Where they could face “inhuman or degrading treatment” say the UN bullies.
If you are wondering what this is all about, the European Union has this dumb thing called the ‘Dublin Regulation’ which says if ‘asylum seekers’ trek across some poor border country—like Bulgaria, Greece, or Malta—and seek asylum in some other European country then they can be sent back to the poor border country and apply there. You can see how this might deter the migrants who are asylum shopping, but imagine what it does to the poor border country that couldn’t handle the influx in the first place.
Bulgaria’s rightwing Ataka Party is expected to do well in May EU elections.
BERLIN – The United Nations’ refugee agency is urging European countries to hold off returning asylum seekers to Bulgaria, citing problems with access to basic services and with asylum procedures.
Under the “Dublin procedure,” European Union countries return illegal migrants to the first EU country they entered. Bulgaria is on the bloc’s eastern edge and has seen increasing numbers of asylum seekers in recent months, among them people fleeing Syria’s civil war.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees urged other countries Friday to suspend returning migrants to Bulgaria because of risks they could face “inhuman or degrading treatment”; it plans to review the situation in April.
April! More likely Mayafter the EU Parliament elections so they don’t tick-off the rightwing so much that they defeat some of the socialists who now run the EU!
It says Bulgaria has made progress but problems remain with asylum seekers’ access to food and health care, registration delays and risks of arbitrary detention.
You can see that my sympathies are with Bulgaria. For more on Bulgaria’s “refugee crisis,” click here.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (which selects refugees for the US) and the US State Department partnered to bring refugees to Washington, DC earlier this month to lobby Congress (you probably paid their expenses!). To tell you the truth it’s not exactly clear what they told Members of Congress as they traveled around the Hill on “Advocacy Day.” I’m guessing they want more stuff from taxpayers and more of theirpeople to be admitted to the US.
Amnesty lobbyist Frank Sharry, pal of Grover Norquist, told the gathering to “hurry up and take over.”
From Reuters (a submitted opinion piece?) thanks to reader Joanne:
WASHINGTON, DC, United States, December 13 (UNHCR) – Refugees and asylum-seekers from Syria, Sudan and 20 other nations took steps this week in Washington, DC, to ensure their voices become an integral part of United States policy discussion on how best to protect people fleeing violence and persecution around the world.
At the end of the 2013 Refugee Congress, organized by UNHCR on Monday and Tuesday, the 48 delegates each signed a letter calling on the US authorities to “invite refugees and other affected persons to participate meaningfully in discussions” on refugee and asylum policy issues. [I sure hope that Congress also invites the other “stakeholders”—the US taxpayer!—ed]
The letter was handed by the delegates to their representatives in the US Congress during meetings on the “Advocacy Day” that followed the gathering, an action that participants said underscored the drive to push refugee advocacy forward from the conceptual to the practical.
“UNHCR supports the Refugee Congress as a way for refugees and asylum-seekers in the United States to help themselves and to develop a credible voice for advocacy,” said Shelly Pitterman, UNHCR’s regional representative. “I think that this year’s Refugee Congress took an important step in the right direction,” he added.
“You belong here!”
Assistant Secretary of State Richard, in an address to the gathering, said the refugee story of courage and resilience was quintessentially American. “You are not strangers. You belong here!” she stressed.
The congress participants agreed that fortifying that fact of belonging must be central to their future work. This meant not just feeling confident of their status as full-fledged members of American society but of exercising that status in practical ways to advocate for an issue they know better than anyone. [In other words just living and blending in isn’t enough, they must become political activists.—ed]
Then long-time amnesty activist Frank Sharry told the gathering it was time for them to “hurry up and take over.” Now what the heck does that mean? The charming Mr. Sharry made news recently when he teamed up with Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform to say they where cooking up a scheme for REVENGE against Speaker Boehner and any Republicans who did not want to go to conference with the Senate-passed S.744.
In a rousing address on the first day of the congress, Frank Sharry, executive director of the America’s Voice immigration reform advocacy organization, stressed the need for all people in the United States to understand that refugees and asylum-seekers are as much a part of the fabric of American society as any other group in the country.
