No excuses: Still campaigning against Fortress
Europe
15.551
deaths have been documented in UNITED's List of Deaths since 1993, 1.478 have
died so far in 2011, 1.387 have drowned this year trying to reach Europe from
Libya and Tunisia, 20 June is the 10th International Refugee Day, marking 60
years of refugee protection under the Geneva Convention.
How
many more years until reality catches up?
In
disregard for pain and suffering, has civil society given way to a mass of
individuals who are numb to the pain of others, to the horror of our times and
to death itself?
UNITED
for Intercultural Action, the pan-European network of 550 organisations working
against racism, fascism, nationalism and in support of refugees and migrants
marks this day by coordinating the International Refugee Day campaign. Organisations
from all across the continent promote refugee rights, draw inconvenient
attention to our responsibilities to protect the victims of war, persecution
and poverty and highlight the serious flaws in our asylum and immigration
policies that systematically threaten human dignity.
While
the war in Libya wages on,
there is little mention of in the media and even less attention given to the
epic drama happening in the waters between North Africa and Italy. To date,
months after the outbreak of war and the intensification of migration flows
towards Europe, no community plan in support
of refugees has been made by the EU and absolutely no common agreement on the
handling of war refugees has been reached by those responsible for shaping EU
policies. NATO's failure to respond to a migrant boat that called for help, in
spite of instructions from UNCHR to consider all overcrowded boats leaving Libya as in
distress led to 63 fatalities in April 2011.
This
is of course only one example; when the EU externalises the handling of
migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to a non-democratic nation and receives
its dictator in full honour, then it has to accept the flipside of the coin.
The direct consequence is bodies drowning in the Mediterranean at the most
rapidly growing rate ever, incidents of shipwrecks killing numbers as horrific
as 321, 241 and 308 migrants on their treacherous journeys from Libya to Europe
make a startling addition to the UNITED List of Deaths in 2011.
These
tragedies are not only occurring at our borders. Once inside Europe,
migrants are wronged by a system that excludes them and ignores their pleas at
every opportunity. Visa restrictions, inconsistent regulations and a dark cloud
of deportation murder them using weapons of policy.
Seydina
Mouhamed Mbaye, a Senegalese boy of 5 years required emergency medical
treatment for a brain tumour in March. In trying to join his father in France, the
consulate changed his visa requirements so many times, his journey - and
treatment- had to be delayed. On the flight to Paris, he suffered from a sever blood clot
and died.
Shambu
Lama, a Nepalese man who had lived in Germany for 16 years threw himself
under a train in Gifhorn in March after hearing he would be deported and have
to leave his son.
Kambiz
Roustayi, an Iranian fearing deportation set himself on fire in central Amsterdam in April.
Aminullah
Mohamadi, a 17-year-old boy was found hanging from a tree in a Paris park. He was told once he turned 18 he
would be sent back to Afghanistan.
When
did we get so used to death? 60 years on, we have more human rights legislation
than ever, but the reality could not reflect this any less. Will we act one day
as if we were never told? NO EXCUSES.
UNITED
is here to remind you that people are still drowning in our seas, still
arriving at our shores with no future, still being turned away.
On
the 10th International Refugee Day, UNITED sends a message to Europe
that apathy is unacceptable, action is our only option.
NO
EXCUSES. We are still campaigning, why can't you?
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