* Arrests
Up
to 84 people, including 60 Kurds from Turkey were detained after crossing into
Italy illegally from Slovenia. Under an
agreement recently signed between Rome and Ljubljana they will be immediately
returned to Slovenia. Last year about
20,000 “illegal immigrants” were detained along the 300-kilometre (187 mile)
Italy-Slovenia border. (Agence France Presse, March 16, 2001)
Malaysian
authorities Friday detained 16 “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar, including a
woman, in the northernmost state of Perlis, which borders Thailand. The group, aged between 16 and 28, were
arrested by the anti-smuggling unit.
They would be charged under the Immigration Act for entering the country
illegally. (Agence France Presse, March 16, 2001)
Malaysian
Marine police detained 127 Indonesian “illegal immigrants,” 114 of who are men,
near Pantai Sepang Besar. They were
handed over to the police for further action. (New Straits Times (Malaysia),
March 15, 2001)
Turkish authorities
have detained 48 “illegal immigrants” from Afghanistan, Senegal and Pakistan
and nine accused smugglers. Turkish
police arrested more than 94,000 “illegal immigrants” last year and hundreds of
thousands travel through Turkey each year on their way to the European Union.
(Reuters, March 7, 2001)
* Children
A
BBC documentary will expose the illegal trade in children who have been taken
from local authority care in West Sussex and made to work the streets in
Italy. The victims, mostly from African
countries, have been disappearing from care homes for the last two years. The numbers who have gone missing have
dropped recently as the county council works more closely with the police to
step up security at a special social services home dedicated to child asylum
seekers. It is thought around 40
children have gone missing from West Sussex in total. (Press Association
(U.K.), March 8, 2001)
* Deaths
As
many as 40 people were killed when a boat carrying “illegal immigrants” from
the Dominican Republic, Haiti and China capsized 6 miles northwest of St.
Martin in the Leeward Islands. Two survivors were found. Rescuers had recovered 23 bodies and at
least 17 others were missing and presumed dead. (United Press International,
March 16, 2001)
Six
undocumented immigrants from Mexico died and 14 were injured when the van they
were travelling in was hit by a truck on Interstate 76 east of Sterling, US.
(The Denver Post, March 13, 2001)
Four
Cubans who embarked for the Florida Keys, US, over the past two months all died
mysteriously from head injuries. (The
Miami Herald, March 15, 2001)
Malaysian
police, who initially believed there were only 26 “illegal immigrants” on a
boat which capsized near here last week, discovered two more bodies near Pulau
Kaca bringing the number of dead in the boat tragedy to 16. 12 survivors had been picked up several
hours after the incident. The
“illegals” were from Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar. (New Straits Times
(Malaysia), March 15, 2001)
Spanish
authorities launched a search and rescue mission for two boats reported missing
off the southern Spanish coast and believed to be carrying around 60 immigrants
from Morocco. Last month Spanish rescue
officials found the bodies of 10 north African immigrants who died while trying
to cross the Mediterranean in makeshift rafts.
Official estimates say 500 people die each year making the attempted
crossing from northern Morocco to Spain. (Agence France Presse, March 13, 2001)
* Deportation
Fifty-one
“illegal immigrants” from Albania, Georgia, Russia and Armenia were detained
for deportation following a police round up in Greece. (The Associated Press, March 16, 2001)
Labour
has pledged to deliver a big increase in “failed” asylum seekers being thrown
out of Britain. Next year, for the first time, the wives and children of
“failed” asylum seekers thrown out of the country will be counted in official
statistics, giving an instant 25 per cent increase. The Home Affairs Select Committee said a major reason the UK
attracted more applications than any other country in Europe was because so few
“failed” asylum seekers were sent back.
In 1999, 2,700 refugees were deported - despite 11,000 claims being
rejected. Straw has pledged to throw
out 12,000 failed asylum seekers this year and 30,000 in 2002. (The Daily Mail
(U.K.), March 7, 2001)
Zambian
immigration authorities have deported 117 foreign nationals of different
origins who entered the country illegally.