“My vision of an America that I love and that I will fight for is an America that is welcoming to refugees,” Sharry said, before calling on refugees and asylum-seekers to take the lead in that cause: “Hurry up and take over!” he said.
I continue to be amazed that the federal refugee contractors and the refugee “activists” themselves don’t get it that if the so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill should become law, there will be FEWER jobs for legal refugees because the millions of newly legalized Hispanics, who are increasingly conversant in English, will be first in line for the jobs at places like Marriott hotels (one of the financial backers of the amnesty lobbying push).
An appeal! As of this writing we are only 4 short of 1000 subscribers/followers of RRW. Help us find 4 more before the end of the year so we can reach a new milestone! It may not seem like a large number compared to the big blogs, but because our subject is a narrow one, we are thrilled with the growing number of readers!
Especially the “vulnerable” women who have suffered female genital mutilation.
Countries of origin for the refugees are Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, and you-guessed-it Somalia. Some from Kenya too. What is up with that, Kenya is a safe country, right?
They will be going to Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Australia and the US.
December 13, 2013 (ADDIS ABABA) – The United Nations*** refugee agency said on Friday that it is planning to resettle over 3,800 refugees in Ethiopia to a third country.
This follows record submissions for resettlement at the Tongo, Barahle and Bokolmanyo refugee camps, where resettlement has not not been previously conducted.
“Notable this year was the first emergency resettlement to Sweden of a child-at-risk from Dollo Ado, as well as submissions of several highly vulnerable women and girls out of Barahle and Sherkole camps, including victims of female genital mutilation and other forms of sexual and gender based violence”, said Julia Zajkowski, the resettlement officer at UNHCR’s Ethiopia office.
The plan to resettle 3,800 refugees exceeds the UN refugee agency’s 2013 resettlement target by over 20%.
[….]
The third-country resettlement operation for refugees in Ethiopia particularly for Eritreans was begun by the Ethiopian government in 2006 in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR.
[….]
According to UNHCR report, Ethiopia received over 5,000 new refugees over the last two months, bringing the total number of refugees in the Horn of Africa nation to over 427,000.
The new arrivals came from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.
Currently there are 240,000 Somalis, 81,000 Eritreans and 70,000 South Sudanese in Ethiopia. The remaining over 36,000 are from Kenya, Sudan and other east African countries.
***Just a reminder it is the UN High Commissioner for Refugees choosing who comes to the West.
We’ve been led to believe that the majority of the asylum seekers coming across from Turkey into an overloaded Bulgaria are Syrians, so how the heck did Algerians get there too? Algeria is in Africa after all.
Most migrants are entering Bulgaria through Turkey, so why is Turkey allowing them to cross their country on the way to Western Europe—is it the Hijra?
The UN yells at Bulgaria for xenophobia, for detaining asylum seekers, and for trying to stem the tide of migrants into their country, but why aren’t they telling the Turks to stop the hordes at the Turkish border?
Here is the news about the riots. The Algerians were protesting because they want to be free to roam Bulgaria and perhaps move farther West into Western Europe. Just like those “refugees” in Norway, these aren’t destitute men looking for a roof and a meal, they are criminals!
Emphasis is mine:
Bulgarian police used batons to put down a protest by Algerians at a temporary refugee centre in the town of Lyubimets on November 30, the Interior Ministry in Sofia has confirmed.
Confirmation of the incident came in an Interior Ministry statement on December 7, following local media reports.
The Algerians began a protest over frustration at being kept for a long time at the centre, embarking on a hunger strike and trying to prevent refugees from other countries eating, Interior Ministry officials alleged.
There were clashes when police sought to intervene.
Two migrants had broken arms and another a head injury after the clashes. The three were given medical treatment and were returned to the centre.
In the course of the rebellion, property was damaged, television cables were ripped out, doors broken down, safety grilles pulled off radiators and metal bedsteads used to make barricades to prevent police entering.
