October – November 10, 2000
A report endorsed by prominent human rights
groups condemned the British government for keeping asylum seekers in Northern
Ireland in jail while their future was decided. Britain's Home Office and Northern Ireland's Prison Service were
urged to end the practice of detaining asylum seekers alongside convicted
offenders. (Report attacks jailing of
asylum seekers in N. Ireland, The Irish Times, November 10, 2000)
The Emnid institute said that a survey of
1,000 Germans found that 62 percent of eastern Germans and 47 percent of
westerners believe there are too many foreigners. Sixty-three percent of Germans want tighter controls on who is
allowed into the country. Some 54 percent of the easterners said they would
feel more comfortable if only Germans lived in their region compared to 42
percent of westerners who shared that sentiment. (Poll - Germans fear too many foreigners, survey finds, Reuters,
November 10, 2000)
The Greek police and coastguard seized
hundreds of “illegal immigrants” in three recent incidents. On Thursday, 67 “illegal immigrants,”
including seven children, and three Greeks said to be smuggling them, were
arrested on a boat off the south-western coast of the island of Evia near Athens. Another 57 immigrants including four
children were also arrested off Evia on Thursday. The nationalities of the two
groups were not yet known. On Friday,
81 “illegal immigrants” from Kashmir were found in two trucks south of
Athens. So far this year, authorities
have detained 3,673 “illegal immigrants” and 140 people involved in smuggling
them and have seized 40 boats. (Greek authorities arrest 205 illegal
immigrants, Reuters, November 10, 2000)
Asylum-seekers and refugees should have the
same rights to health and social care as Irish and EU citizens, the main trade
union representing staff delivering such services has said. The IMPACT national secretary for health,
Mr Kevin Callinan, said a false impression that resources were being diverted
from Irish citizens to asylum-seekers could fuel intolerance. The principles
state that asylum-seekers and refugees should not be put into separate care
provision and adequate resources should be made available to asylum-seekers,
Irish, and EU nationals. They also recommend that all asylum-seekers be allowed
to work. (Parity of treatment sought for refugees, By Nuala Haughey, The Irish
Times, November 9, 2000)
A 27-year-old Romanian stowaway was found
hidden inside the undercarriage of a passenger jet that was forced to return to
Munich after the pilot could not retract the landing gear. The asylum seeker was unconscious and
suffering from hypothermia when he was found by a mechanic. Prosecutors were considering filing charges
of endangering air traffic. (Stowaway found inside German jet, The Associated
Press, November 9, 2000)
Six white policemen from a dog unit near
Johannesburg appeared in court following the screening of a video earlier this
week which showed them setting their dogs on three black men and assaulting and
insulting them in a 40-minute ordeal.
The officers have been charged with attempted murder. There are estimated to be between 2 and four
million “illegal immigrants” in South Africa and some 70,000
asylum-seekers. In 1999, South African
authorities expelled some 35,000 “illegal aliens” from Zimbabwe alone. (Immigrants say police dog atrocities common
in S. Africa, Agence France Presse, November 9, 2000)
A joint tour of the Indian Assam border is
being undertaken to find out ways to stop “illegal immigration.” (Team to visit Assam border areas, The Times
of India, November 9, 2000)
Police in Iran's island of Kish are planning
to deploy coastal forces to stop Afghan refugees from landing on the
island. Some 2,470 Afghan refugees had
already been expelled from the island, and the fate of another 300 is expected
to be decided on within the next month.
It said the "deportations" had been carried out with
"low-cost and unprecedented ease," and that a "coastal patrol
unit" would be set up "in order to ward off" any attempts to
return to the island. (November 9, 2000, AFP)
The immigrant population in France remain
stable at 4.31 million, almost the same as that registered in 1975, said a
report on the 1999 census by the state statistics institute. (Immigrant population in France remains
stable, Xinhua News Agency, November 8, 2000)
Britain rejected calls from the president of
the European commission to abandon its veto on key areas of immigration policy
in the interests of streamlining decision-making to cope with the planned
enlargement of the EU. (Britain rejects EU call to drop veto, By David Gow and
Larry Elliott, The Guardian (UK), November 7, 2000)
The Italian coastguard guided into the
southeastern port of Otranto a rudderless ship carrying some 1,000 “illegal
immigrants” which was left adrift in rough seas. The ship was thought to be carrying Turks, Palestinians, Kurds,
Eritreans, Sinhalese and Chinese. (Ship with 1,000 migrants towed to safety in
Italy, Reuters, November 7, 2000)
A Malaysian holding camp at Semenyih in the
central state of Selangor for “illegal immigrants” is so overcrowded that
detainees have hardly any space to lie down. The camp's five blocks hold more
than 2,000, mostly Indonesians, who are awaiting deportation. Each
block has a capacity of 150 detainees but now houses more than 300. "They were all sitting on the cement
floor, especially the women who did not even have enough space to lie down or
stretch their legs." There were no beds, just the cement floor. (Malaysia
camp for illegals badly overcrowded, rights group says, Agence France Presse,
November 7, 2000)
Assisting asylum seekers find work could help
alleviate Ireland's current labour shortage, the Irish Deputy Prime Minister
said. Those eligible to work -
currently 4,000 people - must have applied for asylum before July 1999. There is a growing backlog of 13,000 asylum
applications. (Asylum seekers 'Could
solve labour shortage', By Nick Sommerlad, Press Association (UK), November 6,
2000)
Seven people are missing after a boat
carrying nine Turkish migrants capsized overnight on the Sava River, while
trying to cross illegally to Croatia.