Moreover, nine Congolese nationals were arrested last week for illegally
entering the country, and five others are in detention pending prosecution.
Zambia hosts a total of 532 “illegal immigrants” from Malawi, Tanzania, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and some European countries. Last year, 7,983 were deported and 136 were
prosecuted and fined for infringing on Zambia's law. (Xinhua News Service,
March 7, 2001)
* Detention
The
nation's first detention centre for “illegal-immigrant” families seeking asylum
in the United States has opened in what used to be a nursing home. The dormitory-style Family Shelter Care
centre, opened in central Pennsylvania is operated by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. It now houses
10 Colombian families. The agency
usually uses hotel rooms to house immigrant families while their claims for
asylum are processed. Adults who arrive illegally in the United States without
children are usually held in federal detention centres or county jails. (The
Associated Press, 3/16/2001)
The US New Hampshire Department of
Corrections and the state police launched an investigation into allegations of
sexual misconduct at the Goffstown women's prison. The move quickly followed
the Immigration and Naturalization Service's removal of eight female detainees
housed in the facility. (The Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor, March 14,
2001)
Canada
must improve the way it handles detained asylum seekers, a United Nations
rights expert said in a report. In her
report to the UN Human Rights Commission, Gabriela Rodriguez Pizarro - a
special investigator on the human rights of migrants - said she had received
reports that asylum seekers were being held for long periods while awaiting a
decision on their refugee status.
Visiting detention centres and talking to former inmates, she said she
had discovered cases of verbal abuse and manhandling by guards. (The Associated
Press, March 15, 2001)
The
Home Office is facing a multi-million pound compensation bill after two
Albanian asylum seekers jailed for entering Britain on “bogus” documents were
given GBP 80,000 between them. It
follows a landmark High Court ruling that refugees should not be penalised for
entering a country illegally. Between 500 and 1,000 are thought to have been
prosecuted each year between 1994 - when prosecutions were stepped up - and the
High Court judgment in 1999. (The Daily
Mail (U.K.), March 15, 2001)
Three
Romanian immigrants who disappeared from Oakington “reception centre” near
Cambridge after entering Britain hidden under a Eurostar train will be jailed
when they are caught and treated as “wholly illegal,” the Home Secretary, Jack
Straw, said. (The Independent (UK),
March 9, 2001)
Letting
outside lawyers hold meetings for new detainees of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) so prisoners can learn their legal rights under
U.S. law was approved three years ago.
However, advocates have sought for 18 months to be allowed to do so at
the INS detention centre on Varick Street in Manhattan without results. They have kept records of ignored phone
calls, unanswered letters and the centre's return of certified mail marked
"refused." The INS adopted "standards" – not enforceable in
court -- for its treatment of detained immigrants; the 1998 rules applied to
all INS-run facilities and last fall were extended to other jails and prisons
where the INS rents space. According to the INS, the size of the daily
detention population has grown to an average of 20,000 detainees, up from 8,200
in 1997. Four of the 36 standards
govern minimum legal access. They promise telephones, access to lawyers and a
properly stocked law library. They restrict strip searches after detainees meet
with lawyers. Because the deportation
proceedings are civil matters, those detained do not have a right to have a
lawyer, and 90 percent typically do not.
Advocates say the "rights presentations" are important
--especially at Varick Street, Navarro says, "because most of the people
are transferred to distant locations where there are no pro bono services and
few resources for the detainees." Varick Street's record on group rights
presentations is not the centre’s only violation of the standards, according to
immigration advocates. They say that: Legal Aid lawyers' meetings with detainee
clients are interrupted by lunch breaks. Advocates' phone numbers are not
posted next to telephones in at least one unit. The law library is sometimes missing necessary materials.
