International Refugee News

March 20-April 1, 2001

* Arrests

Thirty-three “illegal immigrants” from India, Afghanistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Turkey were detained near Nova Lhota, 250 kilometres (155 miles) southeast of Prague near the border with Slovakia. The refugees will be returned to Slovakia. (The Associated Press, March 29, 2001)

Slovene police captured a group of 66 “illegal immigrants” from China, Iran, Iraq and Turkey at a Slovene-Croatian border crossing Obrezje on March 28. They were discovered after one of the customs officers heard a noise coming from the interior of the truck. The immigrants, aged between 18 and 40, will be sent back to Croatia. (STA news agency, Slovenia (via BBC), March 28, 2001)

Greek authorities discovered two Kurdish stowaways hiding in a container after hearing noises. One was so exhausted he was taken to hospital. Elsewhere, authorities on the island of Chios in the Aegean arrested four Afghans on a boat, which had come from the Turkish mainland. Earlier Bulgarian border officials arrested 36 “illegal immigrants” trying to enter Greece. (Agence France Presse, March 25, 2001)

* Children

In the UK, although asylum-seeking families are supposed to stay in emergency accommodation for a few days only, in practice many remain there for weeks or months. The net result is that an unknown number of children languish in a kind of limbo for weeks or months, living in accommodation designed for a seven-day stay, often going without books, toys, and educational facilities. (The Guardian (U.K.), March 28, 2001)

* Deaths

Police detained 186 would-be immigrants aboard four boats off the southern coast of Spain after a body washed ashore. In a routine search of beaches near the town, police found the body of one man they believe drowned while trying to swim ashore from one of the boats. Once identified, the immigrants will be deported to their country of origin. (The Associated Press, March 28, 2001)

Tommy Klen Mayola, asylum seeker from Zaire, died on February 19. He fled to the UK after all his immediate family was murdered in Zaire. He had been living rough on the streets of London after losing his asylum claim. He was trying to get to the US. Twice he tried to smuggle himself aboard a Boeing jet at Gatwick airport. On the second attempt, he managed to get into the wheel bay of a Boeing. He died because of lack of oxygen and extreme cold. (National Campaign against Deportation)

* Deportation

After the Dutch parliament debated whether to deport 9,000 northern Iraqi Kurds seeking asylum in Holland, Germany has decided to “repatriate” 30 Kurdish-descent families to Turkey. (Turkish Daily News, March 29, 2001)

US immigration officials say Musa Fofana is resisting so forcefully that they have been unable to get him on a plane to deport him to Gambia. They are seeking a court order that would allow them to sedate him. But Fofana said he is a citizen of Sierra Leone, not Gambia, and he fled his country. The U.S. Public Health Service has agreed to sedate Fofana and accompany him to the airport, but only under a court order. (The Houston Chronicle, March 22, 2001)

Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, has secretly begun a programme to use chartered aircraft to fly thousands of “failed” asylum seekers out of Britain against their will. The measure is seen as the start of the Government's "big push" to remove 30,000 asylum-seekers by the end of the year. (The Independent (U.K.), March 27, 2001)

Fifteen Iraqi Kurds who were expelled by Israel after “sneaking” across the border from Lebanon spent their first night at a U.N. checkpoint in southern Lebanon, refusing to surrender to Lebanese authorities. The eight women, five men and three children under two, were returned by Israeli authorities to the Lebanese side a day after they cut through a border wire and entered Israel. Lebanon has been cracking down on “illegal aliens.” Last July, a Lebanese court sentenced 184 “illegal immigrants,” mostly Kurds who had come from neighbouring countries, to one year in jail each. (The Associated Press, March 27, 2001)

The Netherlands' government is sending 9,000 Iraqi Kurds, who have applied for asylum there, back to northern Iraq. The Netherlands' Parliament discussed the issue and the majority agreed that the Kurdish refugees should be sent back to northern Iraq, because Kurds have been living there in safety for two years. Asylum applications from northern Iraqi Kurds had not been accepted due to recent developments in northern Iraq. (Turkish Daily News, March 26, 2001)

* Detention

Fourteen people believed to be seeking asylum in Australia will be handed over to immigration officers after being found on an Indonesian boat in the Torres Strait. The group is believed to be from the Middle East. This was the 11th boat to be detained off northern Australia so far this year, taking the total number of people who sought to illegally enter Australia in the same period to 1,089. (The Australian Associated Press, March 29)

