Greece’s asylum-seekers’ policy under fire
By Kerin Hope
The Council of Europe’s senior human rights official has sharply criticised Greece over its policy towards asylum-seekers amid a surge in arrivals of illegal immigrants from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A report by the Council published on Wednesday says there are “serious deficiencies” in Greek procedures for protecting asylum-seekers and processing their applications.
Thomas Hammerberg, the Council’s commissioner for human rights, told the Financial Times: “It’s a very bad system. The Greek authorities have a responsibility to deal with the situation…but there is a lack of political will.”
Conditions at reception centres are “extremely harsh” and facilities to protect unaccompanied teenagers are lacking, he said.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees last year advised against sending asylum-seekers back to Greece – under the Dublin convention for returning applicants to the country they first entered – because of its poor record on granting refugee status.
In 2007, when the number of asylum-seekers in Greece doubled to 25,000, only 0.04 per cent of applicants were successful on their first try and 2.5 per cent on appeal.
In the first six months last year 10,200 applications were registered, mainly by immigrants from Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Figures for the first eight months of 2008 showed 0.03 per cent of applicants initially received refugee status but 11.3 per cent were successful on appeal.
Greek authorities last year temporarily suspended applications at the country’s only processing centre in Athens on the grounds that it was becoming overloaded.
A Pakistani man died last October after falling into a canal when riot police clashed with a crowd of asylum-seekers queuing to submit documents.
“People should be able to apply for asylum at points of entry so they can make contact with authorities as early as possible,” Mr Hammerberg said.
Many illegal immigrants arrive on Aegean islands after hazardous boat trips from Turkey or Egypt, or make their way through one of Europe’s last minefields after crossing the land border with Turkey in Thrace.
Greek authorities rejected the Council’s criticisms, saying “the vast majority of applications examined are the result of abuse of the right to seek asylum…most applicants declare they abandoned their homeland solely for economic reasons.”
Greece, Italy, Malta and Cyprus, which all receive large immigrant inflows, are jointly seeking European Union funding in order to redistribute asylum-seekers among other member-states and improve border protection.
UPDATE: You can read the full report by Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights following his visit to Greece on the 8th to the10th of December 2008
Human rights of asylum seekers
Photographs of his visit can be found here
Technorati Tags: greece, asylum, refugees, iraq, afghanistan, pakistan
Big Fat Greek Mess on January 11th, 2010
Child in Prison on October 7th, 2009
Asylum Mess on July 31st, 2009
New Asylum Proposals on June 2nd, 2009
Police Halt Asylum Procedures on October 17th, 2008
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Unfortunately, I don’t think that more money from the EU will make any difference. Given the corruption in Greece, the money will, as the locals say, “get eaten,” and nothing will change.
Living on the Peloponnese, I can’t tell you how many migrants we see who will be working in the fields this year. The farmers will continue to stiff them on their salaries while blackmailing the rest of the citizenry and the government for more money.
We need to get our terms clarified.
Migrants can be legal (invited or requested to come through legal channels) or illegal (basically invaders)
and the third category are TRUE political asylum seekers.
Greece is no condition to deal with the current amount of illegal and legal migrants here already. And lets be realist. If someone is fleeing poverty they will claim political asylum if they think that will give them a better chance of getting in and staying in.
Greece has virtually no invited migrants, because of the racism and xenophobia which has always been present. Insofar as illegal migration is concerned, and everyone here knows it, every single thing in this country is illegal so why bother about just one thing? You need to get your terms clarified: it is not possible for anything to be done legally in Greece, so just forget about blaming immigrants for the corruption and stupidity of Greeks.
Surely that is exactly the job of the asylum process to distinguish between true asylum seekers and economic migrants. I don’t know the numbers, but from what I’ve read see that there are many people coming here from Iraq and Afghanistan. There must be more than 0.04% of them who are asylum seekers seeing as they are coming from war zones ?
The majority of the report is about the Human Rights aspect of the asylum “process” here in Greece which I think you’ll agree is pretty shameful.