Detainees are routinely strip-searched after meetings with their lawyers. (The National Law Journal, February 26,
2001)
A
Sri Lankan man who witnessed the death of a fellow inmate at Melbourne's
Maribyrnong immigration centre in Australia has been sent to Port Phillip
Prison without being charged with a criminal offence. Advocates fear he will become lost in the state prison system and
say it is inappropriate that an asylum seeker be held with convicts. Tennakoon, 27, was interviewed by police
after his friend and fellow inmate Viliami Tanginoa fell to his death from a
basketball pole at Maribyrnong just before Christmas. At the time, Tennakoon told
The Age how Mr Tanginoa died in his arms. He claimed he was maltreated by
Australasian Correctional Management staff and held in an isolation cell for
several days after giving a statement about Tanginoa's death. The Notice of Transfer given to Tennakoon
said only that "your behaviour in detention has been unacceptable for the
low security IDC environment", but Tennakoon was moved to Port Phillip as
punishment for speaking to the media. (The Age (Australia), March 7, 2001)
* Economics
New
York's population topped 8 million in the 2000 Census, a record for the
nation's biggest city and a vivid illustration of the impact of surging
immigration that is transforming the nation.
Cities that attract immigrants have turned around decades of population
loss. "New York is a prototypical case of a place where if not for
immigration, it would not be the vibrant city that it is," said William
Frey, a demographer. (The Washington
Post, March 16, 2001)
Canada
must dramatically boost immigration levels to counter the social and economic
impact of an aging population, says a new report by Statistics Canada. Canada has one of the lowest birth rates in
the world as well as one of the highest life expectancies. The combination
makes for an older population that must be supported by an increasingly smaller
proportion of workers. (The Calgary Herald, March 14, 2001)
Britain
needs more immigrants to avoid a crisis caused by falling birth rates and an
ageing population, a study, called Jewels in the Crown, said. It found that as life expectancy rises the
need for a younger workforce would grow - and its author suggests immigration
may be part of the solution. Unless
levels of immigration were increased by around 20%, the UK population would
fall by three million by 2050; as a consequence Britons would need to work into
their seventies to support the large number of elderly people and fund more of
their own health and pension care. It
also found that immigrants have contributed to the British economy and that
certain service sectors depended on them, especially the NHS. (British
Broadcasting Corporation, March 7, 2001)
* Legislation
/ Laws
The
European Union and central and Eastern European nations seeking to join the
15-nation bloc agreed to step up judicial cooperation in an attempt to curb
“trafficking” of “illegal immigrants.”
Within the EU, thousands of victims of human trafficking are forced into
prostitution or labour in sweatshop factories for years to pay off their debt
to traffickers who provided passage out of their home countries. The EU
estimates that around a half million “illegal immigrants” enter its member
nations every year. (The Associated Press, March 16, 2001)
Greek
parliament is debating draft legislation to determine the fate of an estimated
750,000 immigrants in Greece. The bill
would impose stiffer penalties on human traffickers but give many undocumented
immigrants a ''second chance'' to register. (The Associated Press, March 16,
2001)
The
European Union yesterday took its war against people-traffickers into the
Balkans from where thousands of “illegal immigrants” are smuggled into Western
Europe. Justice and interior ministers
pledged in Brussels to send 30 police and immigration officers to help Croatia
and Bosnia control their own porous borders and stop the racketeering. However,
having responded to an Anglo-Italian initiative to send EU personnel to the
front line, ministers found it harder to agree upon common penalties for
trafficking. Britain has the toughest
maximum sentence of 10 years, while other countries impose terms of up to four
years. Straw met colleagues from
Germany, France, Italy and Spain in London last week, angering those who want
to see EU-wide action, not individual initiatives by some member states. (The
Guardian (U.K.), March 16, 2001)
The
introduction in the Canadian House of Commons of Bill C-11 will reduce the
rights of refugees and immigrants. The
bill is a revised version of C-31.