The Australian federal government rejected a human rights report, which said it should pay $35,000 damages for its treatment of two Chinese asylum seekers in the Port Hedland detention centre in 1996 and 1997. The immigration department officers had failed to adequately inform them of their right to legal advice on arrival; they were kept in isolation for up to three months and immigration officers were slow in responding to eventual requests for legal assistance. (The Australian Associated Press, March 28, 2001)

Fourteen people, including five children, remain on the run after escaping from the Villawood detention centre in Sydney's southwest. Searches of about 50 Sydney homes of people who had visited the detainees are continuing in a bid to locate the escapees. The escapees include seven men, two women and five children from the Middle East and Africa. (The Australian Associated Press, March 28, 2001)

In the wake of the escape by 14 asylum seekers imprisoned at Villawood Detention Centre in Australia, the Australian police raided up to 50 homes of refugee rights supporters including Arsalan Nazarian, an activist of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees - Australia Branch in their hunt to recapture the asylum seekers. Nazarian whose home was raided while he was out related the intimidation experienced by his flatmates. "The police bashed at the door, totally surprising my flatmates," Nazarian said. "After showing some identification, the police barged in, demanded 'where is Arsalan', and started going through the unit. They tried to get in to a room where a woman flatmate was getting dressed. All this happened while two children aged 6 & 8 looked on in shock and fear." Nazarian rang the immigration authorities and asked them if they had a warrant to search the premises. “They said the woman in the house had invited them over! “It is already appalling that refugees are locked up like criminals," Nazarian said. "Now those who support refugee rights are also treated as criminals! Is it now illegal to support human rights?" (IFIR, March 28, 2001)

Three “boat people,” including a pregnant woman, are set to be released from hospital on Christmas Island after treatment for dehydration. The three were among 22 people stranded at sea for a week on an Indonesian boat in the Indian Ocean after the vessel's engine failed. Those aboard were handed to immigration officers there. (The Australian Associated Press, March 28, 2001)

A Palestinian man has been kept in solitary confinement for eight months in two Australian immigration detention centres. In that time Mohammed Dawood, 27, has had only two visitors, and has tried several times to commit suicide, including an attempt last week to swallow a fluorescent light tube. (The Sydney Morning Herald, March 27, 2001)

* Legislation / Laws

Albanian Kosovans whose applications for asylum were stayed pending the progress of a test case were given a legitimate expectation by the Secretary of State for the Home Department that, if the applicant in the test case succeeded in his contention that his claim should be substantively determined in this country rather than in Germany, their claims would be similarly dealt with. The applicant was an Albanian from Kosovo who claimed asylum as a refugee. The Secretary of State decided that he should be removed to Germany for the substantive determination of his asylum claim. The applicant sought, in December 1998, to challenge that decision by way of judicial review, on the ground that Germany was not a safe third country to which he could be returned. (The Independent (U.K.), March 23, 2001)

A Hungarian government official called it a ''regrettable decision'' by the French government to grant asylum to a group of Gypsies, or Roma, that left Hungary in July and filed a complaint at the international court of human rights in Strasbourg, France, citing racial harassment in their homeland. (The Associated Press, March 23, 2001)

Asylum seekers are being refused State-funded legal aid at a crucial final stage of their applications for refugee status due to staff shortages at the Refugee Legal Service. The Legal Aid Board has stopped funding legal services for asylum seekers whose appeals against deportations have been rejected and who are seeking to challenge that decision by a judicial review in the High Court. This means asylum-seekers who have lost their appeals against deportations would have to hire private practitioners, which could cost thousands of pounds. Since last year, asylum-seekers have 14 days in which to seek leave for judicial review, compared with up to six months for non-asylum-seekers. (The Irish Times, March 29, 2001)

* Living Conditions

The majority of Spanish citizens agree that the immigrants who arrive in the country should do so under legal conditions - that is, with work contracts, according to the latest poll on immigration by the Centre for Sociological Research. A substantial majority say they believe all people should have freedom to live and work in any place. (RNE Radio 1, Madrid (via BBC), March 28, 2001)

Asylum seekers living in London are served by the Government's far from generous benefits system. A single 18-24 year old receives £28.95 a week; a single person aged 25 or above gets £36.54, and a couple receive £57.37 between them. A child under 16 is due £30.95 and a "child" of 16 or 17 gets £31.75. Only £10 of each benefit tier is in cash. The remainder is given as vouchers, which can only be used in certain shops. If the asylum seeker uses a £5 voucher to buy goods worth £4.79, the change is pocketed by the shop. When 50 charities and other agencies working with asylum-seekers were surveyed recently, 41 said they had come across refugees unable to feed themselves. (The Evening Standard (U.K.), March 21, 2001)

