U.S. wants expansion of meaning of "refugee"

> ----------
> Von:  center@cis.org[SMTP:center@cis.org]
> Gesendet:     Montag, 17. Januar 2000 20:24
> An:   CISNEWS@cis.org
> Betreff:      Overseas immigration news
> 
> 
> [For CISNEWS subscribers: Seven items --
> 
> * United Nations: U.S. wants expansion of meaning of "refugee";
> * Canada: Chinese illegals win refugee status;
> * Greece: Illegals die sneaking through mountain passes;
> * India: Officials worry about illegal Bangladeshis;
> * Hong Kong: Authorities launch campaign against illegals;
> * S. Korea: Protesters oppose China's deportation of N. Koreans; and
> * Australia: Syria agrees to help with crack down on illegals.
> 
> -- Mark Krikorian]
> 
> 
> UN May Redefine the Term 'Refugee'
> By Nicole Winfield 
> January 14, 2000
> 
> UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- For 50 years, the United Nations has given special
> care and protection to the world's refugees, who have fled fighting in
> their homelands and sought safety in other countries.
> 
> But these days, the organization is being called on more and more to care
> for the 20 million to 25 million so-called "internally displaced people,"
> who have abandoned their homes to escape wars but just haven't crossed
> borders.
> 
> Whether the United Nations can give these people the same care as the 15
> million people worldwide who are considered refugees is more than just a
> semantic debate. It concerns issues of money, bureaucracy and most
> importantly, sovereignty.
> 
> At the request of the United States, the Security Council on Thursday held
> an open debate on the issue, which has grown more contentious in recent
> years as the number of internally displaced has surpassed the number of
> refugees across the globe.
> 
> While protected under the same Geneva Conventions that give refugees
> special status in countries of asylum, the internally displaced often fall
> through the care cracks, unable to get the same level of international
> aid.
> 
> Africa has been particularly hard hit, with an estimated 10 million
> internally displaced. Four million of them are in Sudan, and another 1
> million to 2 million are in Angola.
> 
> In both countries, fighting between government troops and rebels has
> prevented the United Nations and other aid organizations from reaching
> many
> of the displaced, who often end up in isolated areas without food, water
> or
> shelter.
> 
> In other cases, however, governments directly prevent aid from entering
> countries, viewing civilians as allies of their enemies. Citing national
> sovereignty, these governments can block the U.N. refugee agency and other
> organizations from mobilizing aid inside their borders.
> 
> "The difficulty of having access to large numbers of people in insecure
> and
> isolated areas is compounded by the complexity of assisting civilians in
> their own country - where their own state authorities or rebel forces in
> control are frequently the very cause of their predicament," the U.N. High
> Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, told the council.
> 
> She stopped short of suggesting that the UNHCR try harder to gain access
> to
> these people or take on a new mandate covering the internally displaced.
> The agency's mandate and resources - already stretched thin caring for
> refugees - enable it to care for only about 5 million of the world's
> internally displaced.
> 
> But U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke went further, calling for the United
> Nations to "erode if not erase" the distinction between refugees and
> internally displaced and put responsibility for both under a single
> agency.
> 
> "I recognize that the distinction raises complex legal issues of
> international sovereignty." Holbrooke said. "And I recognize that
> governments in this room and elsewhere have various reactions to the
> issue.
> But let us remember that individual lives are at stake."
> 
> China's U.N. ambassador, Qin Huasun, voiced some of that opposition,
> saying
> international aid should be given only "on the basis of respect of
> sovereignty, territorial integrity and noninterference into internal
> affairs."
> 
> China consistently stresses the rights of countries to manage their
> affairs
> internally, fearing international intervention in Tibet and Taiwan.
> 
> But Roberta Cohen, a guest scholar at The Brookings Institution, said at a
> press conference that the debate is likely to continue
> 
> "I think there is now a realization that we've got to have an
> international
> system that addresses the needs of people on both sides" of the border.
> 
> 
> ********
> ********
> 
> Board Approves Fourth Chinese Refugee Claim
> January 17, 2000
> 
> VANCOUVER (CP) -- A fourth refugee claimant who arrived on British
> Columbia's shores during last summer's wave of boat people had a claim of
> persecution accepted by the Immigration and Refugee Board.
> 
> Melissa Anderson, a spokesperson for the board, said the fourth successful
> claim went through last week.
> 
> Of the 590 Chinese migrants who arrived in the province on dilapidated
> fishing trawlers last summer, 493 have claimed refugee status. Of those,
> 169 cases have been completed.
