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greece..........

PATRAS, GREECE - A squalid squatter camp on the outskirts of this port city stands as a stark symbol of Greece's broken asylum system.

Hundreds of young men and boys from Afghanistan – many of whom say they fled violence – huddle in bare shacks and over open cooking fires, waiting to be smuggled deeper into Europe.

If they're caught, they could face deportation back to Greece under a European Union refugee policy known as Dublin II, which requires asylum seekers to apply in the first country they enter. But conditions are so bad that few want to stay.

"If there were good facilities like in other European countries, everyone would stay here," says Ehsan Khatri, who shares a shack with his cousin and several other men in the camp.

Greece is facing mounting criticism for its treatment of people seeking political asylum. Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the country's system was so flawed that other European countries should no longer return asylum seekers to Greece, raising a serious test to Europe-wide cooperation on refugee issues.

UNHCR accuses Athens of turning down asylum applications on first review regardless of merit and of failing to provide adequate facilities for asylum seekers. Greece says it is overwhelmed and needs more support from other European countries. Since 2001, according to numbers provided by the Greek government to UNHCR, the number of asylum seekers has risen from just under 1,200 people to 20,684.

Indeed, as one of the European Union's easternmost countries, Greece is increasingly a gateway for people fleeing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most pay smugglers to take them by land across Turkey and then by boat to Greece. Many spend time in one of several government-run detention centers for illegal immigrants, where they are fingerprinted, their details entered into an EU-wide system known as FRONTEX, and given deportation orders.

Some choose to stay in Greece, either illegally or by applying for refugee status here. But most plan to continue on to wealthier European countries, like Sweden, known for their more generous asylum policies. They either don't know about the Dublin II rules, or choose to take their chances.

Mr. Khatri, a young man who claims he left Afghanistan after the Taliban threatened him for working as a translator for American troops, knows the rules. But he says he still plans to continue on to England and apply for refugee status there.

and finland has a cap on its refugee intake of around 700 per year, give or take a few.....but when thats up, thats it.....no more allowed

Rq ... breathe in breathe out ...in, out

I really wish people would check out the facts before posting shit like this.. no offence hollandgirl..I am not trying to be nasty but the just do us a favour... before you post potentially damaging threads like this.. check that what you THINK is true is ACTUALLY true

if anyone is so inclined.. check out this

http://www.asrc.org.au/act_now/centrelink_myth.html

am having a nice red at the mo kizz......i just hate ignorance, insecurity and injusticeness, if you havnt already noticed.......


geez i just noticed all the I words...
getting down off my soap-box now!

Exactly.

visa over stayers (the real illegal immigrants) number around 20,000 per year

refugees (no they're not illegal immigrants, cos they aint breaking any law cept for maybe the law of the country they've fleeing) number a few thousand every year

and then theres a difference between boat refugees and plane refugees....have a browse at this......

THE Opposition says changes in government policy are responsible for a surge in boat people wanting to become refugees in Australia.

If so, why has there been a much bigger surge in plane people applying for asylum? Any weakness in the surveillance of our coastline does not influence those who fly into the country. The misnamed Pacific solution, scrapped by the Rudd Government, never applied to them. Nor, except for a tiny number, did the now abolished temporary protection visas.

The latest report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says asylum applications in Australia increased by 19 per cent last year, from 3980 to 4750. How many came by boat? Actually, 179 or fewer than 4 per cent.

This year the number of boat people is already higher, at 221. But it still is tiny compared with those coming by air. And total refugee flows to Australia are much smaller than those experienced by other countries.

The UNHCR statistics show the Australian increase is part of a global trend. Refugee numbers started rising again in 2007 and last year total asylum applications in industrialised countries went up by 12 per cent. The increase for Australia of 19 per cent was above the average but much smaller than Finland's 181 per cent.

There is no mystery about the reason for the increase. The world is becoming less safe. Richard Towle, UNHCR regional representative for Australia, says: "The places traditionally looked to for refuge such as Pakistan are becoming increasingly unstable and people quite rapidly are having to look elsewhere."

The debate on refugees in Australia is stuck in a time warp. Why are Liberals still talking up the threat of a few boatloads of people wanting to settle in Australia? Presumably because that is how they were conditioned by John Howard and Philip Ruddock in the wake of September 11. Perhaps there is a more venal purpose as well, such as whipping up xenophobia.

Certainly, inconvenient facts are not allowed to stand in the way. Every person who arrived by boat during the boom years a decade ago was checked by ASIO and not one was found to be a security risk, as though terrorists would come in leaky boats anyway. Many fled war in Iraq and Afghanistan; wars in which Australia joined against their persecutors and then turned around and punished the victims.

Ninety per cent of those who came by boat during that period were assessed as refugees, on the basis that they would face the real prospect of death or persecution if they returned home. That compares with an average of fewer than half of those who arrive by air. The first thought of most people who risk their lives on the high seas is not that Australia may be a soft touch but that they they fear for their lives. Some are exploited by people smugglers but some also owe their lives to them.

The real refugees cross the border into Pakistan. They then apply for asylum at the Australian high commission in Islamabad. They are the REAL refugees... and there are a lot of them.

The people who turn up in boats are illegal immigrants, not genuine refugees. They have bunny hopped through a few countries and then sailed from Indonesia to Australia. They usually arrive on our shores with absolutely no documentation so verifying their identities isn't easy... and that's probably what they want. They are the kind of people who in all likelihood wouldn't be approved as migrants so they just turn up on a boat waving the asylum flag.

Blow them out of the water... and concentrate our efforts on those who apply BEFORE coming here.

bit to harsh


damn it

now i have to agree with you Bourbs .....

refugee has to be experiencing something to be running away not just arriving illegally in another country. any other country wouldnt deal with them but just send them back...

Asylum Seekers
An asylum seeker is a person who has left their country of origin, has applied for recognition as a refugee in another country, and is awaiting a decision on their application.

refugee
Refugees are forced to leave their countries because they have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution. Refugees run away. They often do not know where they will end up. Refugees rarely have the chance to make plans for their departure such as packing their personal belongings or saying farewell to loved ones. Many refugees have experienced severe trauma or have been tortured.

Illegal Immigrant
Illegal immigrants are people who enter a country without meeting legal requirements for entry, or residence. On the other hand, refugees often arrive with ‘barest necessities’ and without personal documents. Often governments refuse to issue passports to known political dissidents or imprison them if they apply. Refugees may not be able to obtain the necessary documents when trying to escape and may have no choice but to resort to illegal means of escape. Therefore although the only means of escape for some may be illegal entry and/or the use of false documentation, if the person has a well-founded fear of persecution they should be viewed as a refugee and not labeled an 'illegal immigrant'.

refer to differing definitions above post^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

refer to the mexican border

apparently it is a sight to be seen

poverty and corruption

are they landing here in boat loads??

we dont agree for this long on anything


have you taken some sweetening pills tonight

I thought you were taking some pills.

Don't worry... I'm sure it wont last.

nothing much ever does these days


just thought you may have been getting some this usually mellows hardcases

keep it up whatever your doing

new model is nice