Three Turkish survivors managed to reach the riverbank. Thousands of Asian immigrants, mainly
Iranians, Kurds and Chinese, have used Bosnia in recent months as a transit
point to Western Europe. (UN: Turkish immigrants feared drowned in Balkans,
Reuters, November 6, 2000)
The Germany economy requires a minimum of
200,000 immigrant workers a year to compensate for a growing shortfall in the
labour market, a leading German economic analyst firm said in an
interview. That figure represents only
a "minimum threshold" that will not fully cover the future personnel
needs of firms, in short supply given the steadily diminishing working
population. "Even with 200,000
foreign entries a year, the German working population will fall by three
million by 2001," said the economic analyst. Consequently, it is “necessary to raise the retirement age,
lower the minimum working age and shorten training programs.” (German
economy needs 200,000 extra workers per year: economic analyst, Agence France
Presse, November 5, 2000)
The Italian birth rate has fallen to less
than 1.2 children per woman, the lowest in the industrialized world. Because
the birth rate is now lower than the death rate, Italy is not replenishing the
population. At this rate, the population will fall nearly a third in 50 years,
from about 57 million to about 41 million.
It threatens to destabilize the state pension system. In the 1950s,
there were eight workers to support every retiree. Now there are four; soon
there will be less than two. If
Italians are not producing enough children to keep the place running,
immigration offers an obvious solution.
A recent United Nations study estimated that to maintain its current
work force, Italy would need about 370,000 immigrants annually. (Italians
shying away from big families, By Bert Roughton Jr., The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, November 5, 2000)
The Immigration Minister says accommodation that is
good enough for Australians should be good enough for “illegal immigrants” in
detention. A detention centre being criticised was originally used to house
single men working in the mining industry, before being bought by the Immigration
Department. "This is
accommodation that was seen to be fit for Australian workers," he said. (Ruddock defends standard of
detention centre, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, November 3, 2000)
Thirty-five members of the “Olympic family''
have sought political asylum in Australia and are among 145 people in the
country illegally after overstaying visas.
(Olympics: Thirty-five seek post-games asylum, Reuters, November 3,
2000)
Greece seized 41 “illegal Kurdish immigrants” in two
separate operations. The coastguard
arrested 10 men, a woman and five children on the island of Kos in the Aegean,
and two Turks said to be smuggling them into Greece. Another 25 Kurds were arrested in Vari, near Athens, after having
been dropped off on the coast. So far
this year, the Greek coastguard has arrested 3,504 “illegal immigrants” and 133
people involved in smuggling immigrants. (Illegal Kurdish immigrants held in
Greece, Reuters, November 3, 2000)
Three men and a woman were arrested and charged
after a “rowdy” protest last night outside a Brisbane public meeting addressed
by Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock.
About 50 university students were demonstrating against the federal
government's handling of people seeking asylum in Australia. (Four charged after protest outside
Ruddock's public meeting, The Australian Associated Press, November 3, 2000)
A lorry driver has been fined GBP 14,000 for
delivering seven “illegal immigrants”
(Afghans) straight into the hands of the authorities after finding them
inside his truck on a ferry bound for Dover.
(This driver turned in seven illegal immigrants. His reward?, A GBP
14,000 fine and his lorry impounded, By
Neil Sears, Ray Massey, The Daily Mail (UK), November 2, 2000)
Two men were convicted Thursday and sentenced to
eight months in prison for attacking an African immigrant at a bus stop in a
north-eastern city, the latest verdict resulting from rising neo-Nazi crime in
Germany. A third defendant also was
convicted in the July 1 assault on a 33-year-old Togolese man, but the Rostock
district court said it was considering probation for him. (Two sentenced in
attack on immigrant, The Associated Press, November 2, 2000)
In Italy, in order to combat “illegal immigration”
and human trafficking, a meeting was held to analyse the entry of “illegal
immigrants” into the Friuli Venezia Giulia region via the border crossing with
Slovenia. It was reported that 1,600 “illegal immigrants” have been picked up
in Trieste in the first 10 months of this year, while expulsion orders in
Gorizia have totalled 12,000, of which 2,500 have been served in October alone.
