The Fatal Realities
of Fortress Europe
more than 3750 Deaths
CONTENTS
1 Refugees: They
left because they had to
2 Facts
3 Open Borders
- Open Minds: Protest!
4
Service
1
Refugees: They left because they had to
Since 1993 UNITED has monitored
the deadly results of the building of a "Fortress Europe".
More than 3750 deaths have been documented up to now. These deaths
can be put down to border militarisation, asylum laws, detention
policies, deportations and carrier sanctions. They are linked
to the carrying out of decisions taken on highest political level:
the Schengen Treaty, the Dublin Convention and EU border control
programmes.
These deaths are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic
of policies that no longer see the humanity of those fleeing
their homeland, but prefer to see them as numbers, or worse,
as a natural disaster, 'a flood'. By making legal immigration
and asylum nearly impossible these policies lead to the death
of refugees, who fled because of war, persecution, despaired
poverty or natural disasters.
In this publication you will find basic information on refugees
and the policies concerning them. You will also find ideas and
suggestions for action.
Action: wake up the policy-makers!
UNITED for Intercultural Action protests against the building
of a "Fortress Europe", which leads to the death of
desperate people looking for safe refuge. Europe is not capable
of effectively shutting its borders, no matter how hard it tries.
But it is shutting its eyes to the realities of the global political
and socio-economical situation. We want to wake up the policy-makers
and show them the real human costs of their decisions. Join the
campaign and take action!
More than 3750 deaths since
1993
If the death of over 3750 people does not wake up politicians
and policy makers, what will? We
have to publicize these gruesome facts.
The list of deaths on the other side of this poster stands for
a much greater number of refugees, who died unidentified and
even unknown. We must make sure that all these deaths are known
and mourned!
2
Facts
The United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) says there are about 20 million people (as
of 1 July 2002) in the world, who are of 'concern' to them. Not
all of them are recognized as refugees (beginning 2002, the UNHCR
counted 12 million refugees, 940,800 asylum seekers and 6,3 million
'others of concern'). The traditional definition of 'refugees'
denies the firm link between the political situation in a country,
its sources in international policies and the need for people
to flee poverty and despair.
Source: UNHCR, www.unhcr.org
Where do refugees come from?
The great majority
of refugees come from regions of war and conflict. Between 2000-2002,
the majority of people applying for asylum in Europe came from
Iraq (139.840), former Yugoslavia (107.861) and Afghanistan (105.312).
Source: UNHCR, www.unhcr.org
Where are refugees fleeing
to?
Most refugees flee
to neighboring countries. In 2002, Africa and Asia hosted more
than 65 per cent of the world's refugees. About 3,809,600 Afghan
refugees stay in Pakistan and Iran. 554,000 Burundis sought asylum
in Tanzania and refugees from Sudan mainly fled to Uganda, Ethiopia,
Congo and Kenya. Industrialized countries aim more and more to
keep refugees in the region of origin. During the Second Gulf
War, refugee camps have been built up in Syria, Turkey, Jordan
and Iran.
Source: UNHCR, www.unhcr.org
False and genuine refugees?
A refugee is a person
who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for
reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group, or political origin, is outside the country of
his nationality, and is unable to or, owing such fear, is unwilling
to avail himself of the protection of that country" (The
1951 Geneva Convention, UNHCR, www.unhcr.org).
The traditional refugee definition recognizes only those refugees
that flee war or personal political persecution. But what about
women from Afghanistan who suddenly saw their lives robbed of
any perspective other than the precise role the Taliban regime
saw fit for them. What about the people who were rendered destitute
when international trade agreements first made local agriculture
convert into "cash crops" such as sugar cane, only
to see the prices of these "cash crops" crumble. Making
a difference between the reasons of refugees for leaving their
home countries can only be valid to meet their specific needs.
It cannot serve as a general excuse to exclude them from the
protection they need.
