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ike a tsunami, hundreds of thousands of refugees from war zones in the Middle East and Africa have been sweeping into the 28 EU member states.

The continuous arrival of the victims of human tragedy could have a devastating impact on the recipient countries while the suffering of the refugees could worsen to an unimaginable level.

Indonesia is in fact very familiar with refugees. Thousands of boatpeople, including from Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Iran, have been using our territory as a stepping stone on their way to Australia. Many of them have eventually settled in this country although they are neither documented nor registered.

We also face a major problem of internally displaced people in conflict areas such as Kalimantan, Maluku, Central Sulawesi and Aceh. Unsurprisingly we offer sympathy to foreign refugees, while at the same time we understand the burden the EU members have to bear.

The refugees from Syria, Iraq and Libya and from impoverished African nations will continue to flock to Europe to escape from brutal wars and ruthless regimes. And as long as the roots of the problems are not resolved in their countries of origin, this human calamity will continue. For criminal gangs and people smugglers the huge waves of human chain are a very lucrative business.

The EU'€™s acts of humanity, especially by Greece and Italy, to rescue boatpeople from the rough seas deserve respect from the world, because in other parts of the world refugees would be pushed back into international waters.

It is very understandable that a refusal to accept the refugees in Europe is looming large. Politically this issue is very sensitive and some EU members are already in economic doldrums.

German'€™s Chancellor Angela Markel has decided to take up to 800,000 refugees this year and has urged fellow EU members to share the burden. But all countries have the right to set their own immigration rules, including minimum standards of education, basic knowledge and preparedness of refugees to adapt to the system of their new country.

Accepting refugees is not a simple policy because its impacts will be far-reaching. Humanitarian reasons are not enough to justify a decision to shelter refugees.

No one knows when the conflict in the Middle East and human rights abuses and extreme poverty in Africa will be over.

We will never know when the human tragedy will end. But at least we can learn from the way Europe deals with the problem.