Obviously, there is a lot more in the report. I feel that Greece must focus its attention on these Human Rights issues and ensure that people have access to a fair and comprehensive asylum process. At the moment, the system is a joke and seems to be based on blanket rejection of asylum and then trying to throw out as many cases as possible on appeal.
XENOS there you go again.
Your using the technique of spouting epithets like racist and xenophobia because most people in most countries do not want to be swamped out of their own homeland by hordes of others.
Your comment about inviting immigrants is nonsensical…Why would Greece or should Greece invite people to work and live in Greece…oh because of all the auto factories and our huge land mass that needs to be settled…we are not America or Germany.
And everything is illegal in Greece.. Thats jsut BS.
Greece does have laws every nation does and their is corruption in every country.
How many immigrants does your country of origin accept or invite?
Probably none.
FINALLY HYPOCRITE GREEK HATER…you reveal that you hate Greeks you claim you do not but you make statements like everything is illegal in Greece, Stupid and Corrupt Greeks.
Well smart mouth if its like that then why are you here?
Obviously, Greece and Greeks are better lot then where you come from because why would you move to a country that is more corrupt or stupid then the one you came from.
Stop your BS you obviously hate Greece and Greeks.
ANd the only way we would be okay with you is if we let anybody in until we become a minority in our homeland.
There is no right to immigrate in the way that it is expressed here. There is a right to emigrate not a right to entrance anywhere.
I do not blame immigrants for anything that is wrong in Greece that is caused by Greeks. I just do not think Greece’s land mass, size of natie population, and economy is suitable to absorb so many so fast.
If we were not stupid and corrupt we would be building luxury hotels for all these people being trafficked in from Turkey.
AND TO DEVIOUSDIVA..perhaps Greece is turning away legitimate asylum seekers but I believe the rules of asylum seeking are that the first country they (asylum seeker) can get into is liable to provide asylum. Between Greece and Iraq is Turkey…so that means Turkey should take them. There is no war in FYROM, Bulgaria or Albania or in Turkey at this time.
The only case of legit asylum seekers based on taht rule would be Kurdish political asylum seekers from Turkey.
And one final thing I am glad XENOS responded because I recall he said that most refugees in the world are from Africa and African countries by and large bear that burden…well that would only make sense because if your in Africa the neighboring country would most likely be another African state.
Finally, I do not think there is a JUST law that states a country has to take in all legitimate asylum seekers…what if 2 million people came to Malta in one year..as an example. The ability of the local populous to handle the numbers.
Wow, Xenos is back with his offensive generalisations.
Substitute “Africans” for “Greeks” and this is what we get:
Xenos: “it is not possible for anything to be done legally in Africa, so just forget about blaming others for the corruption and stupidity of Africans.”
^This is an offensive generalisation and it is unnacceptable to make such a broad accusations towards Africans. Why should it be any different for Greeks, Portuguese or anyone else? Let’s be consistent, eh Xenos?…
It would be more constructive if Xenos channelled his hatred towards the instruments of government rather than the Greek people in general, but this is difficult for ex-pats like him, who think that the “natives” are “lower down the evolutionary scale” than them….I’ve seen this kind of racism towards Southern Europeans from many ex-pats in Portugal. The first thing that comes to mind when they think of a Portuguese or any Southern European is incompetent, greasy, lazy, cheating and corrupt people who shouldn’t be trusted. Unfortunately, these racists are beyond education, their racism is too embedded.
I just hope people like Xenos teach their kids to be more tolerant and less offensive.
I’ve told u before, and I will repeat. Just shut the fuck up, Michael Scowcroft. Your opinions are of no relevance to Greece and the people who live here.
I thought you weren’t going to post here anymore? If you had any integrity you’d keep to your word…
Thank you Michael..replacing Greeks with Africans hopefully made the point..Xenos hatred of Greeks and Greece in General is obvious to those who have read all his previous postings and have an IQ above 12.
