International Refugee News

September 10-13, 2001

* Laws

(The Financial Times (U.K.), September 13, 2001) The European Commission approved a proposal aimed at a common definition of a refugee that would for the first time include women who have been raped or persons who have been tortured or subjected to psychological or sexual violence. The proposal is part of a long-term goal of drawing up a common asylum policy among European Union member states. Yesterday's proposal states that persecution can also originate "from non-state agents" where a state is unable or unwilling to provide effective protection. However, if a person seeking protection is from a state deemed safe, "he or she will have no claim for international protection", a clause which human rights organisations are expected to challenge. The Commission will now pass its proposals to the member states that are supposed to have a common asylum and immigration policy in place by 2004.

* Racism

(Ananova.com, September 19, 2001) Michael Fabricant, the Conservative MP for Lichfield has renewed his call to UK Home Secretary David Blunkett to toughen up arrangements for asylum seekers to prevent Afghan 'terrorists sneaking into the UK.' David Blunkett has dismissed Mr Fabricant's request as "irresponsible and inappropriate".

(The Financial Times (U.K.), September 11, 2001) The UK government came under attack over its asylum policy as the Trades Union Congress yesterday launched a big anti-racism campaign. Delegates unanimously approved a motion condemning ministers for failing to take a lead in sending out "positive messages" about asylum seekers and criticising the "endemic racism" blighting communities. Bill Morris, general secretary of the TGWU general union, said the government should scrap its voucher system and detention centres and focus on seeking European agreement on managed asylum and immigration. Delegates warmly applauded as Mr Morris said: "The voucher system is demeaning and it stigmatises - it is an indictment on a society which prides itself on the principles of social justice." The TUC is changing its rule book, making it a requirement for all affiliates to combat racism in line with the statutory requirements for the public sector arising from the Macpherson report into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

* Restrictive / Repressive Measures

(MSNBC.com, September 19, 2001) In response to last week’s terrorist attacks, the US Immigration and Naturalization Service has changed its rules to allow non-citizens to be held indefinitely for questioning. In addition, Justice Department lawyers are drafting a bill to give the attorney general the power to order foreigners deported without presenting evidence against them.

(The Bergen (N.J.) Record, September 19, 2001) Before Sept. 11, the United States appeared on its way to adopting some of the most liberal immigration policies in its history. In a development unthinkable only a few years ago, the president and leaders of both political parties were weighing proposals to legalize millions of undocumented workers. But the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have brought the reform momentum to a halt.

(The Guardian (U.K.), September 19, 2001) The UK government is to go ahead with its plans to impose a civil penalty of £2,000 a head on Eurotunnel each time an 'illegal' migrant makes it through the Channel tunnel into Britain, the home secretary, David Blunkett. He will also unveil plans for up to a further 50 British immigration officers to be sent to the French side of the tunnel to help reinforce the operation to prevent 'illegal migrants' using cross-channel trains to get into Britain.

(Reuters, September 19, 2001) As thousands of Afghans fled cities fearing possible U.S. attacks, the United Nations was preparing urgent plans to feed and shelter them. Witnesses said thousands of Afghans on foot, on horseback, in pickup trucks and wagons had arrived at the border with Pakistan and were pleading to be allowed entry. Pakistan this week tightened security along its borders, requiring all travelers to have valid visas. According to UNHCR figures, Afghan refugees total 3.7 million worldwide, with at least two million in Pakistan and 1.5 million in Iran.

(Agence France Presse, September 19, 2001) Indonesia's immigration chief warned in a report that trained terrorists could be among 'illegal immigrants' from the Middle East. Indonesia promised to expand detention centres and consider tougher laws after a visit by three Australian ministers this month seeking Jakarta's cooperation. After the visit, Jakarta also introduced tougher visa conditions for citizens from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Palestine applying to enter Indonesia.

(The Canberra Times, September 19, 2001) With the first 100 asylum-seekers scheduled to be disembarked at Nauru, the Australian Labour Party agreed to support a sweeping new regime for the treatment of 'boat people' attempting to reach Australian shores. Labour will back the Government in moves to significantly downgrade the rights of people arriving on Christmas and Cocos Islands and Ashmore Reef. It will also support beefed-up powers for Australian officers to detain and search people suspected of being unauthorised arrivals at sea and take them elsewhere - including Nauru - for processing. Labor's support ensures the legislation will pass the Senate but it was strongly criticised by the Democrats and Greens, and some MPs within its own ranks.