Among many serious problems in the bill, some areas of particular
concern are: – The bill does not live up to our international human rights
obligations, for example under the Refugee Convention and under the Convention
against Torture. Under the provisions
of the bill, people could be sent back to persecution or to torture, in violation
of Canada's obligations. – The bill
greatly expands powers of detention, including giving even greater discretion
to immigration officials to detain refugees and immigrants. – The bill creates a refugee determination
system with serious flaws, denying access to a hearing to people who may be at
risk of persecution (for example, people who have ever before made a refugee
claim). The procedures under the
proposed Pre-Removal Risk Assessment are inadequate (for example, lack of
independent and qualified decision-makers and oral hearings only in exceptional
circumstances). – The bill fails to
adequately address the problems of refugees in limbo (recognized refugees who
wait years to get permanent residence).
– The bill reinforces measures of interdiction, which affect refugees
trying to escape from persecution.
Among the changes are increases in penalties for people who engage in
people smuggling, even if they were motivated only by humanitarian concerns. Someone who helps family members flee persecution
can be denied access to a refugee hearing or lose permanent residence, without
access to an appeal. – The bill
broadens inadmissibility provisions, including creating a new category for
organized criminality, with dramatic impacts on people's rights, but without
any requirement that the person actually have committed any crime. The already unfair security certificate
process by which permanent residents can be stripped of status is made even
unfair. (Canadian Council for Refugees, press release, March 14, 2001)
The
French Cabinet adopted a wide-ranging crime bill that would fight bankcard
fraud, protect people against pit bull attacks and tackle clandestine
immigration. The bill, which is likely
to go before lawmakers in April, would crack down on human trafficking rings
that slip immigrants into Britain on the train that passes through the Channel
Tunnel. If passed, the law would allow
French and English police to check voyagers' papers as soon as they step in the
Eurostar train, which leaves from Paris' Gare du Nord station. More than 1,000 “illegal immigrants” are
caught every month trying to travel to Britain from France via the tunnel. (The
Associated Press, March 14, 2001)
Russian Human
Rights Commissioner Oleg Mironov will meet with the leaders of communities of
refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, who are residing in Moscow and the Moscow region
to discuss problems of the refugees and draft recommendations for power institutions
to assist the migrants. More than
20,000 refugees are dwelling in Moscow and suburbs at present. (Itar-Tass,
March 14, 2001)
Jack
Straw's attempt to return hundreds of asylum-seekers to Germany from the UK was
dealt a serious blow when appeal court judges ruled that he had acted
unreasonably. He was ordered to
investigate the outcome for asylum-seekers sent back to Germany, as few receive
refugee status. Figures produced at an
earlier court hearing showed that in 1998, 60 per cent of Kosovan Albanians
were granted refugee status or leave to remain in the UK compared with 3 per
cent in Germany. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Master of the Rolls,
ruled that the Home Secretary's decision to return Bajram Zeqiri, a Kosovan
Albanian, to Germany, a "safe country", was unreasonable. The test case will affect at least 115 other
cases in which Kosovan Albanians are alleging that Germany was unsafe because
it interpreted asylum laws more strictly than the United Kingdom. The Home
Secretary was ordered to pay costs and was refused leave to appeal to the House
of Lords. (The Times (U.K.), March 13, 2001)
Euro-MPs,
faced with a growing influx of migrants fleeing poverty and tyranny, wrestled
with proposals aimed at controlling immigration. The parliamentary Committee on Citizen's Freedoms and Rights,
Justice and Home Affairs, which processes immigration law drafts, recommended
rejection of a French initiative on mutual recognition of decisions expelling
third country nationals. It voted
thumbs down on a Finnish proposal that would give the Council of Europe broad
powers regarding visa applications. It
recommended rejection of a Portuguese proposal giving the council the power the
regulate the period during which third-country nationals exempt from visa requirements
are free to travel within the EU. In addition, it accepted, with a raft of
amendments, a French initiative for an EU law setting minimum standards for
giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons,
and “measures promoting a balance of efforts between member states in receiving
such persons.” Antonio Vitorino, EU Commission for Justice and Home Affairs,
said "the management of immigration falls to the member states...We need
to take into account the states' legitimate interests...as well as (those of)
persons seeking asylum...It's a very difficult and complex issue." Hartmut
Nassauer, the parliamentary committee's rapporteur, said "it has heard
first hand of the painful and tragic situations these men, women and children
encounter when they enter the well-guarded territory" of the EU, alluding
to another committee -- the Committee on Petitions – the front-line assessor of
appeals from immigrants and asylum seekers.