(Italian, Slovenian police agree on common action to curb migration, ANSA news
agency, November 2, 2000)
Residents of a northern town sued Greece's culture
minister for slander on behalf of residents of a suburb outside of
Thessaloniki. He had called parents at
a high school ''stupid'' and ''primitive'' after they stopped a 15-year-old
Albanian boy from carrying the Greek flag at a local parade. A recent EU survey
found that Greeks have the highest rate of xenophobia fear or hatred of
foreigners in the 15-member body. According to the survey, 38 percent of Greeks
are xenophobic compared with the EU average of 15 percent. (Culture minister sued in bitter dispute
over immigrants, By Costas Kantouris, The Associated Press, November 2, 2000)
Twenty-six Chinese mainlanders held after being
found hidden in a US-bound container last month, appeared in court to face
charges of attempting to stowaway and remaining in Hong Kong without
authorisation. Twenty-three of the 26
mainlanders were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment at Tsuen Wan magistracy,
after pleading guilty to the charges. A
16-year-old “illegal immigrant” received a “reduced” sentence of nine
months. (Hong Kong charges 26 stowaway
mainlanders with illegal entry, Agence France Presse, November 2, 2000)
There have been calls to close the Australian Port
Hedland Detention Centre following the release of 16 Kosovar Albanians. The refugees were released after “new
information” was presented to the Minister for Immigration. Migration agent,
Marianne Le, has called for the Port Hedland Detention Centre to be closed,
claiming it is a disgraceful facility.
"That place is hell, it should be closed down…” (Calls for closure
of detention centre, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, November 2, 2000)
The Home Office and Department of Health will
outline plans to integrate thousands of successful asylum seekers into
communities across Britain. All refugees will be provided with English-language
training and assisted in finding jobs of a similar stature to those they held
in their countries of origin. (Ministers pledge aid to settle refugees, The
Independent (UK), November 2, 2000)
Foreign homosexuals are not automatically entitled
to asylum in Britain because of "hostility" to their sexual
orientation in their homeland, the High Court ruled today. A judge decided that "uncaring and
cruel" treatment suffered by gay people did not necessarily prove
persecution and entitle them to refugee status. He rejected an application for judicial review by 25-year-old
Gabi Ragman, a Romanian teacher who suffered insults and ridicule after it
became known that he was homosexual. The judge said: "The right protected
by the Convention is not a right to practise as a homosexual - it is the right
not to suffer persecution for doing so.”
(Homosexuality 'Not and entitlement to asylum,’ By John Aston, Press
Association, November 1, 2000)
Greek police shot dead an Albanian who tried to
cross into Greece illegally through the mountainous border dividing the two
countries. The other seven Albanians,
who had been expelled from Greece the day before, were arrested. Police said a thermal camera had picked up
the group as it tried to enter the country near the northern Greek town of
Florina. (Greek border guards shoot Albanian dead, Reuters, November 1, 2000)
Computerized registration of foreigners coming to
Moscow and control over the time of their stay in Russia is to be introduced
next year. The database will include information about the granting or
extension of a Russian visa and the date the state border was crossed. Should a
visa be overstayed, the computer will automatically alert the authorities to
the transgression, providing all the relevant data. There are some 1.5 million
“illegal migrants” from 60 countries on Russian territory. (Computers to stop
visa regime violations, By Anastasia Kornya, Moscow News, November 1, 2000)
More than 150m people worldwide are living in a
foreign country, double the number in 1965, the International Organisation for
Migration says in a report published. (Flows of immigrants up, By Frances
Williams, The Financial Times (UK), November 2, 2000)
An “illegal” Chinese “immigrant” was seriously
injured when she jumped from the second storey of a hotel in the northern
Bosnian city of Tuzla were she had been detained by the police. Li Dony Lan,
31, suffered a spinal fracture and ankle injuries when she and her husband
jumped from the hotel room in an attempt to escape. Li and her husband were among 59 Chinese and Iranian “illegal
immigrants” deported from Croatia last Friday. (Chinese immigrant woman seriously injured in escape attempt,
Agence France Presse, October 31, 2000)
The Cyprus government has taken a series of new
measures to combat “illegal immigration.”
The Justice Minister announced that he had agreed to set up additional
lookout posts along the coastline of the island, to allow police to intercept
and turn back boats before they land. (Cyprus takes new measures to curb
illegal immigration, Xinhua News Agency, October 31, 2000)
The perception of Ireland as an "easy"
country for asylum-seekers is not borne out by official figures, according to a
report. The study concludes that asylum
seekers seem less likely to gain refugee status in Ireland than in many other
European countries, even if they come from regions of well-documented
strife. The study shows that when
Ireland received fewer asylum-seekers, its recognition rate was high. In 1995,
when 424 people claimed asylum, 57 per cent of applicants were recognised by
either being granted refugee status or temporary leave to remain. By 1998, when 4,626 people sought asylum,
the recognition rate fell to 13 per cent. (Study finds record on refugees
compares badly, By Nuala Haughey, The Irish Times, October 31, 2000)
Immigration authorities have refused to say where
more than 100 “illegal immigrants,” of Middle Eastern origin, found near
Ashmore Reef, are to be accommodated when they reach Australia. (No site named to house suspected illegals,
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 31, 2000)
Angola deported five Iranians on Wednesday
after they tried to enter the country without visas, the customs office
said. The five men had taken an
Ethiopian Airlines flight to Luanda, the customs office said. (Angola deports five Iranians, Oct 4 AFP)