Refugee rights: Post 11
September
security measures threaten human rights
Reacting to European
Union anti-terrorist initiatives Human Rights Watch has expressed
concern over a broad definition of terrorism that threatens freedom
of speech, assembly and association and which threatens the international
refugee protection system (Human Rights Watch, Memorandum 6.11.01).
"Tremors from the September 2001 attacks in New York and
Washington were felt among refugees and asylum seekers in every
corner of the globe. Governments and politicians from America
to Albania to Australia urgently debated anti-terrorism legislation,
which affect asylum seekers. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud
Lubbers stated that refugees and asylum seekers are already the
objects of considerable mistrust and hostility in many countries,
and they are particularly vulnerable in the current climate (UNHCR
magazine Refugees Volume 4 2001). Of course, as Liz Fekete from
Institute for Race Relations writes, barriers for refugee movement
were already in operation prior to September 11. "But the
attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and later Bali
and Mombassa, have given previous policies a new legitimacy".
(Liz Fekete, Institute for Race Relations (GB): "From refugee
protection to managed migration: the EU's border control programme",
27.03.03).
EUROPEAN POLICIES:
THE CREATION OF FEAR AND DESPAIR
The biggest danger of these
policies lies not in the official part - not even in the official
breaking down of the UN Refugee Convention through new treaties
and conventions but in the building of a climate of fear
and despair. The political discourse of the last years has made
refugees and asylum seekers into scapegoats. Increasing post
September 11 security needs, unemployment, individualisation,
globalisation, the decline of culture, family and western society
as a whole: all of these frightening phenomena, real or mythical,
are blamed on the new-comers. They build the "legitimacy"
for the struggle against 'illegal immigration'. We face a rat
race of tougher asylum policies in the Member States accompanied
by common European initia-tives to reduce immigration. "The
struggle against illegal immigration is now a strategic priority
of the EU" (Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External
Relations).
Exporting exclusion: integrated
external border management
The ultimate aim of
the 'management of external borders' is to stop victims of persecution,
civil war and forced migration before they reach Europe. Therefore
a cordon sanitaire around the Union has been set up. In order
to to create a new Eastern border for 'Fortress Europe' all EU
candidate states have to tighten controls as a condition for
their accession. Romania spends around 50 million euros to secure
its border with Moldova which is a key route for Eastern
migrants. Poland will introduce visa for Russians, Ukrainians
and
Belarussians by the summer of 2003.
The EU puts political and economic pressure on the countries
in Central and Eastern Europe, Morocco and Turkey to avoid 'illegal
immigration' from the East and the South. At the Seville EU Summit
in June 2002 governments endorsed the Council's border protection
programme and committed the EU to the integration of immigration
policies into the Union's relations with third countries, using
all EU external relation instruments, including development policies,
to address the underlying causes of migratory flows (Liz Fekete,
see above).
Militarisation and high-tech
border control systems
A more than 5000-km
long Eastern border of the future enlarged Union called 'Electronic
Curtain' (in comparison to the former Iron Curtain) aims to protect
the Union from Eastern immigration and builds the new border
of 'Fortress Europe'. From 1997-2001 the EU spent 30 million
euros to equip Hungary's border guards with everything from uniforms
to thermal imaging cameras to lock up the border to former Yugoslavia
and Ukraine. As the International Centre for Migration Policy
Developments discovered migrants more and more avoid this Electronic
Curtain and prefer the route via North Africa. Mainly Spain and
Italy, but also other EU Member States are trying to close also
this South route cross the Mediterranean See and the Atlantic.
The most famous high-tech border control project was started
to control the Spanish South coast and especially the Strait
of Gibraltar, where Africa almost touches Europe (the distance
between the continents is only 17 km). The Surveillance System
for the Straits (SIVE) monitors a 115-km stretch of coastline
containing radar systems and infrared cameras. Refugees, who
want to reach Europe with small vessels are forced to circumvent
SIVE - which causes more and more deaths (In the list of deaths
that UNITED documents, cases of drowning are the majority. In
most cases the bodies of refugees cannot be
identified other than 'North African' or 'African'.)