"Everyone knows there are two different strands of opinion in the
community." On the one hand, he
said, there is the realization that "if we are to prevent the economic,
social and human decline of our ageing European continent ...massive recourse
to immigration" will become "inevitable." The other "strand of opinion," he
said, was "of all those who harbour fears and fantasies about the
barbarian hordes coming to exploit our prosperity and destroy our civilisation
and culture. "The two attitudes intersect
or conflict," he said, "depending on the country involved and its
political situation. (Agence France
Presse, March 13, 2001)
The
British Government would violate the human rights of a Tanzanian national who
claimed he was being tortured if it deported him, the European Court of Human
Rights has ruled. Said Mohammed
Hilal’s, a political activist, request for asylum in the UK, in February 1995,
was refused and subsequent appeals were refused. However, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that if he was
ordered to return, the Government would breach Article 3 of the European
Convention on Human Rights. That article refers to the prohibition of torture,
inhuman or degrading treatment. The
Government has been ordered to pay Mr Hilal's costs of Ł12,583. (Press
Association (U.K.), March 7, 2001)
The
UN High Commissioner for Refugees said his organization wants continued support
from Japan including an agreement to consider accepting more refugees. Japan accepted 10,919 refugees between 1975
and 2000, according to foreign ministry figures, equivalent to less than 437
people a year. Japan accepted just 16
refugees in 1999, when the United States took in 85,010 to resettle, according
to UNHCR. (Agence France Presse, March 7, 2001)
* Living
Conditions
Asylum
seekers in Atherton, UK are set to benefit from a budget of GBP 218,000 to
provide accommodation for destitute asylum seekers in the area. The sum is equivalent to GBP 24 a week for
each of the 35 families currently seeking asylum. It will be used by Wigan Council to provide around 168 houses and
flats over the next five years -- a 79 per cent increase on current levels.
(This is Lancashire (U.K.), March 16, 2001)
Families of asylum seekers are to
get an extra GBP 50 a week “from the taxpayer” to cover the cost of housing,
food and clothing. The decision by Home
Secretary Jack Straw to increase the amount of government compensation
available to local authorities means they will now be able to spend up to GBP
350 a week supporting families. The
cost to the state will be at least GBP 31million a year and will push the
overall bill for dealing with destitute asylum seekers towards the GBP
1billion-a-year mark. It comes after
complaints from local authorities that the existing cash compensation of up to GBP
300 a week per family had failed to meet their bills. A Home Office spokesman
said: 'The GBP 350 figure is a maximum upper limit and not necessarily the rate
at which money will be spent.'(The Daily Mail (U.K.), March 15, 2001)
Government
plans to house asylum-seekers in so-called flotels have resurfaced with a
decision to appoint a consultant to assess the suitability of sites for
berthing the vessels. The use of the
controversial flotels to house asylum-seekers was suggested last spring when
the Government drew up proposals to reduce accommodation shortages. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law
Reform said the flotel option was on the back burner while objections from
ports and harbours were dealt with. Fire-safety advisers at the Office of Public
Works and the Department of the Environment have expressed strong reservations
in the past about fire safety in flotels. (The Irish Times, March 5, 2001)
* Protests
Asylum seekers held a protest
on Monday 19 March to protest against a racist attack on Friday March 16,
against Farid Hosifar, an Iranian asylum seeker, who was viciously attacked by
racists in Sunderland, UK. Another
protest has been organised for Thursday March 22. (IFIR March 19, 2001)
On March 12,
several Iranian refugee claimants, including political opponents, student activists
and religious converts began a hunger strike in Pakistan to demand that the
UNHCR grant them refugee recognition and resettlement to a safe third
country. The hunger strikers are Vahid
Younessi (case number I-17447), Eskandar Farzad (I-17337), Farshid Jalali
(I-16778), Khalil Ibrahimi (I-16776), Aeidi Safari (I-17435), Fereidoun
ghorbanian (I-17281), Mohammad Farajzadeh (I-17481), and Hassan Parsa
(I-17684). (IFIR Press Release, March 20, 2001)
About
250 people, including 40 children, most of them refugees from
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, demonstrated against Sweden's decision to
repatriate refugees to the Balkans.