According to the Interior Ministry, police had to use force after attempts at negotiations failed and there was “fierce resistance”. The ministry said that two police also were injured.
UNHCR reprimands Bulgaria for trying to save itself from invasion!
“We are alarmed by a recent increase in xenophobic violence such as a reported attack on three asylum seekers, including two Syrian men, in Sofia this past week,” UNHCR said.
“We urge the authorities to take steps to stem the rising tide of xenophobia in Bulgaria. We are concerned by reports the authorities are planning to increase the use of closed facilities for asylum seekers, particularly single men.
“And we urge the authorities to find alternatives to detention. Seeking asylum is not a crime, and the use of detention should be a last resort.”
The deployment of about 1400 police officers along the Turkish border and the construction of a 30km fence there have already reduced the numbers of people able to enter Bulgaria, the statement said.
The UNHCR said that there have been “concerning reports” of Syrians being pushed back at the border in recent weeks – contrary to the principles of international law. It is important that people fleeing for their lives are allowed access to a safe haven and are able to seek international protection, the statement said.
They are coming across from Turkey. Turkey is a safe haven! so why isn’t the UNHCR telling Turkey to keep the refugees?
I think its because the UNHCR and the government of Turkey are perfectly happy flooding Europe with Muslim migrants! It is called al-Hijra and Turkey is in the Caliphate re-building business.
That is the title of an article by Alexander Casella at the Asia Times.
UNHCR Antonio Guterres snuggles with Syrians as UN role is diminishing according to author Casella.
The author contends that the role of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is diminishing when it comes to major refugee movements as Islamic Non-governmental organizations play a larger role. Emphasis below is mine.
GENEVA – As the Syrian crisis is poised to enter into its third year, it is estimated that 25% of the country’s inhabitants have been uprooted, including more than 2 million refugees abroad and about 4.5 million internally displaced people.
With the conflict showing no sign of abating, numbers of those crossing the border to seek refuge in neighboring countries is estimated on average at about 2,000 a day. Conversely, the humanitarian response to the tragedy is proving as chaotic, uncoordinated and politicized as the conflict itself.
During the years of the Cold War, with refugees moving essentially from East to West, the Western bloc, comprising essentially the industrialized democracies had in effect delegated to the UN system and its executive arm, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the task of managing major refugee crisis.
Thus, the responses to both the Afghan refugee emergency and the Vietnamese boat people crisis were essentially managed by UNHCR and funded by the Western bloc. In practice this meant that the cosmetics of helping refugees benefited mostly the UN system rather than the donor governments providing the funding. Ultimately, funds provided by individual governments were laundered through the UN system, thus acquiring a “humanitarian” label.
The erosion of this process started with the Bosnian conflict in 1992. Coming in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, by the end of the conflict in 1995 a new trend had emerged. While still using the UN system as a channel for assistance, donor governments would increasingly provide their aid either bilaterally or through their own national non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
[….]
Looking beyond the numbers, and viewed from a global perspective, the Syrian refuge crisis represents a major turning point in the international management of conflict-driven population displacement.
New “humanitarian order” as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood step into the void:
There are many examples in the Middle East of political movements that gained a foothold among the population through social welfare activities. Such was the case of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood– all of which had generous welfare programs in societies where governments tended to ignore the needs of the poor. Social welfare thus became a political weapon not only in the hands of those who managed it but even more so in those who provided the funding. The Syrian crisis was to highlight this new humanitarian order.
The author first contends that Muslim countries are fueling the conflict in Syria as well as funding the NGOs:
The same pattern has emerged as regards humanitarian assistance. In February 2013, at the Kuwait funding conference, some $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid was pledged by the Gulf states.However, with the exception of Kuwait, which donated $112 million to UNHCR, all these contributions were channeled through Islamic NGOs rather than through the UN system.
Since Western NGOs are so reluctant to play favorites and thus bend over backwards to prove they love the Muslims just as much, is anyone focusing on helping Syrian CHRISTIANS?