Xenos why don’t you shut the fuck up and leave GREECE.
Notice how he responded to your post. He did not and logically could not to the replacement of one group with another in his diatribe..because he knew he was wrong.
Diva its getting more and more disgustingly hypocritical of you to allow this person to post. It only seems to me that negative attitudes towards Greece and Greeks are okay..meanwhile you expect us to be sensitive to every and anyone who shows at our doorstep.
I thought you were fair minded but your tolerance of Xenos on your boards goes beyond tolerating dissent and tolerating hatred and stereotypes. i.e, everything in Greece is illegal, (i.e, Greeks are crooked, hypcorites, etc.).
Sorry but Greece is an ethno-state..xenoi..who behave are welcome those who dont and are haters can leave..and those who are not invited without good reasons do not deserve our pity.
good reason is true asylum seeker..bad reason is asking for asylum in Greece when you should have asked Iran or Turkey…the first safe country for Afghanis and Iraqis etc….thats the rule…not the first country in the EU ..withn the hopes of moving North for more generous welfare.
Notice also he refuses to Name the Paradise he came from while he deens to reside in Greece to shit on us constantly ( oh I meant enlighten us ).
I know Greece has problems..But what country does not?
Making generalizations and hating the natives is not going to win anyone to your ideas.
Obviously this place and these people are a step up for you…otherwise why are you here?
There is probably corruption in your homeland too…but would you like it if someone moved there and complained and made constant negative generalizations about your ethnicity?
If you tolerate his hate speech then you would be hypocritcal to ban anyone elses towards other groups.
I am against hate crimes/speech and thought crime laws…but this is a private board and supposedly you are against bigotry and hatred and wont tolerate it on your board.
I hardly ever get angry on my blog anymore but this is really the final straw. Sorry that you expect me to be perfect and totally fair and well… perfect but I’m not. Sometimes, I actually skim read comments, sometimes I leave comments to see if there’s a reaction, sometimes I sit here and wish that the discussion involved more people… different than the regulars. Please, please finally understand, if I delete comments that I don’t like, people scream “censorship”. It’s happened so many times, it’s almost pathetic. If I leave comments, I am accused of being hypocritical and two-faced. Come on now people. You are all grown-ups. You CAN point out problems with people’s arguments etc without running to me. You CAN just ignore people if you like and discuss the issues at hand. I am so tired of this that I am thinking of closing comments on ALL posts.
Try and remember that NONE of this post (or many other posts) is about YOU.
Angry Diva leaves the room…
Wertpapieren in der Bilanz
von Raivo Pommer
Ein auch im Zusammenhang mit der Finanzkrise öffentlich vieldiskutierter Posten ist die Bewertung von Wertpapieren in der Bilanz. Sie sind generell zum Zeitwert zu bewerten, wobei diese Vorschrift im Umlaufvermögen strenger ausgelegt wird als im Anlagevermögen. Ergibt sich der Zeitwert nicht quasi automatisch aus dem Börsenkurs zum Abschlussstichtag, so muss ein Zeitwert modellhaft nachgebildet werden. Dabei bedient man sich meist der Ertragswertmethode (discounted cash flow), bei der die Annahmen zu hinterfragen sind. In diese Modelle fließen nämlich Erwartungen ein bezüglich der künftigen Erträge aus den Wertpapieren (Zinszahlungen und Tilgung durch den Schuldner), bezüglich der Zinsentwicklung und bestimmter Risiken. Vor solchen Unwägbarkeiten schützt auch die Umwidmung der Papiere aus dem Handels- in den Anlagebestand nicht wirklich. Hier sind gemäß dem “gemilderten Niederstwertprinzip” allerdings nur noch im Rahmen einer Werthaltigkeitsprüfung bei voraussichtlich dauerhafter Wertminderung Abschreibungen nötig. Aber auch hier ist zu hinterfragen, wann ein Unternehmen warum davon ausgeht, dass die von ihm gehaltenen Wertpapiere dauerhaft Wert verloren haben oder eben nicht. Weniger Beachtung als auf der Aktivseite finden die Wertpapiere auf der Passivseite der Bilanz, wo in Bankbilanzen verbriefte Verbindlichkeiten als Gegenposition zu den entsprechenden Wertpapieren der Aktivseite der Käufer stehen. Wenn deren Börsenkurs sinkt, dann nimmt ihr Wert ebenfalls ab, allerdings im Gegensatz zu den Papieren auf der Aktivseite wirkt sich hier eine Wertminderung positiv aus. Hier könnte sich jemand also reicher rechnen, als er ist. Es ist daher allgemein begrüßt worden, dass die Deutsche Bank hier konservativ verfahren ist und nicht versucht hat, ihren Jahresverlust zu schönen.