Safe Third Countries
The Dublin Convention
has introduced the "Safe Third Country" rule, which
allows EU countries to deport asylum seekers to a country outside
the EU that is deemed to be safe. The working principle is that
the asylum seeker has passed through a safe country and should
have applied for asylum there. This rule does not take into account
that many of these "Safe Third Countries" have no adequate
asylum procedures. The real danger exists, as a result, that
asylum seekers are pushed back from country to country until
they are deported to the country they fled from in the first
place, without having had the chance to apply for asylum in a
proper way.
Data linking
A European database
called Eurodac keeps the finger print data from all rejected
asylum seekers in all Member States for a period of 10 years.
In that way, EU countries want to 'facilitate the detection of
multiple applications'. "But as different EU states have
different criteria for accepting, those fleeing persecution might
have a very good reason to seek asylum in one particular country".
(The Irish Examiner:" Asylum fingerprints move slammed",
15.03.03). Eurodac as well as the Dublin Convention make it impossible
to apply for asylum in a specific country.
Another database to control movements within and immigration
to the Schengen area is called Schengen Information System (SIS).
Through this integrated system of law enforcement databases various
information on immigrants can be called up at any border control
(visa status, proof of financial means of stay, reasons for stay).
"This is a system, which without any juridical oversight
or legal protection, imposes a punitive sanction - the removal
of the right to free movement (Greenpepper Interactive Magazine:
"The Schengen Information System - The drawn of digital
borders", 12.02 issue).
3
Open Borders - Open Minds: Protest!
UNITED for Intercultural Action
believes that a policy that has more than 3750 deaths as a result
cannot possibly be good. Borders can not be shut to those seeking
refuge. We have to see people as individuals, as possible victims
of global conflicts. If we do not take care that the global political
and socio-economic situation gets better, we cannot realistically
expect people to stay in situations that we ourselves would find
unbearable. UNITED demands that refugees are treated as human
beings - according to existing international human rights standards.
20 JUNE: JOIN THE CAMPAIGN
20 June is the World Refugee Day, declared by the United Nations
on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Convention
in 2001. UNITED coordinates an annual campaign around this date.
This campaign aims to highlight the issues of refugees from an
NGO-perspective on all levels - local, national and European.
We call upon all organisations to take part in the campaign.
You could adopt a case of one particular refugee, send protest
letters to policy-makers or find other ways of voicing your opinion.
Just contact UNITED - we can provide you with information and
campaign material.
Adopt a case
The impact of the list
of deaths is caused by the sheer numbers, but if we want to get
our point across, we should also work with examples. Underneath
are three examples. Use them or ask UNITED for others.
Great-Britain: Suicide before
detention
A "Ukrainian asylum
seeker, 42-year-old Mikhail Bognarchuck, was found hanged by
his shoelaces in a toilet at Haslar Removal Centre on 31 January
2003. He was due to be deported that day to the Ukraine - a country
with questionable human rights record () The Haslar Centre's
sole purpose is to hold asylum seekers pending their removal.
It is a place of no return. Haslar, formerly a prison, became
Haslar Removal Centre on 8 February 2002 and is run for the Immigration
and nationality Department by prison service staff. Michael Woolley
of the Haslar Visitors Group told IRR News 'we regularly hear
reports of self-harm'. Bail for Immi-gration Detainees (BID)
estimates that there have been at least 10 serious self-harm
attempts at Haslar since it became an immigration removal centre.
In September 2002, 75 men went on hunger strike at Haslar to
protest at their imprison-ment. One refugee commented 'some people
escaped cruel regimes. But we are treated like criminals yet
we have committed no crime.' The IRR's research shows that since
January 2000 at least nine asylum seekers have taken their lives
because their asylum claim had been refused."
Institute for Race Relations (GB) www.irr.org.uk
6.2.03
Greece: Mine explosion kills
immigrant
On 28 August 2002,
a Turkish Kurd refugee was killed in minefields at the Turkish-Greece
border. In a newspaper-article about this incident it is mentioned
that, since 1990 minefield deaths have reached 64.
