, as many critics posit, Europe may not be responsible for the conflicts that force people from their homes. However, there should absolutely be no doubt as to who is responsible for destroying key humanitarian protections; a Draconian border regime; criminalising rescue ships; refusing to create safe routes to asylum and in many cases deliberatelymaking life unliveable for vulnerable people.

The declaration of a humanitarian crisis attracts criticism. It invites (willingly or unwillingly) international responses and stresses the need for sustainable planning. It encourages sympathetic supporters and emphasises the imperative of humanitarian aid, though victimising those affected by humanitarian crises remains incredibly problematic.

A refugee or migration crisis, however, indicates that refugees and migrants are different to those we associate with traditional humanitarian emergencies and less deserving of the assumed response. It adds to the othering that is already pervasive in media coverage, implicates people as architects of their own suffering and abdicates Europe.

Language matters. Just as Europe has flouted responsibility for the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the suffering of hundreds of thousands, the term refugee (or migrant) crisis may have the same effect.

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Don't call it the refugee crisis, it's a humanitarian issue failing to recognise that creates even more suffering - The Independent