Post Disagreement,
I think that people like Xenos who use abusive language like “shut the f*ck up” just prove that their argument is weak. Don’t be too surpised that he resorts to foul language – he cannot justify making such ugly and offensive generalisations against a group of people, so he tries to shout you down and resorts to swearing.. This is how bigots generally operate.
Whenever i’ve challenged a racist ex-pat in Portugal for making racist comments, they usually either swore at me (told me to F off), or avoided me altogether. Xenos has done both, he swore at me and vowed never to return here. Typical behaviour of a bigot.
DD,
You are right, we shouldn’t have to rely on you to baby-sit us, we should be able to “self-moderate” our comments.
As a common courtesy, I think that contributors should tone down their language and try to refrain from using abusive language on this blog.
I have no problem in tackling racists but i think they should at least maintain control of their language and keep a civil tone towards other contributors in here.
Xenos’ and other racist ex-pats’ opinions are disguting enough, we don’t need the four-letter swear words to go with it.
I don’t usually post comments as I tend to read DD using Google Reader, but as a member of her community I wanted to express my opinion as prompted by her posting.
I am so sorry that the dialog wasn’t really a dialog. Just a lot of yelling and very little listening.
Yes, I moved the conversation from those seeking political asylum to those migrants who have been invited to work on farms here on the Peloponnese. But I did it purposely because I’ve seen the way the farm workers are treated and it is not very much better than the way the asylum seekers (or are they hoping to transit to another European country?) in Patra are treated. Not very well.
As to whether or not Turkey is bound to obey the rules of the European Union is another conversation, to me. Turkey may probably never be invited to join the EU, more for reasons of religious discrimination than anything else.
So to me, discrimination runs through all of this.
But if we can’t agree to talk to and with each other, how can we resolve the issues facing all people living in Greece?
I don;t have to justify myself to you and your ilk, M. Scowcroft. I have done more in my life to promote racial tolerance and migrants’ rights than you will ever do. Just get off your pompous and ridiculous high horse and listen to people who know what they are talking about. Your stupid opinions are of no interest to me, and I will decide where and what I post. I am not accountable to you, and you have no business posting about a country you know nothing about. All you do is encourage Greek racism and xenophobia with your foolish political correctness.
I bet you’ve done sweet fa to “promote racial tolerance and migrants’ rights”. How can you promote racial tolerance while espousing such hate-filled views about a group of people?
When you’ve been asked by contributors about the human rights work that you do, you are deliberately ambiguous and evasive, you even refuse to give your nationality, so please, spare us with your philanthropic fibs.
(You may refuse to give your nationality but I KNOW you are a Brit because i recognise the characteristics you share with racist ex-pats in Portugal who also look down on our Southern European “neanderthal” neighbours).
The only thing we definately know about is that you like to make offensive generalisations, you like telling people on the blog to “feck off”, you like blackmailing DD into getting me banned, and then, when she calls your bluff and doesn’t ban me, you crawl from under your rock to continue spouting your angry racist diatribe here again.
Give your racist gob a rest mate. You said you wouldn’t post here gain:
Xenos: “I will not post any further in this blog. I am also aware of others here who are sick of your arrogant attitude. Write your crap, here, and you can have a nice chat with DD. I will not participate.”
