There is more news today about European countries saying ‘no’ to Syrians attempting to get across their borders, and the UNHCR wants a moratorium on the stepped-up border security some countries are putting in place.
UNHCR is greatly concerned over reports of some EU countries placing barriers to entry or forcibly returning asylum-seekers including people who have fled the conflict in Syria. UNHCR is calling, globally as well as in the European Union, for a shift away from border protection to protection of people. If practices to prevent asylum-seekers from accessing territory and procedures are taking place, UNHCR calls on states to cease them immediately. Push-backs and prevention of entry can put asylum-seekers at further risk and expose them to additional trauma.
In BulgariaUNHCR is seeking more information from the authorities on their reported activities at the border to stem the flow of refugees into the country. Media reports say Bulgaria turned back 100 migrants at the border over the weekend and deployed some 1,200 police officers to the border region. Introducing barriers, like fences or other deterrents, may lead people to undertake more dangerous crossings and further place refugees at the mercy of smugglers. [We have written a lot about Bulgaria’s problems here—ed]
UNHCR is also concerned over similar reports of asylum seekers being pushed back from Greece to Turkey.
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In Cyprus, UNHCR has received reports of Syrians arriving irregularly by boat in the northern part of the country and being returned to Turkey following a brief detention.
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UNHCR is calling for a global moratorium on any return of Syrians to neighbouring countries. This would represent a concrete gesture of solidarity with these countries that currently host over 2.2 million Syrian refugees.
Rather than disrupt economically-struggling countries, the UN must build more camps in the Muslim world (hey! how about Saudi Arabia!) for Muslim refugees until the civil war is over! It would be cheaper than permanent resettlement of Syrians all over the world! And, they could stay in their own “culture zones.”
The EU is avoiding dealing with the issue of migration until after elections next spring fearing the wrong moves now would usher in the “right wing” here.
That is the title of yet another story blasting Arab countries for mistreating their fellow Arabs—Palestinians. Our earlier post on the same topic is here.
Arab countries do not “welcome” Palestinians!
Author Sameh Habeeb, an activist and journalist, writing in the Palestine Telegraphis not unexpectedly critical of Israel, but the gist of his report is that Palestinian refugees are treated like c*** in Muslim countries!
Habeeb begins:
Palestinian communities around the world, especially in the Arab states, have suffered forced exile or onward migration time and time again.
Most recently, Palestinian refugees living in Syria have had to flee the fighting in that country, and have fled to many parts of the world including neighbouring Arab countries like Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, Palestinian refugees are not given many of their rights as refugees and this even if they are able to get into the country. Many are denied entry. In some cases whole families are separated across the border because they are Palestinian refugees with a Syrian travel document.
Habeeb then goes on to list all the Muslim countries which mistreat Palestinians.
So much for that Muslim charity the UNHCR was bragging about here in 2009—1400-year-old Islamic tradition of “welcoming” the persecuted—what a joke! And, it isn’t just Palestinians, rich Arab countries like Saudi Arabia take NO refugees.
Sofia’s Banya Bashi mosque where migrants congregate.
Bulgaria is being swamped with refugees, mostly Syrians, coming across the border from Turkey and seeing Bulgaria as their gateway to Europe. Tensions are mounting as locals believe their country is being invaded (most Bulgarians are Eastern Orthodox).
Police in Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia have stepped up security in streets nearby the landmark Banya Bashi mosque after a group of men in their 20s seriously assaulted a man they apparently mistook for a refugee and attempted to batter their way into a building housing refugees.
The victim of the assault, a Bulgarian of Turkish extraction identified in media reports as named Georgi “Metin” Dimitrov (28), remained in hospital on November 10 2013 in serious conditions, in a coma with severe head injuries.
Two men, aged 28 and 29, have been arrested in connection with the assault on “Metin” Dimitrov. Both are said to be from Sofia.
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The assault of “Metin” took place after the group attempted to break into a building where migrants were living. They broke down the gates but the migrants managed to keep them from entering the building. The group moved off, encountering the Bulgarian and setting on him.
Looks like the violence isn’t one-sided:
Bulgaria’s Chief Mufti, spiritual leader of the country’s Muslim community, condemned the assault on Dimitrov, who worked at the Iliyantsi market and at the mosque. The Chief Mufti urged Muslims to remain calm in the face of provocations.
Acts of violence against people, regardless of religion and ethnicity, were unacceptable and deeply objectionable, said the Chief Mufti’s office, which condemned the assault on the Bulgarian man on the night of November 8 as well as the earlier incident in which a Bulgarian shopkeeper was stabbed, allegedly by an Algerian illegal migrant.
Mosque is where the migrants congregate:
Since the significant increase in the number of refugees, many from Syria, coming to Bulgaria, the area near the mosque has become a gathering place for migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
Anti-refugee rallies held, racist hate speech charges brought:
The previous week, anti-refugee and anti-migrant rallies by nationalists VMRO and ultra-nationalists Ataka were held in Sofia and Elhovo. Statements by people involved with the VMRO rally, including the party’s deputy leader, have led prosecutors to open pre-trial proceedings against six people for allegedly using racist hate speech.
The Bulgarian government is planning a border fence to slow the flow from Turkey, but keep in mind, Turkey could also stop the flow on their side of the border if they wanted to!