Kathimerini Newspaper (GR) 29.08.02
Spain and Greece: Almost hundred refugees drowned on one day
On 30 November 2002, 32 persons, who are likely to come from
the Western Sahara drowned on their way to the Canary Islands.
On the same day, off the Libyan coast, a vessel believed to be
carrying 120 would-be illegal immigrants wanting to head for
Italy sank in bad weather. 12 bodies had been recovered and 56
persons believed to be missing, presumed drowned.
Volkskrant (NL) 3.12.02
Thousands die both in the Strait
of Gibraltar and the Adriatic, trying to reach the "promised
land". Traffickers are blamed for these deaths, but we should
question who gives the traffickers this power over human lives.
4
Service
Do you need more information?
A full and regularly
updated list of deaths (with date, name, cause of death etc.)
is available on paper and in electronic format via e-mail or
from the UNITED website.
UNITED has more information on all cases. If you decide to adopt
a specific case, the secretariat can send you copies of the newspaper
articles in our possession. We can only provide this service
for single cases, however.
If you need general information you can contact organisations
such as UNHCR, Amnesty International and others. You can find
their contact addresses in the UNITED European Address Book Against
Racism.
Send a Letter of protest
This publication gives
you some information that you can use in writing your own letter
of protest to the policy-makers of your choice. Include a copy
of the poster in your protest. If you need more copies, let us
know. There is strength in numbers, so send the protest letter
to all your contacts in politics (you can download
the updated list of refugee deaths and an example
protest letter from the UNITED website).
You can address your mail
to:
The European Parliament
Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security + Defence Policy and/or
Com. on Citizens' Freedoms+Rights, Justice+Home Affairs rue Wiertz,
B-1047 Brussels, Belgium
or directly to any member of the European Parliament, at the
same address
Council of the European
Union
General Secretariat
, Justice and Home Affairs
rue de la Loi 175, B-1048 Brussels, Belgium
National Parliaments
Distribute this poster as much
as possible.
Take several copies to all the meetings, conferences and seminars
that are focusing on migration issues. Try to stress the importance
of its contents as well as the brutality of its figures (you
can download the updated list of documented deaths from the UNITED website).
It is important to bear in mind that all these deaths were due
to policies that criminalise a basic human right: the right of
choosing freely a place to live.
When possible and appropriate
translate the contents of this publication into your language.
If you do so, please send a copy to UNITED. In case you need
a picture (pdf or jpeg) of this poster just contact us and we
will provide it.
You can order the poster (up to 100 for free) at the UNITED secretariat!
What is UNITED?
UNITED for Intercultural
Action is the European network against nationalism, racism, fascism
and in support of migrants and refu-gees. Racism, nationalism,
fascism, discrimination, restric-tive asylum policies -these
issues have a European dimension. It is important to fight intolerance
on all levels. Linked through UNITED, more than 550 organisations
from a wide variety of backgrounds, from all European countries,
work together on a voluntary basis. They base their cooperation
on common actions and shared activities on a mutual respect.
UNITED is and will remain independent from all political parties,
organisations and states, but seeks an active co-operation with
other anti-racist ini-tiatives in Europe. Through the UNITED
network organisations meet each other, work on common actions
and share information. European action weeks, campaigns and such
are planned and discussed on UNITED conferences. The workers
in the secreta-riat are in constant contact with the network
organisations, ensuring that information and proposals for action
are transmitted rapidly. Information is received from more than
2000 organisations and mailings go out to about 2200 groups in
Europe. If you want to get involved, discuss the ideas and aims
of the UNITED network within your organisation. Let us know that
your organisation would
like to join or receive information. And add us to your mailing
list!
Up
UNITED
for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism
and in support of migrants and refugees
Postbus 413, NL-1000 AK Amsterdam, Netherlands
phone +31-20-6834778, fax +31-20-6834582
info@unitedagainstracism.org,
www.unitedagainstracism.org
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