Get the feck outta here
XENOS SAID” “I have done more in my life to promote racial tolerance and migrants’ rights than you..”
Does he mean in his own homeland (the country where his ethnicity is the majority) or simply more likely complaining in other societies????
Ex: Let Say you are Turkish…have you done anything to promote the rights of Armenians, Greeks, illegal immigrants in Turkey..where you are originally from…or do you just promote a zeitgeist in your host country Greece of incurable racist Greeks and Greece and poor migrants and non-Greeks meaning you..
with the goal of putting a false guilt trip on us to get us to welcome and finance our displacement by hordes of foreigners.
Its funny how people say they are human rights activists and they are really about promoting their own rights or those they perceive as having a common oppressor worst yet there are others who are motivated by money, political correctness.
There are a few people who truly care about human rights but most don’t. Mr. Xenos has the right to hate me and most Greeks but I also have the right to hate him and want him to leave my country.
None of the immigration enthusiasts ever reply to questions about: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? ( WE HAVE 2 MILLION NON_GREEKS HERE ALREADY Legally and illegally..most of the legal ones were once illegal by the way ).
Enough is Enough.
Raivo Pommer
raimo1@hot.ee
Depfa Bank Krise
Es handelt sich dabei um eine nachrangige Anleihe über 500 Millionen Euro. Die für den 21. März geplante Zinszahlung falle nach einem Beschluss des Verwaltungsrats der Depfa aus.
Eine Entscheidung zu ähnlichen Papieren der Depfa stehe noch aus. “Diese Nachricht könnte das Vertrauen in das Marktsegment erschüttern”, kommentierten Anleihenhändler.
“Das ist ein politisches Debakel”, sagte Bankenprofessor Klaus Fleischer von der Fachhochschule München. Schließlich seien die Garantien und Hilfen des staatlichen Rettungsfonds Soffin in Höhe von mehr als 102 Milliarden Euro in die HRE-Gruppe geflossen, “um Schaden vom Kapitalmarkt abzuwenden”.
Nach Angaben der HRE hat die Bankengruppe vier Nachranganleihen im Volumen von insgesamt 1,55 Milliarden Euro ausstehen. Zinstermine sind im März, im Juni und im Oktober. Der Analysedienst Dealogic gibt den Gesamtmarkt vergleichbarer Nachranganleihen in Europa mit 300 Milliarden Euro an.
I am bored with the hate speech of some of these Greeks who appear on your blog, DD. They obviously resent other Europeans living in Greece, they object to the concept of human rights.. let them go to Iraq or somewhere with no rule of law, then they will find out what life is about.
^^British intolerance towards southern europeans is mainly well-concealed and just simmers under the surface of British society. But when bigotted Brits like Xenos let rip, they really let rip against “the foreigner”.
For someone who said he wouldn’t post here anymore, you make an awful lot of hate-filled appearances, xenos.
If you’re ‘bored’, get on your bike me old china plate…..
(at least you used the words “some Greeks” which is an improvement on the offensive generalisations you spouted from your racist arse last time).
Also, notice how people like Xenos use the word “these” when describing another group of people? They don’t say “I am bored with some greeks”, they say “I am bored with some of these Greeks” or “how do all these Jews make their money?” or “These Asians, they don’t like integrate, do they?” . When the word “these” is used in a sentence pertaining to a group of people, you can bet your mortgage that’s it’s being used in a derogatory way.
It’s common parlance for racists and xenophobes. Remember when McCain said “that one” while pointing to Barack Obama during a presidential debate? I believe these slips-of-the-tongue betray an inherent, albeit unconscious, racism.
Look at Barack’s face just after he heard it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
But people like Xenos are more deliberate with their use of the derogatory pronouns.
You’ll find Brits of his ilk making good use of “these” in sentences such as:
“These bloody foreigners, coming over here, taking all our jobs..”
