arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)
|
Fortress Europe/Weekly deaths at European borders by UNITED (ccle - posted by raf) Friday June 20, 2003 at 03:01 PM |
20 June International Refugee Day On Monday this week, many would-be-immigrants from Africa drowned near Sicily in a Sea tragedy. On Tuesday, in the Strait of Gibraltar Spanish marines rescued about 160 refugees, who got into distress. While the leader of Italy's far-right Lega Nord suggests to shoot "illegal" immigrants with cannons out of the water, thousands of refugees in desperate situations die at the borders of Fortress Europe.
UNITED, the European network against racism, monitors refugee deaths
since 1993. The network of 560 anti-racist and refugee organisations
has documented over 3800 deaths
<http://www.united.non-profit.nl/pdfs/listofdeaths>, who for instance
drowned in the Mediterranean See, the Strait of Gibraltar, suffocated
in trucks or committed suicide in Europe's detention centers.
On 18 June this year, BBC reported about a would-be-immigrant, who
died after jumping into the English Channel. It seems that the
25-year-old man from the Ivory Coast decided to jump overboard when
the crew found him hidden on the upper deck of a container ship.
Earlier this year, a 22-year old Nigerian died of a lack of medical
care in the refugee transit center in Thurhof (CH), followed just a
few days later by a 18-year-old Iraqi, who crushed to death while
trying to climb on a lorry in Calais (F) on its way to England.
UNITED spokesperson Leon Wansleben says: "All these deaths tell us a
simple truth: Refugees will keep on coming to Europe even if we try
our best to lock up Europe's doors. On the EU summit in Thessaloniki
on 20 and 21 June, the European leaders will discuss on how to
protect the external borders from clandestine immigration. It is
frightening that the push factor behind this policy of external
border control is the desired decrease of asylum
applications. Europe's commitment to the 1951 Geneva Convention,
whose 52 anniversary is ironically celebrated on 20 June, is ignored
at the moment."
UNITED also criticizes UK's proposal for EU 'Transit Processing
Centers', which will be discussed in Thessaloniki. Human Rights
organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch call
such centers "unlawful and unworkable" driving even more refugees
underground. UNITED is convinced that instead Europe should turn to
policies that address the causes for flight. Global social injustice
and world-wide armed conflicts make people leave everything behind
and risk their lives. "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. Our commitment to human rights demands us to
see refugees as human beings with individuals rights and needs."
LINKS
<http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/> more information about the
refugee campaign
<http://www.united.non-profit.nl/pdfs/deathlist2003.pdf> the campaign
poster documenting the refugee deaths can be ordered for free from
the UNITED secretariat (max 100)
UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support
of migrants and refugees
Postbox 413 - NL 1000 AK Amsterdam
phone +31-20-6834778
fax +31-20-6834582
info@unitedagainstracism.org
<http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/>