September – October 1, 2000
On
September 16, border guards at a port in Greece discovered 31 refugees hiding
in a container. Three were pronounced dead at the scene and the rest
transferred to a hospital. Since the
beginning of 2000, over ten thousand asylum seekers have been arrested and
deported at the borders of Greece and Turkey. During the same period, the Greek
government has deported 2,468 asylum seekers, most of whom were from Iran,
Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. (IFIR
Press Release, September 2000)
A
mother has asked for asylum in the United States based on her son’s disability
(autism), claiming that he would be tortured and persecuted if he were to
return to Pakistan. Other groups that
have succeeded in arguing that they were persecuted or faced the threat of harm
based on their social group include men living alternative lifestyles and women
facing genital mutilation. (The Chicago Tribune, September 19, 2000)
The
UNHCR granted refugee status to 43 of 145 Iraqi and Afghan “immigrants” who had
been stranded in Indonesia, apparently trying to get to Australia. The 145 had been arrested on the Islands of
Lombok and Sumbawa. The others will
remain until the UNHCR has decided on their fate. Hundreds of “illegal immigrants”
from the Middle East have been picked up in Indonesia’s eastern islands in the
past year, most of them found adrift in boats heading for Australia. (Agence
France Presse, September 20, 2000)
Thousands
of asylum seekers who were to be dispersed throughout Britain are opting to
sleep rough in London rather than be given free housing elsewhere. Refugee
support groups predicted last year that asylum-seekers would be unwilling to
leave London because of the presence of people from their own communities, specialist
immigration lawyers and medical services.
(The Independent (London), September 21, 2000)
Over
the past five months, 250 foreign citizens were arrested for illegally crossing
the border with Croatia. The
Bosnia-Hercegovina Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly were
advised to re-evaluate the “behaviour” of citizens from some foreign countries
and impose an adequate visa regime. It is the Romanies, citizens of Iran,
China, Iraq, Bangladesh, Turkey, Albania and Pakistan who are most often caught
on their way to Western Europe.
(Bosnian Serb Television, Banja Luka (via the BBC), September 21, 2000)
Australian
refugee groups are angry that a former detainee has been ordered to repay more
than $63,000, or $139 for each night he was in detention. The Department of Immigration said he must
arrange to pay back the debt to the Department of Immigration by this
Friday. (The Australian Associated
Press, September 21, 2000)
South
African Home Affairs Minister yesterday said: ‘‘if they are good patriots, I
would hope that they would know that it is in their interests to report
‘(illegal immigrants)’.’’ (Daily
Dispatch (South Africa), September 22, 2000)
Parliament
member Angela Marquardt of the Party of Democratic Socialism said Interior Minister
Schily was ‘’giving cues to neo-Nazis.’’
‘’His differentiation between ‘good’ foreigners, whom we Germans can
use, and the ‘bad’ who only incur costs, is the foundation of racism on which
Nazi thugs base their acts of violence,’’ she said in a statement. Marquardt pointed to a series of incidents
over the weekend, including a firebombing of a home in the western German city
of Wuppertal for immigrants from the former Yugoslavia. Two children, ages 2
and 3, were injured. (The Associated
Press, September 25, 2000)
The
leader of Austria’s far right, Joerg Haider, said Germany badly needs a party
similar to his own Freedom Party to champion anti-immigration policies and
articulate people’s fears. Haider’s
underlying message was that, because Germany has no mainstream right-wing party
willing to voice widely held fears about immigration, worries become pent up
and are expressed through violence. (The Daily Telegraph (UK), September 23,
2000)
63.7
percent of Swiss voters rejected the so-called 18 percent initiative, which was
aimed at creating an 18 percent cap on foreigners. Asylum seekers would have been included in the 18 percent quota
if they remained in Switzerland for more than a year. The Swiss vote comes at a time when immigration and asylum issues
are a hot issue all over Europe, not least because countries are grappling with
an aging population and increasingly racist trends. (CNN, September 24, 2000)
The
UK Government is ready to back down over its voucher scheme for asylum seekers
in an attempt to prevent a damaging row at the Labour Party conference. Tony Blair is understood to have helped to
broker a compromise that includes the promise of a full review of the policy
within months. Labour officials have
been concerned that a revolt on the issue led by Bill Morris, the general
secretary of the TGWU, could result in defeat for the Labour leadership on
Thursday. Morris has condemned the
voucher scheme as degrading and inhuman, saying: “It stigmatises the victim and
creates targets for racist attacks.”
