May
14 - May 25, 2001
* Arrests
Spanish police detained 47
North Africans who tried to enter Spain illegally after crossing the hazardous
Strait of Gibraltar by boat overnight.
Those detained are being held while arrangements are made for their
‘repatriation.’ (The Associated Press,
May 25, 2001)
The Indian immigration
authorities have arrested Afghans for trying to reach London to seek political
asylum using fake Spanish passports.
The Afghans were remanded to judicial custody and sent to Vellore jail.
(The Hindu, May 25, 2001)
A total of 1,558 foreigners
illegally have entered Indonesia since early last year in hopes of reaching a
third country. Director of Immigration
said the ‘illegal’ immigrants were from Iraq, Iran, India, Sri Lanka,
Palestine, Somalia and Bahrain. The
last case involved 92 Iraqis who were found stranded on the North Sumatra sea.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, 135 Pakistani, Iraqi and Afghans were arrested
when they were about to leave for Australia.
In Bogor, 193 Iranians were arrested in Garut, West Java, in September
last year. The Director said the UNHCR
had granted refugee status to 420 ‘illegal’ migrants in Indonesia, but only one
had been sent on to a third country. He
added that on Tuesday two Pakistanis, one Sri Lankan and one Chinese national
were arrested for immigration violations during a raid in Kemayoran, Central
Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post, May 25, 2001)
Austrian police picked up 58
‘illegal’ immigrants, of which 52 were Afghans and six Iraqis, along the
Austria-Slovakia border within the space of a half hour. It follows the discovery on Tuesday by the
Austrian army of 26 Afghans who had illegally entered Austria from
Slovakia. Last week 92 ‘illegal’
immigrants, half of which were from Afghanistan, were also picked up by police
along the Austro-Slovakian border. (Agence France Presse, May 24, 2001)
The Uruguayan Interpol office
arrested seven Ecuadorians, two men and five women, as they prepared to board a
United Airlines flight to the United States with false U.S. visas and
passports. (Agencia EFE, May 24, 2001)
Italian police held nearly 80
people, mostly Albanians and Kurds of Iraqi origin, for illegally entering the
country. (Agence France Presse, May 24, 2001)
Mexican authorities arrested
152 ‘illegal immigrants’ crowded into the trailer of a cargo truck that was
traveling through the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico to wards the
US. Officials said the immigrants,
mostly Guatemalan and Salvadoran, were traveling under "subhuman"
conditions. The Central Americans were
to be promptly repatriated. (Agencia EFE, May 23, 2001)
Greek authorities detained 88
‘illegal immigrants’ from Iraq and Iran off the coast of Keratea, about 40
kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Athens. The vessel was carrying 77 men, four
women and seven children. (The Associated Press, May 23, 2001)
Korean police officers and the
army are searching for about 20 Asians believed to have illegally entered the
country. Police said their belongings
include Iranian money. (The Korea Herald, May 21, 2001)
Spain's Civil Guard arrested
77 North Africans who entered the country illegally via the Strait of
Gibraltar. The arrests bring to 250 the
number of ‘illegal immigrants’ detained this week while attempting to enter
Spain. (Panafrican News Agency, May 17, 2001)
Immigration officers with the
help of the police and the army have detained 120 apparently ‘illegal’
foreigners in an round-up operation held in Oshakati, Namibia. (The Namibian
(via BBC), May 16, 2001)
Indonesian authorities have
arrested 134 foreigners who mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan heading
for Australia. (Agence France Presse,
May 17, 2001)
* Deaths
Three ‘illegal immigrants’
from Iran were killed when they stepped on a mine field a the Evros border
crossing between Greece and Turkey. The fourth Iranian, aged 24, was injured
and is lying in a hospital in the northern Greek city of Alexandropoulis. Tens
of ‘illegal immigrants’ have been killed by land mines at the vros broader
between Greece and Turkey in the last few years. (May 21, IRNA)
This month alone, 29 Afghans
-- mostly children -- have died from heatstroke and dehydration in Pakistan.
