Asylum Seekers Crossing to Europe through Mediterranean

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 17^th 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.