> 
> Ninety-two claims have been rejected, four accepted, six voluntarily
> withdrawn and 67 people have abandoned their claim, usually by
> disappearing
> after being released.
> 
> That means of the 96 claims that have received a ruling from the board,
> only a little more than four per cent have been successful.
> 
> The board's overall acceptance rate is 55 per cent. The success rate for
> all Chinese claims in 1998-99 was 44.3 per cent.
> 
> Lawyers for 57 more migrants, who Immigration Canada declared didn't claim
> refugee status, have been in negotiations with the department to allow
> their clients to seek status as well. Those negotiations aren't complete.
> 
> A 30-year-old woman became the first successful claimant in November.
> 
> The woman's claim was based on a fear of being forcibly sterilized if she
> returned to China. She also argued the publicity her case had received in
> the media could put her at risk.
> 
> The second successful case was based on religious persecution. The third
> cited a fear of China's one-child policy.
> 
> Anderson was unable to provide the reasons for the fourth migrant's
> successful claim.
> 
> Meanwhile, three ships that brought containers of migrants to Vancouver
> and
> Seattle in the last two weeks are believed to have had direct links with
> "feeder" ships out of Fujian province.
> 
> That's the home of most smuggled migrants.
> 
> Another Fujian-linked vessel is expected to arrive in Vancouver today.
> 
> 
> ********
> ********
> 
> Two Immigrants Die in Greece
> January 15, 2000
> 
> ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Police discovered two dead and 20 exhausted Eastern
> European women trying to illegally enter Greece on Saturday across an icy
> mountain pass.
> 
> The frozen bodies of Romanian Mirela Stan, 24, and Ukrainian Hatira
> Antilsova, 29, were recovered Saturday and the 20 other young women were
> detained, officials said.
> 
> The women were found on rugged Mount Belles, 415 miles north of Athens.
> They had walked from neighboring Bulgaria through snow for three days, but
> were stranded when smugglers failed to meet them on the Greek side,
> officials said.
> 
> State-run NET television said most of the women were not properly dressed
> for subfreezing temperatures and that the group included three girls aged
> 15, 16 and 17.
> 
> "They survived by eating snow," said Maria Nalbati, a hospital official in
> the nearby city of Serres, where two of the survivors were being treated.
> "They were extremely tired. They hadn't had anything to eat or drink for
> three days," Nalbati said.
> 
> Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from Asia and Eastern Europe cross
> into Greece each year, sneaking over remote border passes or on to
> hundreds
> of islands in the Aegean Sea. They remain in Greece to find work or make
> their way to other European Union countries.
> 
> Smuggling rings have been linked to illegal Greek labor networks, which
> supply sweat shops, brothels and substandard construction projects.
> 
> At least 31 illegal immigrants have died trying to enter Greece in the
> last
> three months, killed in truck crashes, by hypothermia or after wandering
> into minefields along Greece's border with Turkey.
> 
> Police said many of the women detained Saturday had previously been
> deported from Greece. They said the group was from Romania, Ukraine and
> Moldova, while the nationality of the two hospitalized women was not
> known.
> 
> The women will be deported back to Bulgaria.
> 
> 
> ********
> ********
> 
> Immigrants' swarming N-E a security risk
> By Laisram Indira
> India Times, January 17, 2000
> 
> NEW DELHI -- Thanks to political patronage, a porous border and a
> discriminatory law, the north-east today stands swarmed by illegal
> immigrants from Bangladesh posing a grave threat to the security of the
> region, warn experts.
> 
> The continuous influx has given rise to a number of fundamentalist forces,
> which are being used by Pakistan's ISI and other international
> organisations to break free from India, they warn.
> 
> According to T V Rajeswar, former governor of West Bengal, organisations
> like the Muslim Liberation Tigers of Assam, Muslim Liberation Army and
> Muslim Liberation Force have been formed in the area and have announced
> their objective of creating an independent Islamic state in Assam.
> 
> ``What is most disturbing is that these organisations have given ISI of
> Pakistan and other international fundamentalist forces a solid base to
> destabilise the country,'' says noted historian H K Borpujari noting that
> the Assam Police has arrested 30 militants mainly belonging to the
> Harat-ul-Mujahideen, recently.