(The Associated Press, May 20, 2001)
A Somali official said that 86
‘illegal immigrants’ had drowned after the crew of a boat carrying them to
Yemen forced passengers into the sea when the vessel suffered engine
trouble. 70 people had been rescued by
fishing boats, but five of those saved had since died. The news followed
reports that Libyan authorities had found the decomposed bodies of 93 African
immigrants who were stranded and died of thirst in the Saharan desert.
(Reuters, May 18, 2001)
South African police
Commissioner dismissed claims that South African policemen threw 14 Mozambican
‘illegal migrants’ off a moving train, while they being deported back to
Mozambique. “The police on board the
train performed their tasks admirably, and did a hundred per cent delivery of
all the deportees to the Mozambican authorities," the police chief
affirmed in his disclaimer, denying 14 passengers were hurled off, let alone
died. (Panafrican News Agency, May 16, 2001)
* Deportation
According to the
Auditor-General's latest report from the South African Department of Home
Affairs, a total of 181 286 ‘illegal aliens’ were ‘removed’ from the country
and returned to their countries of origin during 1998, compared with a total of
176 351 during 1997. Most came from Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho and other
countries, which have been hit by the scourge of war and poverty. (WOZA (Johannesburg), May 25, 2001)
Namibia's Immigration Tribunal
ordered the deportation of 109 ‘illegal aliens’ rounded up in the past two
months in the country's north-eastern part to Angola, Botswana and Zambia.
(Panafrican News Agency, May 23, 2001)
A group of 56 people trying to
enter Italy illegally aboard were ‘rescued’ and taken to Vlora in southern
Albania. An agreement between Rome and
Tirana provides for the immediate ‘repatriation’ of ‘illegal immigrants’
arriving from Albania. (Agence France Presse, May 20, 2001)
Defying pleas from the United
Nations, Pakistan said it will repatriate thousands of Afghans who fled their
homeland to escape drought and civil war.
(The Associated Press, May 20, 2001)
Cambodia has expelled dozens
of asylum seekers from Vietnam despite assuring the United Nations it would not
forcibly send them home. (The Associated Press, May 20, 2001)
* Detention
About 21 719 people were
illegally detained at the Lindela detention centre for ‘illegal’ immigrants
between August 1996 and September 1999, only to be released once they were
identified as South African citizens, according to the Auditor-General's latest
report from the South African Department of Home Affairs. (WOZA (Johannesburg),
May 25, 2001)
Refugee
groups have cautiously welcomed a decision to release women and children from
the Woomera Detention Centre into the local township on a trial basis. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, May
25, 2001)
The Australian Federal
Government's plan to give guards the power to strip search detained immigrants
above the age of 10 is doomed after Labour told the Government it would support
such measures only if there was a judicial inquiry into detention centres. The bill would increase the penalty for
escaping from centres to five years' jail and allow x-ray machines to be
installed in the centres to make sure visitors were not bringing ‘weapons’
in. (The Sydney Morning Herald, May 25,
2001)
Detention centre operator Australasian
Correctional Services may lose its contract after the immigration department
said it was looking for better offers.