As we have been reporting recently the tiny, economically poor, country of Bulgaria (on the border with Turkey) has become a gateway to the European Union with 8,000 Syrians arriving in Sofia this year alone.
Putting this “time bomb” story together with a New York Times story from Friday (hat tip: Judy) entitled, Right Wing’s Surge in Europe Has the Establishment Rattledone can readily see why and how the resurgence of the European right wing has the Socialists worried.
From Novinite, here is some of the ‘human time bomb’ story (emphasis mine):
As refugees flock to the country, aid agencies warn other European nations to be better prepared.
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Bangeen and many other refugees in Bulgaria carry a message for Europe’s leaders, who have put off discussing an overhaul of the bloc’s asylum policy until next June and are quietly hoping that the two million Syrian refugees will stay in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
But the evidence in Bulgaria suggests otherwise. As Syria’s war shows no sign of ending, people want a more permanent home than a tent in the desert. Nearly 8,000 men, women and children have arrived in Bulgaria so far this year – up from 2,000 last year. And they are not planning on building their lives here.
“No way, no one will stay here,” says 23-year-old English language student Mazen Mustafa, who is aiming for Germany or Austria. “You see the situation here. It is too bad. If we get our travel documents, we will leave this country.”
So why no debate before June? European Parliament elections will be held in May and the right wing populist parties are gaining strength:
Calls for more humanity from EU governments reached a peak last month, when 330 Somalis and Eritreans drowned off the coast of Italy while trying to reach Europe. A week later, dozens of Syrians died in a similar shipwreck between Malta and Italy. Human rights groups want the EU to provide more legitimate ways for asylum-seekers to reach safe havens without risking their lives.
But with anti-immigrant parties expected to do well in European Parliament elections in May, there is little appetite for such a debate. Governments are instead reinforcing their borders.One reason Syrians are flooding into Bulgaria at a rate of up to 100 a day is because Greece last year completed a fence along much of its border with Turkey. Bulgaria is doing the same soon. This means Syrians fleeing war will have to find another route into Europe, most likely on the dangerous sea passage.
New York Times:Europe’s Tea Party movement with one difference! The European right wing populist parties don’t want to get rid of the welfare state, they simply want to assure that the welfare is not given away to hordes of refugees and illegal migrants from Middle Eastern and African hell holes.
Just as Australia’s recent national election centered on the issue of immigration as the motivating factor for voters, EU elections in May will likely do the same:
All over, established political forces are losing ground to politicians whom they scorn as fear-mongering populists. In France, according to a recent opinion poll, the far-right National Front has become the country’s most popular party. In other countries — Austria, Britain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland and the Netherlands — disruptive upstart groups are on a roll.
This phenomenon alarms not just national leaders but also officials in Brussels who fear that European Parliament elections next May could substantially tip the balance of power toward nationalists and forces intent on halting or reversing integration within the European Union.
Pork meatballs for the children!
The Left might wish for “integration” but it is human nature to defend one’s distinct culture when threatened with annihilation. The NY Times began its article by making a joke about a politician defending a Danish (pork) meatball. They can snicker, but they don’t ‘get it!’
It’s the country class vs. the ruling class in Europe too, continued the NY Times:
In some ways, this is Europe’s Tea Party moment — a grass-roots insurgency fired by resentment against a political class that many Europeans see as out of touch. The main difference, however, is that Europe’s populists want to strengthen, not shrink, government and see the welfare state as an integral part of their national identities.
The snarks at the NY Times can’t resist calling anyone who wishes to defend their right to have their Danish children served pork meatballs “nativists.”
But the soaring fortunes of groups like the Danish People’s Party, which some popularity polls now rank ahead of the Social Democrats, point to a fundamental political shift toward nativist forces fed by a curious mix of right-wing identity politics and left-wing anxieties about the future of the welfare state.
Maybe there is some hope for Europe after all! But, one thing is for sure, the EU can’t wait until June to begin policy discussions. The time bomb is ticking.
This time from The Lancetmedical journal. Story from Bloomberg News via Canada’s National Post:
Polio, the crippling virus driven to the brink of extinction, may return to Europe as regional conflicts undermine a US$10-billion eradication campaign.
Health worker vaccinating child in Afghanistan. AFP
Polio’s re-appearance in Syria last month after a 14 year absence raises the risk that the virus will hitch a ride on unsuspecting refugees fleeing the country and return to areas, including Europe, that have been polio-free for decades, according to a letter published in the The Lancet medical journal Friday.
“Polio is making a comeback,” Martin Eichner, a professor at the University of Tuebingen who co-authored the letter to The Lancet, said Friday. Eichner and a German colleague warned that the vaccine used in the U.S. and Europe offers only partial protection against infection and called for heightened screening of sewage systems near refugee settlements in Turkey and Jordan. Syrian war refugees, moreover, have begun arriving in Western Europe, including Sweden and Germany.
Syria isn’t the only area where poliomyelitis, as the disease is formally known, is rearing its head. It has resurfaced in the Horn of Africa as well as in sewage samples in Israel and Egypt.
Muslim extremists killing vaccinators in Pakistan!
Genetic analysis suggests the virus responsible for the cases in Syria is the same as the one found in Israel and Egypt, and came from Pakistan.
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Twenty-two vaccinators have been murdered in Pakistan since December, and militants in North Waziristan have banned vaccination in the area, he said.
The photo is from this story about Pakistan health workers murdered by Muslim fanatics.