(The Associated Press, September 19, 2001) A hundred Afghan refugees were ferried to the tiny Pacific Island republic of Nauru after spending three weeks at sea, caught in an international dispute over who would take them. The Afghans were from among 433 asylum-seekers saved from a sinking Indonesian ferry by a Norwegian freighter in late August. They were taken toward Australia, but were denied entry as part of that government's hard-line against illegal immigration. Nauru agreed to take them while their fate was being determined. A second group of 230 asylum seekers were picked up on Sept. 7. Some 533 refugees remain aboard the Australian navy's HMS Manoora. They will be unloaded in the coming days. As the navy completes the process of unloading all the refugees, 150 women and children will be flown from Nauru to New Zealand for processing of their asylum bids.

(The Australian Associated Press, September 19, 2001) A member of the full Federal Court in Australia which threw out Justice Tony North's order to allow the Tampa boat people into Australia today said the lawyers bringing the action had the noblest of intentions. The remarks were made by Federal Court Justice Robert French in a postscript to his reasons for overturning the ruling in the controversial case on the future of the 433 asylum seekers, about to disembark at Nauru. The lawyer behind the bid to have the asylum seekers brought to Australia, Eric Vadarlis, said he was concerned about the likelihood of being ordered to pay the potentially enormous court costs in the case.

(Reuters, September 17, 2001) A top U.N. official in India urged Pakistan and Iran to allow in asylum seekers from Afghanistan if the United States launches an attack on the Taliban-ruled state.

(British Broadcasting Corporation, September 13, 2001) The French Government has confirmed that there will no second refugee centre to ease overcrowding at a controversial camp near Calais. Reports had claimed a new facility, run by the Red Cross, was being planned in the grounds of a psychiatric hospital 20 miles from Dunkirk. But after a meeting between the UK's Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and his French opposite number Daniel Vaillant, a joint statement confirmed there would be no second camp. The operator of the Channel Tunnel rail link on Tuesday lost a court attempt to shut down the existing camp at Sangatte, on the doorstep of its Calais terminal, which it says is responsible for rising numbers of people stowing away on its trains. The Red Cross camp at Sangatte holds up to 700 refugees, mostly Afghans and

Kurds from Iraq, and is half a mile from the Channel Tunnel entrance.

(The San Francisco Chronicle, September 13, 2001) As shock turns to rage over Tuesday's horrific attacks, civil rights experts worry that some of America's fundamental freedoms will be the next victims of the terrorist assault. The Federal Aviation Administration already has responded to the breach of security at three major airports with a series of stepped-up measures. But constitutional law scholars fear that lawmakers may respond with more intrusive policies in the name of national security. The backlash could include racial profiling at airports -- especially of Arab Americans -- tighter restrictions on immigration and increased intrusions on privacy rights, they say.

(The Daily Telegraph (U.K.), September 10, 2001) British immigration experts have been dispatched to Bosnia in a new attempt to stem the flow of 'illegal' immigrants. The team arrived in Sarajevo last week to begin the clampdown on 'people-trafficking' in the Balkans. Many of the 500,000 refugees smuggled into the European Union each year arrive through the war-ravaged Balkan states. Many Iraqi Kurds and Afghan refugees then travel on to Britain to claim political asylum. Sending specialist immigration investigators to Bosnia is the first in a series of measures promised by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, with the aim of solving the asylum crisis. Mr Blunkett said yesterday this would be an "important" week as he stepped up efforts to tackle the threat of large- scale refugee movements.

(The New York Times, September 12, 2001) A French court refused today to shut down a Red Cross shelter, just a few kilometers from the Channel Tunnel. Today's ruling was prompted by Eurotunnel, the company that runs the tunnel, which had asked an administrative court in Lille to shut the camp.

(The Sydney Morning Herald, September 13, 2001) An Australian navy warship repelled a craft, with an estimated 120 aboard, which sailed within 24 nautical miles of Australian "contiguous" waters around the reef off north Western Australia.

(Australian Broadcasting Corporation, September 11, 2001) Construction on a detention centre at the El Alamein military facility near Port Augusta in South Australia is to start in about a week. The centre is expected to be operating by December.

(The Guardian (UK), September 11, 2001) More than 200 asylum and immigration detainees in Haslar prison, Portsmouth, and in Campsfield House, Oxfordshire, UK took part in hunger strikes and protests in the wake of last week's high court ruling that it was illegal to detain asylum seekers without evidence they might abscond or misbehave.

(Courier Mail, September 11, 2001) Australia agreed to a $20 million assistance package for the republic of Nauru to take an extra 237 asylum seekers. Defence analysts suggest a three-week navy patrol of northern waters will cost more than $50 million, plus the $3 million a day it cost to intercept the Tampa, brought the exercise to about $80 million. Under the $20 million deal struck yesterday by Defence Minister Peter Reith, Australia will provide the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru with diesel fuel, medical assistance, extra educational scholarships and additional power generators.