> 
> ``We have lost our culture because we are getting cheap labour and they
> (illegal Bangladeshi immigrants) are grabbing our land. Whatever reserved
> land is occupied by them is being used for criminal activities and they
> are
> influencing all constituencies,''says Arun Sharma, Rajya Sabha MP from
> Assam.
> 
> According to Borpujari, the Muslim population in Assam rose to 24.39 per
> cent in 1971, the highest for any state except Jammu and Kashmir. In
> Nagaland as a result of this influx, it rose from 7,74,930 in 1981 to 12,
> 51,573 in 1991 while in Meghalaya there has been a rise in number of
> Muslims from 26,000 in 1921 to 61,000 in 1991.
> 
> The Naga Students' Federation (NSF) estimates there are over 5,000
> Bangladeshis in Mon district.
> 
> At this rate they will form the majority in state assemblies and in the
> not
> too distant future they would demand a referendum on merger with
> Bangladesh, warns the elderly historian.
> 
> Bangladesh being surrounded by India, the pressure on land and stagnant
> economy have forced Bangladeshis towards this region which provide them
> with all they want - land, employment as labourers in farms, construction
> and domestic work, says social worker Sumita Ghose.
> 
> ``The other reason is the political patronage without which they cannot
> stay,'' says S C Gulati, population researcher, Indian Institute of
> Economic Growth, noting that easy availability of the ration card
> establishes their permanence automatically.
> 
> Both Borpujari and Sharma blame it on the present day politicians who use
> them as vote banks and also on provisions in the Illegal Migrants
> (determination by tribunals) Act, 1983 that is working to the disadvantage
> of the state and the nation in turn.
> 
> A fact not denied by security officials. It is the porous border that
> makes
> inflitrators easily sneak into West Bengal and catch a train to Assam and
> the northeast where the IMDT Act grants them citizenship, says an official
> on condition of annoymity.
> 
> On the Siliguri border, BSF soldiers say the modus operandi is easy. Once
> an illegal migrant crosses over to the Indian side all he needs is a
> certification by the village pradhan which is granted immediately on
> emotional grounds.
> 
> His citizenship cannot be challenged as under the IMDT, the responsibility
> and process of identification of an illegal immigrant lies with citizens,
> staying within a few km radius from the suspect. It is for those citizens
> to file the objection against the stay of suspected foreigners, says
> Borpujari.
> 
> This would lead to primary investigation by the police and subsequent
> reference to a three-judge tribunal, which makes the procedure time
> consuming and protracted, he says.
> 
> ``There is no provision to detain them during the period and they
> disappear
> without leaving any trace and move to some other areas,'' says Sharma
> taking strong exception to the IMDT Act.
> 
> He calls for scrapping of the Act and advocates a uniform immigration law
> in the region in conformity with the rest of the country.
> 
> Under the foreigner's Act 1946, applicable all over the country, the onus
> of being an Indian citizen lies on the suspect whereas under the IMDT Act,
> it is on the complainant, says Borpujari.
> 
> Despite crores of money being spent on agencies to identify illegal
> immigrants since the Act was promulgated in 1983, only 9,599 illegal
> migrants were identified until January 1999, out of which only 1,459 were
> deported.
> 
> ``It is not known whether they were formally handed over beyond the border
> to Bangladesh authorities or re-entered through porous border,'' he says
> suggesting that the discriminatory Act must be scrapped and inflitrators
> deported under foreigner's Act as elsewhere in the country.
> 
> Borpujari also cites from a recently published book Terror in the valley
> of
> Kashmir by Omkareswar Pandey that Pakistan is now attempting to separate
> the entire northeast from the rest of the country by cutting off the
> `Chicken's neck', the narrow zone between Srirampur (Assam) and new
> Jalpaiguri (north Bengal).
> 
> ``To that end several training camps have been organised under ISI in
> north
> and West Bengal and the entire north-east is threatened by massive
> Bangladeshi infiltrators under the patronage of the ISI,'' says Pandey.
> 
> But the regional experts also emphasise on helping Bangladesh develop its
> economy to reduce the impact of inflitration which is natural under the
> given circumstances.
> 
> Bangladesh must develop its economy and projects to secure land from flood
> water that destroy crops, reduce land holding, which eventually force
> people to leave, says Sanjoy Hazarika, noted scribe and social worker of
> the region.
> 
> Borpujari urges that topmost priority must be given to the
> Tsangpo-Brahmaputra-Barak valley project as a central project, for
> protection of both the valleys and Bangladeshis from recurrence of floods.
