EUROPEAN states have collectively shirked their responsibilities towards refugees in the most disgusting, cowardly, self-interested way.

Not content with whipping up, supporting and often directly participating in the conflicts and crises that have forced so many to make the nightmare decision to flee their homes in order to save their lives and those of their children, Europe has treated those who survive the dangerous journey with utter contempt.

Occasionally laudable early efforts have given way to razor-wire border fences, police brutality and, in Denmark, outright robbery of the poorest and most desperate.