“These blacks, there’s too many of them in this country…”
“These Pakis, with their corner shops”
“I don’t mind all these immigrants but i support forced repatriation….”
In all of the above sentences, the correct word to use would be “the” instead of “these” or drop the pronoun altogether. But your average racist isn’t very proficient with the English language. Just like American media often use the word “illegals” to refer to “illegal immigrants”. The word “llegal” is an adjective and shouldn’t be used as a noun – racist language is wrong on so many levels…
I am bored with the hate speech of some of these Greeks who appear on your blog, DD. They obviously resent other Europeans living in Greece, they object to the concept of human rights.. let them go to Iraq or somewhere with no rule of law, then they will find out what life is about.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
If your bored find something else to do.
I do not resent other people living in Greece I do resent the amount of people coming in…having no control over immigration is lawlessness…so what the hell are you talking about.
I am not against human rights you are against speech that disagrees with your lets flood Greece with all comers.
You denied the genocide of Greeks of Asia Minor/Pontians Greeks in another post..if you deny the holocaust most people would consider that hate speech…what about your hate speech against Hellenes.
NOTICE you ignored my questions in my previous post and jsut deflect with cries of being bored with the hate speech.
I hate you without having met you because you obviously have ill will towards my people.
Since you lived in 4 or 5 countries Xenos and Greeks and Greece is so horrible why are you staying here..????
I propose a fund raiser to alleviate Xenos of his seething in hatred everyday against Greeks and Greece.. he is obviously stuck her by no choice of his own or because he does not have resources to leave or he is loath to admit he comes from a country that is much more corrupt and fucked up then Greece.
They way you blog is so nasty. Why would you even want to be here? It makes no sense.
At least while I disagree with Diva hotly on many things…at least she attempts to keep it balanced sometimes. There is no these Greeks or everything is illegal and corrupt in Greece.
(Greeks are some how especially corrupt and evil…have not been paying too much attention to the news from the USA, Britain and with bailouts for billionaires have you…?)–I know there are corrupt Greeks obciously they are selling our country to the New World Order EU and taking bribes to facility the transportation of illegal aliens in to Greece…What I have a problem with is your generalizations and characterizations…of all or most Greeks…criticize the government all you want.
Secondly, many greeks on the islands including priests have provided aid to these people washing up on our shores…but you do not hear about that…only bad Greeks..how dare they want to NOT be flooded with a wave of humanity….in case you have not noticed Grece has its own financial problems these days and issues with unemployment..so when your own house is on fire you focus on fixing that and saving your family first not every one showing up at your doorstep asking for help.
I have posted many many times about “good Greeks”. Heartwarming stories about Greeks who are making a difference. I have also posted many articles about the problems that affect the entire population. The fact that you choose to ignore those posts is not my problem.
Please see
here and here about the priests who helped migrant workers.
Here is an article about another priest trying to make a difference.
Here is Greek Youth Give Me Hope
This is just from a quick search of recent articles I have posted. There are many many others that you can find quite easily.
There’s a search function at the top of my sidebar.
Unfortunately, human rights issues are generally negative so you might have the impression that this blog is negative too. But I do try and post ANY positive news I find.
Poor countries lack the financial means to provide housing, jobs and education for immigrants so there’s bound to be criticism of their human rights towards immigrants.
But richer countries such as the USA and UK have an abysmal record of mistreating immigrants even though they have the infrastructure to deal with them. Greece and Portugal are poor. What is our excuse for mistreating immigrants?
welcome party for immigrants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCL2IqgjSc
“He was a good son”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fz09SE73_E
“There’s a load of immigrants round here”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
“I’ve moved away from my immigrant hell hole”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
It would be interesting for the sake of completeness – balance is not something I expect – if DD wrote something about the problems that truck drivers face with the illegal migrants trying to get on their trucks. What happens to them if the migrants succeed to get on:
a) and the Italian authorities find them in their truck. Do you realize that they get charged with trafficking?
b) and a migrant dies in the truck because of too much heat and/or lack of water/food? They also get charged with manslaughter?
c) their cargo is invariably destroyed and the cost comes out of their own pocket.