* Numbers

The number of asylum applications received by the UK last month was the lowest in 20 months, the Home Office said. There were 5,520 applications, down 13% on January and down nearly 10% on the same period last year. However, the numbers of appeals made by refugees whose initial applications were refused reached its highest-ever level at 10,405, up by more than a fifth on the previous month. The actual number of refugees is significantly higher than these figures because they do not include spouses, children or other dependants who arrive in the UK with the asylum-seeker. (Press Association (U.K.), March 23, 2001)

* Protests

Kurdish refugees protesting a Dutch government decision that would force them to leave the country clashed with police in The Hague and smashed windows at the Dutch parliament building. Two police officers were injured in the clash, one with a broken jaw and another with broken fingers, and seven protesters were arrested. A number of streetcars in the city were damaged by protesters. About 500 people marched from a park to the parliament building, where they presented parliamentarians with a petition calling on the Dutch government to reverse a decision made last year that declared northern Iraq a safe area for Kurds. The decision would revoke the refugee status of many Kurds currently residing in the Netherlands and force them to leave the country. (Reuters)

Amjad Ksalily an Iranian, 24, is a fugitive from the police and the Department of Immigration. He escaped from Villawood immigration detention centre 13 weeks ago by removing bars and crawling through a stormwater drain. Ksalily is one of 17 people on the run from Villawood who are hiding in and on the outskirts of Sydney. The detention centre had its largest breakout last Monday, when 14 people escaped. He feared that if he were caught he would be returned to Iran and jailed. The result would be the same if he gave himself up, he said. "Living is not too good. For now, at least I am free." (Sydney Morning Herald, April 2, 2001)

Up to 60 “illegal immigrants” have been involved in a “riot” at the Port Hedland detention centre in Western Australia, which erupted when officers tried to remove some detainees from the centre. "Some individuals were resisting being repatriated and others were protesting their removal," he said. (AAP, March 30)

About 250 Afghanis, Iraqis, Iranians, Algerians, Bangladeshis, Africans and many more sat for hours in the hot sun, holding banners and chanting: "We want protection not detention" and "We want freedom". (The West Australian, March 22, 2001)

Refugees, asylum seekers and human rights NGOs joined a protest in Johannesburg, South Africa to express concern at the lack of administrative justice afforded to refugees and asylum seekers. (SAPA (South Africa), March 20, 2001)

* Racism / Fascism

A Tory backbencher claimed that he was the victim of political correctness as MPs from all parties denounced his views on immigration. John Townend said he was right to say that Britain's "homogeneous Anglo-Saxon society" had been "seriously undermined" by mass immigration. In a speech he made almost two weeks ago, the MP for Yorkshire East, who is standing down at the next election, said that immigrants were partly to blame for rising crime rates in some areas. (The Daily Telegraph (U.K.), March 29, 2001)

Politicians were told by the Confederation of British Industry not to "play the immigration card" at the election. CBI director-general voiced particular concerns at political leaders becoming "xenophobic" at election time, saying it "does business a disservice". The Financial Times (U.K.), March 28, 2001)

William Hague's efforts to push the issue of asylum seekers to the forefront of political debate have succeeded with almost all the FT/ Banks Hoggins O'Shea FCB focus group saying the UK is too welcoming to refugees and regulations are too lax. There was also suspicion that asylum seekers received preferential treatment in schools and hospitals with interviewees reporting that refugees were able to jump National Health Service waiting lists and were given better access to council housing. (The Financial Times (U.K.), March 27, 2001)

William Hague came under fire after it emerged that the Tories are planning to screen a party election broadcast, which depicts a group of eastern European immigrants attempting to enter Britain. (The Guardian (U.K.), March 27, 2001)

Austria's far-right Freedom Party suffered big losses today in Vienna's municipal election after campaigning with anti-immigrant slogans and a relentless attack on the leader of the largest association of Austrian Jews. (The New York Times, March 26, 2001)

A new EU survey has found high levels of intolerance in Ireland and Britain. The survey found almost one-fifth of people in this State find the presence of people of another nationality disturbing in their daily lives. Almost a third - 30 per cent - of people in the State believe immigrants are more often involved in crime than are non-immigrants. Greece was the most intolerant state, with 38 per cent disturbed by the presence of other nationalities. Denmark follows with 24 per cent. The same proportion - 17 per cent - in this State and in the UK found the presence of other nationalities disturbing. The EU average was 15 per cent. (The Irish Times, March 21, 2001)