It has been criticised over its management of detention centres after
protests and riots by inmates at Woomera, Port Hedland and Maribyrnong. The
contract covers the Villawood, Perth, Maribyrnong, Woomera, Curtin and Port
Hedland centres. (The Australian Associated Press, May 25, 2001)
* Living Conditions
The proposal to accommodate
people waiting on housing lists in flotels (ships) by Irish Fine Gael deputy
leader Jim Mitchell resulted in a row at a party meeting. Mitchell was
criticised at the weekly parliamentary party meeting for the proposal that
people could be temporarily housed for up to two years in this way. (The Irish
Times, May 24, 2001)
A family which fled
persecution in the Middle East was detained in Australia for five months, left
at a Canberra hostel with no money and survived on bread for a month, a refugee
advocate said. They had now moved
interstate on a three-year Temporary Protection Visa. (The Canberra Times
(Australia), May 21, 2001)
* Laws / Legislation
Hundreds
of legal challenges by asylum-seekers have been temporarily suspended pending a
Supreme Court decision on the interpretation of immigration legislation. At the core of the case is the nature of the
reasons that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is obliged to
give when proposing to issue deportation orders. Section 5 of the 2000 Act provides that any application for leave
to seek judicial review of a deportation order shall not be granted unless the
High Court is satisfied there are substantial grounds for contending that the
decision should be quashed. The
appellants contend that the judge was wrong in holding that substantial grounds
meant the case was strong and likely to succeed. The correct meaning, they
claimed, was "reasonable", "arguable" and "weighty". (The Irish Times, May 25, 2001)
Amnesty International
expressed alarm at proposed new European Union rules on immigration and asylum
which the human rights watchdog said contravened international standards for
refugees. The proposals are due to be
discussed by justice and home-affairs ministers from the 15 EU nations
Monday. They include a common system of
''temporary protection'' in the event of a large influx of refugees fleeing a
from crisis area. The EU says the rules would guarantee refugees access to
housing, health and education, but Amnesty International fears they could be
used to restrict access for asylum seekers and make it easier for EU nations to
expel refugees. Amnesty is also
concerned that proposals to crack down on so-called ''people-smugglers'' could
make criminals of citizens who help genuine refugees escape danger in their
homelands. (The Associated Press, May
25, 2001)
Interior Minister Otto Schily
declared himself in favour of a "sweeping solution" with regard to
the planned immigration law. The interests of the labour market must be taken
into account, just as those of demography and integration. At the same time, he declared himself
against broadening the right to asylum for victims of nongovernmental
persecution. Instead, Schily called for a tightening of the asylum process and
a more purposeful practice of deportation. (Die Welt web site (via BBC), May
23, 2001)
Labour was denounced by John
Edmonds, the general secretary of the GMB union, one of Britain's biggest unions
for trying to outbid the Conservatives over who has the toughest anti-asylum
policies. Straw called for each member
of the European Union to agree to annual quotas of asylum-seekers allowed to
stay in the country. (The Independent (U.K.), May 21, 2001)
The South African Cabinet
approved a framework for the immigration bill. (South African Press Agency, May
16, 2001)
Thousands of Pakistani
immigrants awaiting deportation were given the chance to re-apply for asylum in
Britain after a leading judge ruled that Jack Straw had acted unlawfully. The master of the rolls said that the home
secretary had erred in law and acted irrationally by including Pakistan in a
list of countries considered safe for the return of immigrants. He ordered
their cases be heard by a new special adjudicator. But he also ruled that the
removal orders were invalid since Pakistan should not have been included in the
"white list" of safe countries. Any asylum seeker from such a
classified nation, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Poland and
Romania, goes through a "fast track" procedure and has no right to
appeal against the special adjudicator's decision. (Press Association Friday
May 18, 2001 Electronic Guardian)
The European Union Commission
is hoping that the next few months will bring some progress in moves to develop
a joint EU policy on immigration and asylum.