Organizers said that there is no existing judicial system in the
refugee's homelands and that the Swedish authorities have not considered
individual reasons for asylum applications, the children's well-being or the
situation in their home countries when refusing residential permits. (The
Associated Press, March 7, 2001)
* Racism /
Fascism
On Friday March 16, Farid
Hosifar, an Iranian asylum seeker, was viciously attacked by racists in
Sunderland, UK. Because of repeated
stabbings on his back and one hand, he received 48 stitches. (IFIR Press
Release, March 19, 2001)
Controversial
plans to convert an A-listed hotel in Glasgow, UK into a hostel for asylum
seekers have been dropped. While the
company gave no official reason for pulling out, it is believed public
hostility to the bid was another major factor in the decision. (The Scotsman
(U.K.), March 16, 2001)
At
least half the Woomera Township opposes the Australian government's proposed
trial release of women and children from the detention centre into the local
community. Ruddock said informal polling in the community showed a 50-50 split.
(The Age (Australia), March 5, 2001)
Refugees
and asylum-seekers in Ireland should be supported to exercise their rights
under equality legislation, the chief executive of the Equality Authority has
said. Crowley was speaking at the
publication of the annual report of the Vincentian Refugee Centre in Dublin,
which offers information and help to asylum-seekers and refugees. It shows that
60 per cent of the centre's clients last year experienced racism when seeking
accommodation. There had been complaints of racial discrimination in 13 per cent
of employment-related casework and 3 per cent of cases relating to access to
goods and services. These figures did not reflect the scale of the problem of
racism. (The Irish Times, March 16, 2001)
Leaders
of Austria's far-right Freedom Party jogged today to publicize the
fitness-is-best, immigration-is-worst message of Jörg Haider. The runners used the gathering to promote
slogans including: "Foreigners: I understand the worries of the
Viennese." With two weeks to go
until the municipal elections on March 25, Haider has emerged from a quiet
period in the southern province of Carinthia, where he is governor, to fire up
the campaign through remarks tinged with anti-Semitic innuendo. (The New York
Times, March 12, 2001)
(The
Guardian (U.K.), March 15, 2001) The
Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, came close to accusing William Hague
of playing the race card in pre-election campaigning, charging the Conservative
leader with being 'soft on racism and soft on the causes of racism'. Kennedy claimed that his Conservative
counterpart's warnings that 'Britain was becoming a foreign land' were 'playing
on some people's fears and pandering to some people's prejudices'. The accusation came on the day that leaders
of Britain's five parliamentary parties signed a joint declaration promising
not to exploit race issues or stir up prejudice at the general election. Hague had warned that a second term of
Labour government would create a ‘foreign land’ in a speech, which also
contained promises to lock up all asylum seekers and immediately deport those
losing their claims.
(The Associated
Press, March 15, 2001) A Stuttgart
court found three skinheads, aged 18 to 22, guilty of charges including arson
and bodily harm for an arson attack on a hostel for asylum-seekers last August
in the nearby town of Waiblingen. It
sentenced them to between five and six years in prison.
Spanish
police have questioned three minors suspected of attacking and injuring two
immigrants with baseball bats last week.
A group of youths attacked two people with chains and baseball bats at a
disused warehouse occupied by immigrants.
