Immigration - new material (56)
01 March 2002
L'asilo negato (Asylum Denied), Guerra e Pace, March 2002, p.40-42, Moreno Biagioni.
This piece compares the requirement in article 10 of the Italian Constitution to offer the right of asylum to "the foreigner in whose country the effective exercise of the democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Italian Constitution is impeded", with new legislation premised on the assumption that asylum seekers are abusing the right to asylum "to procrastinate or avoid expulsion measures being taken against them for illegal residence", (see Statewatch 11:6). The proposed new law has been criticised by NGOs as well as the UNHCR and Catholic organisations. It allows for the detention of asylum seekers in centres, their expulsion pending appeals to be filed from abroad, and allows the use of the navy to prevent the arrival of "illegal" immigrants (often asylum seekers) by boat. Biagioni looks at the Programma Nazionale Asilo (PNA), a pilot scheme enacted in early 2001 and partly financed by the European Refugee Fund to welcome, assist and protect refugees.
El asilo en crisis (Asylum in crisis), Mugak, no 17, (October-December) 2001.
This issue focuses on the failure by the EU and its member states to protect asylum seekers, betraying the scope of the 1951 Convention on the status of refugees. It highlights the reasoning by which the right to seek asylum is being undermined, with the suppression and restriction of the Convention's guarantees through claims that they are too many, that they are economic migrants, or that if any country offers decent conditions (ie working while the application is under scrutiny) it will be overrun by asylum-seekers. Ruud Lubbers, High Commissioner for Refugees, belittled such claims by reminding a conference of ministers from the 143 signatory states of the Convention that Iran and Pakistan are offering refuge to four million Afghan refugees. Nonetheless, this approach may mean that the introduction of common EU standards for the treatment of asylum seekers will seek out the lowest standards existing in member states' national legislation. Articles look at the European Regulation on the right to asylum, expulsion procedures and the myths regarding refugees from the Spanish media and civil authorities, an Amnesty International report on how the construction of Fortress Europe is undermining international rules on human rights and on refugees, an analysis of how European governments are approving legislation denying refugees access to social security. Available from Pena y Gona 13-1, 2002 San Sebastian, Spain.