Countries around the world are struggling with one issue or another involving refugees—here are 4 stories just this morning.
Canadians are seriously debating to what degree immigrants to Canada should be required to learn either English or French and to become knowledgeable and presumably accepting of Canadian Culture.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has been raising eyebrows with his public musings about rewriting the rules of citizenship, by tweaking the test new citizens take. He asks ethnic audiences whether we are all on the same wavelength, or even speak the same (official) language, when it comes to citizenship.
“We want to make sure that people have a basic knowledge of our political institutions, our democratic traditions, our values, what some people call civic literacy,” Kenney said recently.
Japan and South Korea are continuing to be lobbied by the United Nations to take more refugees and asylees.
TOKYO, Japan, May 18 (UNHCR) – UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller has applauded Japan’s expanding hospitality towards refugees and called on South Korea to become a leading asylum country during a visit to the two Asian countries last week.
[….]
The Assistant High Commissioner said Japan has a refugee protection system in place, but suggested the country consider improving reception and assistance for
asylum seekers, as well as better integration of refugees.
[….]
Earlier last week, on her first official visit to South Korea for UNHCR, Feller called for more support from both government authorities and the Korean public to become a leading asylum country in the region.
In Denmark, nearly 300 Iraqis who have been ordered deported are staging a protest in a church.
Denmark rejects calls to re-examine the cases of Iraqi asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and who are staging a sit-in in a Copenhagen church.
Afghan refugees escaped custody in Indonesia after they and some Iraqis were arrested trying to get to Australia.
Head of Malang Immigration Office, Soebroto said on Tuesday (19/5) the refugees were part of the 18 caught early on Sunday (17/5) in Probolinggo on their way to Bali. Eleven among the immigrants were from Afghanistan and the other seven were from Iraq.
[….]
Malang Immigration office said the Afghan refugees entered Indonesia from Malaysia after passing through Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Singapore. No report on where the Iraqi refugees joined the Afghans on their way to Australia through Bali.
And so on and so forth, the list goes on…