A Bulgarian man had to receive hospital treatment after the attack in
the country's southeast, while an Ecuadorean man was treated at the scene. The gang is also suspected of setting fire
to a disused shed where other immigrants lived. (Agence France Presse, March
13, 2001)
European
Commission President Romano Prodi said the EU judged any new government by its
actions, not political colours. Most
recent opinion polls put opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right
coalition, which includes an anti-immigrant party, ahead of the centre-left in
the election, expected to be held in May.
Prodi said it was not the job of the Commission to give its views on election
results within the European Union but he warned against discrimination against
immigrants in Europe. Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel triggered uproar
among Italian rightists last week when he suggested the EU might take action
against Italy if Berlusconi's coalition wins.
His electoral grouping includes the post-fascist National Alliance and
the anti-immigrant Northern League. (Reuters, March 7, 2001)
“Illegal immigrants” could threaten
Australia's livestock industries by carrying diseases such as foot-and-mouth,
West Australian Senator Ross Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot, who last year described illegal immigrants as “disease
carriers,” said the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK proved the
need to maintain high vigilance against “illegal immigrants.” (The Australian
Associated Press, March 6, 2001)
* Restrictive
Measures / Militarisation of Borders
Australia's
tough stance on “illegal immigrants” is working. No “illegal immigrants” had arrived for a month until a boat
carrying more than 100 suspected “illegal” Indonesian immigrants was
intercepted. Five boats carrying 435
“illegals” were intercepted in the same month last year, while four boats
carrying 345 “illegals” were intercepted in January this year. (Agence France
Presse, March 6, 2001)
Britain's
contribution to an EU taskforce fighting mass “illegal immigration” in the
Western Balkans will be deployed as soon as arrangements can be put in place,
Home Secretary Jack Straw said. Straw
said the teams would help train local staff.
The migrant trail leads back to China, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. (Press
Association (U.K.), March 15, 2001)
(The Guardian
(U.K.), March 15, 2001) In the border
post on the German side of the frontier with Poland, eerie images glow from a
monitor. They show people walking over the bridge across the river Oder that
joins the two countries, their faces deprived of features and replaced by
bright, blank ovals. It is, in fact, an
image shaped, not by light, but by heat, captured by a thermographic camera
mounted on the roof outside the frontier police post. Depending on weather conditions, these thermographic devices,
originally developed to spot tanks, can see' up to four and a half miles.
Chinese
police have arrested 202 people in the Yellow Sea trying to illegally emigrate
from the northeast aboard two boats.
(Agence France Presse, March 13, 2001)
Malaysia
and Thailand will sign a joint border patrol agreement next week aimed at
checking smuggling activities and “sneaking in of illegal immigrants.” The agreement will pave the way for security
forces to mount joint patrols. (Xinhua News Service, March 13, 2001)
Two
boats believed to be carrying about 225 “illegal immigrants” from the Middle
East have been intercepted off Western Australia's far northern coast in the
past two days, Australian Customs officials.
(Agence France Presse, March 8, 2001)
Norway
is considering imposing mandatory genetic testing for immigrant candidates
seeking to join relatives in the country.
As part of a pilot project begun last year, Somalis seeking to join
relatives in Norway but who lack proper identity papers are offered DNA tests
to prove their family ties. (Agence
France Presse, March 7, 2001)
Police
in southeast China's Fujian province have apprehended 61 stowaways who were
planning to “sneak” into Japan jammed in a wooden boat. (Agence France Presse,
March 6, 2001)
* Women
The European Commission will propose granting temporary asylum to women brought to the EU to work as prostitutes provided they cooperate in investigating their "exploiters," Justice and Internal Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino said. The commission has proposed minimum prison terms of six years for those convicted of trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution, and 10 years in cases of aggravated circumstances. A commission document said as many as 120,000 woman and children, increasingly from eastern and central Europe, entered the EU illegally each year. (Agence France Presse, March 8, 2001)