(The Times (London), September 26, 2000)
Otto
Schily, federal interior minister, said Germany had an “interest in
immigration, but in line with our own political, economic, cultural and
demographic interests”. (Financial
Times (London), September 26, 2000)
A
boat carrying 47 people believed to be of Middle Eastern origin has been
intercepted by Customs officials off the West Australian coast. Customs Minister said arrangements were
being made to transfer the suspected “boat people” to the mainland, where they
would be handed over to officials. (The
Australian Associated Press, September 28, 2000)
New
Zealand’s amnesty for overstayers would allow unwanted people into Australia,
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said today. Ruddock was concerned overstayers granted amnesty could freely
move into Australia under open-door arrangements with NZ and the two nations
needed uniform migration rules. “For
Australia and New Zealand to maintain free movement of our peoples we need to
have arrangements for migration which are closely integrated.” “It essentially means that you have to have
a common border, if you like, whereby people who meet selection criteria in New
Zealand are the same sorts of people who would meet selection criteria here.”
“Otherwise all people have to do if they want to migrate to one country or the
other is to simply meet a lower selection criteria and then move on as soon as
they’ve become residentially qualified.”
“Why would you want to bring people who have skills that are not
recognised, don’t have language capacity to communicate effectively, and that’s
what happens when you degrade your selection criteria,” Ruddock said. (The Australian Associated Press, September
28, 2000)
The
Mayor of Limerick, Ireland has called on the Government to issue work permits
to the city’s asylum-seekers as a matter of human rights. Ryan has drawn up a
list of people with skills after he was approached by a delegation from the 120
asylum-seekers staying at two hostels in Limerick. (The Irish Times, September
29, 2000)
The
United Nations mission said the interior ministries of Bosnia’s
Muslim-Croat federation and Serb republic agreed this week to create a force,
which would deal mainly with “illegal immigration and organised crime.” This year we have had 18,718 Iranians and
Turks entering Bosnia-Herzegovina legally...with only 3,795 exiting from the
country, leaving 15,000 unaccounted for, U.N. spokesman Douglas Coffman
said. Turkish and Iranian citizens do
not need visas to enter Bosnia. “The
creation of this task force will hopefully stem the increasing problem of
illegal immigration,” Coffman told reporters. (Reuters, September 28, 2000)
Slovenian
police arrested 54 “illegal immigrants,” mostly Iranians, over the
weekend. A group of 27 Iranians, 14
Afghans, 6 Romanians and 4 Bangladeshis was apprehended Saturday at the border
with Hungary. Another three illegal
immigrants from Yugoslavia were caught near the border with Croatia. According to official figures, 18,147
would-be immigrants attempted to cross the border illegally in the first eight
months of the year, 36 percent more than in the same period in 1999. (Oct 1 Agence France Presse)
The
Malaysian Immigration Department is working with the police to identify the
international syndicate involved in transporting Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans
to Indonesia before they migrate to Australia illegally. Immigration director-general said there had
been an increase in the activity in the past two to three months. He said most of the cases had occurred in
Johor and Malacca. “The department at the same time will take immediate
measures to monitor visitors from these countries closely, and any suspect will
be sent home,” he said.
He
added that the department had identified Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans as the
most likely to use Malaysia as a transit point on the way to Australia. (New Times Straits, Malaysia, October 1,
2000)