Racism is a threat, which, if unchallenged, could undermine the very fabric of Irish society, the Irish Prime Minister said. (Agence France Presse, March 21, 2001)

Farmers in Australia's isolated far north have urged the government to adopt a tougher stand on boat people in a bid to “prevent foot and mouth disease entering the country.” The president of the Pastoralists and Graziers' Association of Western Australia, Barry Court, said he believed the risk of infection from uncontrolled landings by foreign vessels was so great that boats carrying “illegal immigrants” should be turned back. “Why bring them in at all?" Court asked. "They are causing lots of problems when they do get here. It may be harsh, but let's give them food and water and fuel and send them back and say: 'Look, we just cannot take you, because there are major immigration and disease problems in Australia'." (Agence France Presse, March 20, 2001)

* Restrictive Measures / Militarisation of Borders

Greece plans to boost border security and hire more than 1,800 new border guards over the next two years amid fears that clashes in the Balkans may cause a wave of illegal immigration. Greece currently has about 1,200 border officers. (The Associated Press, March 29, 2001)

Senior EU officials arrived for talks with ministers from five Balkan countries on the growing problem of immigrant smuggling, trafficking in women and organized crime in the region. Ministers from Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Yugoslavia were to attend the talks. (Agence France Presse, March 28, 2001)

A Ukrainian man has become the first person to be charged under Ireland's human trafficking laws enacted last year to deal with smuggling of “illegal immigrants.” Under the Illegal Immigrant (Trafficking Act) Act 2000, those found guilty of smuggling people into the country face a maximum 10-year jail sentence and an unlimited fine. (Agence France Presse, March 27, 2001)

Interior ministers from several European Union countries met to outline joint actions to combat “illegal immigration,” money laundering, racism, xenophobia and Internet crimes. During today's meeting, battling immigrant trafficking from China was stressed to be a top priority. (ANSA News Agency, March 26, 2001)

In the past 18 months, about 24,000 undocumented migrants have used Sangatte, France as a jumping-off point in their attempt to reach Britain. In a vast hangar-size building once used for construction of the nearby Channel Tunnel, the French Red Cross provides food and shelter for hundreds of travellers. When night falls, they try to sneak aboard trucks headed for Britain by ferry or on the train, that carries vehicles beneath the channel. Up to 150 refugees are caught nightly by security guards and are returned to the Red Cross centre. At the Sangatte centre, a sign in six languages lists the perils of attempting a surreptitious crossing: "Very high winds; electrocution risk; squashing risk; mortal danger." However, refugees like Jafari ignore the warning. "What should we do? We do not have passports. And even if we did, nobody would give us visas," he says. (U.S. News and World Report, March 26, 2001)

* Women

The Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Philip Ruddock, has failed to convince the Federal Court that a Colombian woman threatened by criminals over her murdered brother's drug debts was not entitled to refugee status in Australia. Fenny Sophia Redondo Sarrazola fled Colombia in 1996 to join her husband and children after strangers had gone to her home and demanded she pay her brother's $ US40,000 ($ A81,000) debt. Authorities told her to solve the problem herself by disappearing. The brother was murdered in 1995. Mrs Sarrazola's claim of being a refugee was based on her fearing persecution because of her membership of a particular social group, namely, her family, and that Colombia was not willing or able to protect her. The Refugee Review Tribunal rejected her claim. A single judge of the Federal Court overturned the tribunal's decision. Last week, a Full Court of three judges dismissed the minister's appeal. (The Canberra Times, March 27, 2001)

A federal appeals court significantly broadened the interpretation of grounds for political asylum when it ruled against deporting a Mexican woman who said she would be abused by her father if she were forced to return. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Rosalba Aguirre-Cervantes, 19, should be allowed to remain in the United States because of her past mistreatment, her "well-founded fear" of future abuse, and the fact that Mexico "is unable or unwilling to interfere with that persecution. Aguirre-Cervantes said she had been beaten regularly since infancy by a father who wielded a horsewhip, tree branches, a hose and his fists, and refused to allow her to seek medical treatment. Lawyers said the ruling was a milestone in the long-running effort to expand the right to political asylum for victims of domestic violence in nations where the crime is tolerated or even ignored. (Los Angeles Times, March 22, 2001)