Amnesty International urges Europe to act to help refuges fleeing Syria

Amnesty International has called on EU leaders to take the necessary steps to help the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Syria.

Over 350,000 refugees have registered or are awaiting registration in Syria’s neighboring countries- namely Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

 It has been predicted that over 700,000 refugees will have fled to Syria’s neighbors by the years end. Conversely, the EU has only received 16,500 Syrian asylum seekers. 

Amnesty have advised that the EU implement the following measures to alleviate this crisis:

•    Ensure access to protection and fair asylum procedures for all Syrian asylum-seekers arriving in the EU

•    Ensure no refugees are returned to Syria until the situation has stabilized and their safety can be assured

•    Agree a common EU approach towards determining refugee claims

•    Adopt a generous interpretation of international protection

•    Lift obstacles to safety, such as visa requirements and overly burdensome family reunification procedures

 www.amnesty.org/en/news/europe-act-now-help-refugees-fleeing-syria-2012-10-24

Brophy Solicitors

30.10.12

Closure of asylum seeker centre criticised

An article in the Irish Times from Monday, 10^th September, discussed the closure of the Lisbrook centre, formerly the Ibis Hotel, which accommodates several hundred asylum seekers and their families. These families are now set to be relocated to other refugee accommodation centres around Ireland, but the individual relocation sites have yet to be determined.

This closure puts an already vulnerable population at additional risk. Refugees who were housed at the Lisbrook centre have endured many trials in their journey to Ireland, and they settled at the centre with the hopes that they could begin anew in Ireland. Now, as the families face uprooting, parents are worried about their children having to switch schools, communities face the loss of neighbours, and weary refugees have to face yet another move. The closure happening in mid-September shows additional lack of consideration for school children who may be already settled into a new school.

Many of the refugees were too frightened to have their names quoted in the newspaper, but they anonymously reported “serious trauma,” especially since some of them have already spent time in eight different provision centres. They were hoping to finally settle down in Lisbrook, only to find that they had to relocate once again.

The community in Galway is outraged as well. Labour TD for Galway West, Derek Nolan, said it’s a “terrible way to treat people,” and he promised to contact the Department of Justice to discover why the centre has been closed. The information provided to the refugees about their future provisions is frustratingly vague so many families are still left questioning what the future holds for them. The criticism that has risen as a result of this closure should demonstrate to the Department of Justice, and the Reception and Integration Agency, the organization responsible for direct provision accommodation, that a more stable living situation is crucial for this population of asylum seekers.

An article from 11^th September describes how an anti-racist group has appealed to Mr Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice, to review and hopefully quash the decision to close the centre. The Department have stated that “Lisbrook is closing as part of an ‘ongoing consolidation’ of accommodation for asylum seekers across the State.” However, an organization against Galway called “Residents Against Racism” has appealed to the Minister to review the decision to close the centre.

Brophy Solicitors

11.09.12

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0910/1224323799097.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0911/1224323846858.html

Academic refugees(UK): ‘My hope is to contribute to this country—if I’m given the opportunity.’

In the UK Guardian from August 31, a refugee from Algeria gives a first-person account of her journey to England. She details her early educational success in Algeria, and how she gained the equivalent of a Masters degree, but the political activism of her country resulted in her apartment being ransacked, and her family receiving death threats. She was forced to leave the country in 2003, following her husband, who she described as “a journalist and vocal opponent of the rise of fundamentalism,” and who had left in 2003.

She and her family were relocated to Swansea in Wales, in a disadvantaged area. They suffered through culture shock, racist attacks, and hostilities from their neighbours, but  she said they were forced to remain there with their small children until 2007. She reports that she and her husband have resumed their work and research as best as possible, and her success has inspired news stories, but she says that she thinks often “about the irony of having left Algeria and fled persecution only to have to suffer racism.” She says that “my hope is to contribute to this county – if I'm given the opportunity.”

Brophy Solicitors

03.09.12

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/aug/31/academic-refugees-latefa-guemar