The current death of people from
Middle East and Africa in Mediterranean crossing to Europe have caused
disturbing and worried to European governments. It has become a debating issue by
politicians and indeed by the humanitarian organizations as well. These people
mainly African by the beginning of the 17th Century were forced to
travel to Europe as slaves but now their passports and travel documents of the
origin countries are extremely restricted for visa grant to European
airports.
The 1951 Convention on refugee
status lists
a refugee’s rights such as freedom of religion and movement, the right to work,
education and access to travel documents. The convention clearly stated that refugee
should not be returned, to a country where he or she fears persecution.
Therefore, a refugee is a person who fled his/her country of origin residing
and has experienced persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality,
membership in a particular social group or political opinion. Thus, refugees
are forced to leave their countries of origins because of the threat of
persecution and cannot return safely to their homes.
Governments are responsible to protect the basic
human rights of their citizens. When they felt to do so during conflicts or
civil wars, people flee their homes to a second country, where they may be granted
a refugee status. The host countries are primarily responsible for protecting
refugees and the other third parties countries. The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR) maintains intervening to ensure legal
refugees are granted asylum and are not forcibly returned to countries where
their lives may be in danger. The agency seeks ways to help refugees restart their
lives, either through local integration, voluntary return to their homeland or,
if that is not possible, through resettlement in ‘third’ countries.
According to the 1951 Convention on refugee status,
those who are now crossing to Europe through Mediterranean are classified as Illegal refugees. Therefore, they
are not entitled to a refugee’s rights including freedom of movement, the right
to work, education and accessibility to travel documents. They have never made
the requirements of a refugee status and it has become very complicated to deal
with the situation which is just in the blink of eye.
Some of the European Union states members, from the
Southern Europe, Germany, and France are calling other states members to take
refugees. Some of these refuges crossing Mediterranean may arrived to
Scandinavian countries. Scandinavian have relatively less number of refugees in
Europe. A very restricted and tough immigration roles are set by some European
states members. The anti-immigrant becomes obvious in many European countries
as well. The economic crisis too, has an effect on the immigration procedures. For
instance, in Finland since 2010 the immigration procedures are made very tough
and restricted. The living standard in Finland and in other Scandinavian is one
of the highest in the world. The government of Finland is putting much fund on
social welfare. New regulations stated that the income to be checked before
inviting any member to Finland for either Finnish or Foreigners. For instance,
1700 EUR is the fixed amount of net income relevant to invite one person to
Finland and it increases with number of invite members. However, in other
Scandinavians countries, such as in Sweden, immigration procedures are little
bit flexible. With permanent address and social or unemployment benefits income
are enough to invite people of your family members.
I was a former refugee in Egypt and in Finland. I
left Sudan (Khartoum) by April 2002 to Egypt (Cairo) where I was seeking an asylum.
Shortly, at the end of the 2002, I was granted a refugee status under the article
1 of the 1951 convention on refugee status. I was experiencing persecution
because of the membership in a particular social group in Sudan. By February
2013, I joined the UNHCR as a volunteer helping the interviewers interpreting refugees’
cases from local South Sudanese languages into English or Arabic. I was also
helping on counselling new refugees’ arriving at the gate as well issuing cards to
accepted refugees. Many refugees were expecting to be resettled to a third
country mainly North America (US & Canada), Australia or to Europe. Indeed
some of them made it to those countries but some are locally resettled at the
second country. When the Sudan Peace Agreement signed by 2005, many have returned
home. I was granted a permanent resident and by March, 2004, I reached Finland.
By the end of the 2011, I returned home.
Usually, refugees reached to a third country with
the highest ambitious expecting their lives change dramatically. Their
ambitious is to find a job however, they are faced with the reality at their
new home of residence. The first thing they made is integration into a new
society that differs theirs. They are as well faced with unemployment problems
where they struggling to learn to gain professional skills to help them to find
a job. Some end up frustrated doing nothing. It never worked out as they thought
and integration has never easy for them. As long they stay they gradually adopt
the system and many become citizens of their residence countries. However, most
of them return homes when crisis or wars end at their countries of origins.
The best way to solve those refugees problems is to
bring peace into their countries of origins. Their countries are unwilling to
protect them because they turned threats to their governments. Numbers of
illegal refugees are now at European doors, it is no way obligations of hosting
countries and other European governments to tackle their problems. The humanitarian
organization, the UNHCR and other United Nations (UN) sections have the same
obligations to play. The governments of countries where the refugees are
fleeing from, need not to be left with political instability, international
community need to help them bring stability and peace into their countries. The
world has become as one village, thanks for the globalization, and the problem
at your neighbor’s door, is your tomorrow problem.