> 
> Apart from boosting the entire economy of the northeast, it will
> effectively curb inflow of immigrants and minimise expenditure on security
> and defensive measures along the border, says the noted historian.
> 
> Sharma suggests that the entire citizenship must be computerised, everyone
> given identity cards (id) and immigrants must be barred from bank loans,
> from voting and deported immediately.
> 
> Better fencing along the borders, increased strength of BSF personnel,
> registration of country boats plying on border rivers and use of speed
> boats are other measures suggested by Borpujari to monitor the floating
> population.
> 
> He says it is time politicians and governments worked out a solution to
> end
> this problem which has, for decades, been the region's ``socially and
> economically destabilising factor''. 
> 
> 
> ********
> ********
> 
> HK Launches Anti-Illegal Immigration Operation
> Xinhua General News Service, January 17, 2000
> 
> HONG KONG -- Hong Kong Police launched a large-scale search operation on
> the Hong Kong Island (HKI) Monday to crack down on illegal immigration.
> 
> More than 200 officers started the eight-hour operation at 7 a. m..
> 
> Monday's operation was part of HK Police's continuous efforts to combat
> illegal immigration and crimes committed by illegal immigrants (IIs).
> 
> "Although the number of IIs arrested on HKI fell from 74 in November to 68
> in December last year, operations of this sort will continue and regularly
> be conducted on the island," Superintendent Cheung Chun-po of the Police
> Tactical Unit said.
> 
> Police arrested a 34-year-old woman, suspected to be II. She is now being
> detained for further inquiries.
> 
> In December last year, a total of 853 illegal immigrants were arrested in
> the territory, representing a 4.8-percent decrease, or a drop of 43
> persons
> in comparison with the previous month.
> 
> 
> ********
> ********
> 
> S Koreans Protest China's Deportation Of N Koreans
> January 17, 2000
> 
> SEOUL (AP)--About 100 South Koreans rallied in downtown Seoul Monday
> against China's deportation of seven North Koreans last week.
> 
> The protesters, many of them former North Koreans, briefly clashed with
> 500
> riot police blocking all roads leading to the Chinese embassy. There were
> no reports of injuries or arrests.
> 
> The 30-minute protest ended after police allowed representatives of the
> group to visit the embassy to deliver a protest note.
> 
> It was the latest protest against Beijing's deportation last week of seven
> North Koreans who U.N. officials said could face severe reprisals in their
> own country.
> 
> According to South Korean officials, the North Koreans, from 13 to 30
> years
> old, entered China in November to seek food. They were later caught by
> Russian guards while crossing the border from China.
> 
> The Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees recognized them as
> refugees while they were in Russian custody and offered to help them
> settle
> in a third country.
> 
> But Russia sent them back to China. Despite U.N. and South Korean pledges,
> China refused to regard them as refugees and deported them last week.
> 
> The U.N. refugee agency accused China of violating international refugee
> laws.
> 
> China said the seven were no different from thousands of other North
> Koreans who have illegally crossed the border in search of food.
> 
> The number of North Koreans fleeing their hungry homeland has increased
> sharply in recent years. About 450 North Koreans have defected to South
> Korea since 1994, 147 of them in 1999.
> 
> The two Koreas fought the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an
> armistice, not a permanent peace treaty.
> 
> 
> ********
> ********
> 
> Agreements made with Syria on people smuggling
> Australian Associated Press, January 17, 2000
> 
> CANBERRA (AAP) -- Syria had agreed to exchange intelligence on people
> smuggling with Australia, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said today.
> 
> Mr Ruddock, who has just completed a tour of Middle Eastern countries
> seeking cooperation on the problem, said he was encouraged by a range of
> measures agreed to, including:
> 
> * return to Syria of Syrians and some other nationals who had no legal
> basis for remaining in Australia;
> 
> * technical cooperation including training in areas such as detection of
> fraudulent documentation; and
> 
> * dissemination of information on anti-smuggling measures introduced by
> Australia.
> 
> The minister said he had had a series of meetings with senior members of
> the Syrian government, including the interior minister, the information
> minister and the social affairs and labour minister.
> 
> He said he had also proposed continuing cooperation between the two
> countries to counter criminal activities in the region.
> 
> Further agreement was reached on agency arrangements to facilitate
> visa-issuing processes for Syrians wishing to visit Australia.
> 
> Officials would work together on the implementation of these arrangements,
> which would significantly improve the service offered to people living in
> Syria, Mr Ruddock said.
> 
>