ASYLUM
Published by deviousdiva March 19th, 2006 in Personal.I wrote a post last month about the reasons why asylum seekers should avoid Greece.
The UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) is now launching a new campaign highlighting the difficulties of being an asylum seeker in Greece. The country had the lowest asylum recognition in Europe.
Except for two cases in 2005, virtually all asylum seekers were rejected at first instance, including medically certified torture survivors.
The numbers are slightly better (so far) than in 2004.
In 2004, for example, Greece granted overall recognition, including humanitarian status, to 0.9 percent of applicants. The average equivalent figure in other EU member states that year was 26.4 per cent.
Less than 1%.
People seem to get very confused about who is who in the immigration debate and tend to lump all immigrants together as one unwanted pile of people looking for handouts and causing trouble. I have had this discussion many times over here. So, just for the record, (and before anyone writes in about illegal immigrants sneaking in and taking all the jobs etc)
An asylum seeker is someone who is fleeing persecution in their homeland, has arrived in another country, made themselves known to the authorities and exercised the legal right to apply for asylum.
For other definitions please go here.
[Sigh]
All this in a country that used to export political refugees, asylum seekers, legal emigrants and a few illegal ones, too (my maternal uncle was expelled from Germany in the early sixties for not carrying with him the appropriate documentation — he was, strictly speaking, an illegal immigrant).
[Sigh]
You are right loxias. Greece seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place. Constantly criticized by its allies for letting in too many people without concern for security issues (don’t they have the largest growth in immigrants in all of S.E. Europe?) and then criticized for not doing enough for them.
Hm, my focus is on the Greeks’ callousness rather than them coming in for a lot of criticism for their (callous when not incoherent) immigration policies. All I am saying is that one would expect a country that has exported so many emigrants (also for political reasons) to be more sympathetic to the plight of asylum seekers.
The difference that the greeks who emigrate were good people. They were hardworking. They were not like the immigrants thta come here who are lazy and don’t want to work and complain about everything.
Yes. Greeks were not criminals either. Most immigrants into Greece are criminals. And dirty. And their women are whores (because only men are immigrants, women are “immigrants’ women”).
Thomas, either you are too lazy to bother to read the actual post or you are perhaps illiterate? I wrote So, just for the record, (and before anyone writes in about illegal immigrants sneaking in and taking all the jobs etc) followed by a definition of an asylum seeker. Your comment is, at best, ignorant. Please post these kinds of sentiments on blogs that care what people like you think.
Thomas, Greeks who emigrated to Australia weren’t perceived by Australians as hard working, honest people otherwise the racist term “wog” wouldn’t exist. Immigrants usually aren’t welcomed with open arms in any society…Greek, Russian, German, Italian, Irish or otherwise. The majority of immigrants are hard workers, including all of the above and other nationalities I haven’t mentioned. To assume that only immigrants in Greece are dishonest lazy thieves is groundless.
But, as Diva says, her post is not about immigrants…it’s about asylum seekers. Those men, women and children from around the world who have fled due to persecution and often under the threat of death. These people deserve a lot better treatment than what they’re getting in many places around the world including Greece whose record is well below the EU average for accepting their claims.
I certainly hope none of us find ourselves in their situation within our lifetime and chances are we won’t because of sheer luck that we weren’t born in a country where rape, murder and torture is a daily occurrence. If we had the misfortune to experience just one day out of their lives, I guarantee you, you’d soon change your mind on the asylum process.
I don’t think anyone claiming asylum should be automatically granted royal treatment but they at least deserve to have their cases heard and investigated. Surely, the 25% gap in approved asylum applicants can be reduced with a little bit of compassion and effort.
COMMENT REMOVED BY DEVIOUSDIVA
DD, I read your posts with interest. I am often tempted to comment, but I really find it hard to. In such a serious, “sociopolitical” context I tend to get easily irritated by some of the comments people leave, either because they totally miss the point (or are too lazy to read) and reiterate the most boring, mundane, easy to swallow and plain wrong arguments they read on street walls, or because they find the opportunity to express their own personal (often ironically and sarcastically stated) bitterness in a way I find hypocritical (offending your own people is not a lot better than offending others). I am tempted to respond, start an argument, pick a fight so to speak, but I know it’s futile and impolite to the host. And your original posts usually cover my thoughts anyway, I wouldn’t have much more to add…
Anyway, just wanted to mention that I dropped by. I admire your perseverance. I wish you had the readership you deserve. Hey, maybe you do, I don’t know…
Thank you Steph for your kind message. I don’t think I have a particularly large readership but more importantly, I do have a very regular crowd here. It feels like a small community rather than a faceless, anonymous “news blog”. Anyway, thanks for coming and I hope you will feel able to comment more. We need our opinions to be out there in some way otherwise the “big mouths” tend to get heard more often.