It’s no wonder the truck drivers see the migrants as their enemy – you may want to see racism in their behavior (which in the latest incident became illegal in the case of the driver that hit the boy) but it’s a lot simpler than that: the migrants trying to get on their trucks represent a daily danger to their own freedom and their family’s livelihood. And frankly, even if (as it should ASAP) the Greek government fixes things in the camp and it stops being in the disgraceful state it currently is in, for as long as economic migrants seek to cross to Western Europe the truckers and the migrants will find themselves on opposite sides.
To be perfectly honest with you, Oath Taken, I had never thought about the situation with the truck drivers. It’s a difficult issue because some people are knowingly trafficking people so I don’t know how that could be resolved ? One of the main problems I see is that there always has been and always will be economic migration as long as there is such disparity between rich and poor. Perhaps we should be focusing on fixing ? Sounds a lot like “sharing the wealth” doesn’t it ?! I am not afraid to say that I agree with this idea. I would much rather “share my wealth” for developing infrastructure in poorer countries including Greece than lining the pockets of the corrupt.
If I was a truck driver, I would ensure my truck had a secure lock on the door, and also would not enter the ship until I had searched every nook and cranny of my exterior/interior of my vehicle, and all under the eyes of the port authority folks loading the vehicles on the boat.
Sounds fairly easy. Pay attention to your truck prior to boarding.
Dr House,
After you ensured that there were no asylum seekers in your truck, this is the song you’d play in your truck while driving into Blighty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dxAtpgoGhE
You’d sing along to it in your fake foreign accent
Somehow I’m not surprised that you never considered that the truck drivers could be suffering as well Diva.
I read once a text in Greek by a truck driver that decided to quit his profession after discovering a dozen migrants in the back of his truck – he just could not take the pressure and the thought of ending up in prison for trafficking (and he had taken all reasonable precautions). If I locate it again I can post a link for anyone interested.
Dear Dr. House – I wish it were that easy. We have cases where padlocks were cut (in line to load on – trucks waiting to load move slowly and in spurts), migrants entered the truck and another padlock was used to close the door and give the appearance of no problems. Of course upon closer inspection one realized the padlock was different but that does not always happen before it’s too late. Plus of course, once found the migrants resist getting evicted from the truck (and there’s lots of them and they are desperate). And of course the port authorities do not have the time to allow every single truck driver to inspect his vehicle under their watch – it’s a port after all and time is money. An X-ray or heat scan of the contents of the truck would work fine AFAIMC and would catch other things as well but that requires costly equipment.
And that is all assuming there are no corrupt truck drivers or port officials – and of course some exist.
That reducing the gap between rich and poor countries and taking away the immense need to escape one’s country for a better future is the best answer to the problems illegal migration is causing is (and if it is not it should be) obvious to all. BUT that is unfortunately a task that even with the political will behind it (try convincing people in Europe now in the middle of a world economic crisis to spend their euros on the 3rd world) takes a lot of time. In the meantime one has to deal with illegal migration. And treating it as a problem of racism alone does not help – in fact when good-wishers like yourself and your Greek equivalents downplay the problems caused by the illegal migrant camp to the inhabitants of Patras you are indeed helping racism take roots as the only political forces that actually seem to care about their side of the story are the extremist ones… I grew up in a Greece where the far right had to hide among the center (and thereby moderate its rhetoric) right as it could not survive in parliament on its own. All it took was the social upheaval of the 1990s and the racist pricks could once again come out of the closet in full regalia and become the 5th party in parliament.
Oath Taken, so my admission (which I did not have to make) that there holes in my knowledge is yet another way of ridiculing me? I do try and read as much as I possibly can on everything I write but to be all things to all people is totally impossible. Had you chosen to write about the suffering of the truck drivers, as another point of view on the subject, I would have been glad to have listened and learned. But no, you chose to use it as another way to say “you are wrong”