Alan Kurdi: Kurdi Photograph and Security Concerns

alan kurdi: Alan Kurdi died while trying to escape the Syrian civil war. "I think Alan picture in our minds has kind of faded into the background," said Rouba Alfattal, a professor of Middle East and Arab politics at the University of Ottawa, according to Huffington Post Canada. Alfattal said heightened security concerns stemming in large part from increased terrorist attacks across Europe are partly to blame for the West waning reluctance to accommodate refugees displaced by the conflict. "We have been desensitized, unfortunately," she said. "I feel people have forgotten about Syria." But while Kurdi photograph may have had little in the way of a lasting impact on Syria, observers say his image had a disproportionately powerful impact in Canada. Friday, Sept. 2, marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old Syrian boy immortalized in a chilling photograph that captured the price all too often paid by those struggling to escape the years-long civil war. Catherine Dauvergne, dean of the University of British Columbia law school and a specialist in refugee and immigration law, said the photo affected last fall federal election. "I feel people have forgotten about Syria." "I think the important amount of attention that news story got probably pushed the refugee issue up into the public prominence and linked it to the election in a more direct way than had previously been happening," she said. The newly elected government eventually made good on the pledge, though several months later than expected. The promise to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015 became a key plank of the Liberal party platform. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.