The Commissioner responsible, Portugal's Antonio Vitorino, stands firm
in his expectation that the Laeken summit in December will bring agreement
among the 15 member states on a joint strategy. "We have presented a long
list of initiatives. But the Council was able to reach an agreement on just two
of the eleven proposals." And these two were both ‘pretty
uncontroversial:’ the setting up of a data bank for finger prints, and of an EU
fund for refugees. (Handelsblatt
(Germany), May 18, 2001)
* Myths
Asylum seekers find it
paradoxical that they are demonised for "sponging off the state" when
the current immigration system prevents them from working for the first six
months they are in the country, forcing them to live on benefits. Britain has a
big shortage of workers in key industries that could be filled by asylum
seekers who are prevented from using their skills. If asylum seekers can help
to plug the gaps in Britain's professions, they can also help fill vacancies
for unskilled manual jobs. The United Nations estimates that to keep the
working population constant, Britain would need to double the number of
immigrants from its current level. (The
Guardian (U.K.), May 23, 2001)
* Racism
With the continued influx of
‘illegal’ immigrants, including Zimbabweans, Zambians, Angolans and Namibians
into Maun, Botswana, local authorities have launched a major move counter the
situation blaming them for using ‘our health facilities for their benefit,’
‘taking jobs away from citizens, and for the ‘recent spate of robbery attacks,’
according to the Maun District Commissioner. But a member of Women Against Rape
(WAR) said Maun suffers from a more serious problem, which is rooted in hatred
for foreigners. (Mmegi/The Reporter
(Gaborone, Botswana), May 25, 2001)
The All Assam Students' Union
in India's remote northeast said that it wanted the army to be posted along the
India and Bangladesh border to stop the entry of ‘illegal’ immigrants from
Bangladesh. (The Associated Press, May
25, 2001)
In Sighthill, north of Glasgow
city centre, there have been more than 80 racist incidents since the beginning
of the year. The British National Party
has been active in the area with a leaflet campaign. (The Express (U.K.), May 24, 2001)
United Nations Refugee Commissioner Ruud
Lubbers denounced as dangerous what he called the populist rhetoric against
refugees that is sweeping across Europe.
(Reuters, May 23, 2001)
The
Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the Southern Poverty Law
Center's spring report was unfounded in its allegations that his and other
groups in the Coalition for the American Worker have connections to white
supremacist groups. The law center's
report also said that the director of another group in the coalition, the
American Immigration Control Foundation, is John Vinson. Vinson is a founding
member of the League of the South, a group the law center considers white
supremacist. The center also spoke of
Numbers USA's director Roy Beck, Washington editor for the Social Contract, a
publication that "has published articles by "white
nationalists." (Des Moines Register, May 16, 2001)
A Dutch minister proposed that
the Netherlands and other European Union countries encourage more, not fewer,
migrants to their shores because of its aging population. He also hoped to encourage a more
understanding attitude from Dutch citizens.
"We need to distance ourselves from the idea of the
underprivileged, poorly-educated good-for-nothing who is not a real asylum
seeker and whom we don't want," Van Boxtel said. (Reuters, May 18,
2001)
Umberto Bossi, the xenophobic
leader of the far-right Northern League, said Italy's incoming centre-right
government would propose a tough new law making ‘illegal immigration’ "a
serious crime". The government
coalition led by media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, to which his party belongs,
would base its suggested immigration law on a joint proposal presented last
year by the Northern League and Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia party,
which called for stricter repressive measures against immigration, including
prison sentences of up to 18 years for people who encouraged illegal
immigration and a 10-year ban on entering Italy for immigrants deported from
the country. (Agence France Presse, May 18, 2001)
* Protests
Protestors converged on the
German capital for a three-day protest against the restriction in German law on
asylum seekers' freedom of movement. While they await a final verdict on their
application, asylum seekers are sent to hostels or camps, often in extremely
isolated locations. They are not allowed to work. They are not allowed to
study. And for as long as their case takes to decide normally several years
they are obliged to remain within the boundaries of the local police
authority. (The Guardian (U.K.), May
23, 2001)
IFIR- Germany has called for a
two-week sit-in in Bokhum and Dortmund beginning June 5 in protest
against the institutionally racist and anti-asylum practices of the German authorities. (IFIR-German branch Press Release, May 19,
2001)
‘Illegal immigrants’ from Iraq
were hurt in scuffles with Cyprus police during a protest near a British
base. The incident occurred when a
group of about 15 Iraqis protested outside a police station in the southeast of
the island in an area bordering on British sovereign base territory. "They were there protesting at the
conditions they are held in," British bases spokesman told Reuters. One of
their key demands is to be allowed to get into Britain. The Iraqis arrived in Cyprus secretly
earlier this year and have been kept within the British sovereign base area
until a decision was made on their application for political asylum. (Reuters, May 16, 2001)