Simple resolution: If Britain does not want any more Afghan asylum seekers then pull out the troops!
October 4th, 2009This is my first post on Mideast Youth; I signed up a while back but sadly did not have/put in the time needed to write a story. I am a journalism student at a London University, born and raised in Denmark but originally Somali.
It’s an exciting but nerve wracking new experience to have started university being in a new environment with new faces. Last week, Monday I attended my first journalism lecture. The lecture hall was just how I had imagined it; a huge auditorium, full of students and budding journalists sitting on endless rows. The module ‘Questioning Citizenship’ sounded very appealing it involved politics, social justice and human rights. There was a moment in that lecture hall when my heart began to race, and I could feel myself blushing. I started to feel uncomfortable, and wearier of the other students around me. I had to speak up; I had to ask for the microphone.
The question on the oversized board in front of us all provoked many personal feelings around a very sensitive issue: Immigration and Afghanistan. We were asked whether the tragedy of the refugee camp in Calais involving Afghan immigrants now meant that the British government should change the law surrounding the number of immigrants that are allowed to enter U.K borders. Many students expressed their resentment to immigration, saying that Britain was full; and these immigrants would take our jobs, not integrate in society etc. But my take was that these people were not just Britain obsessed immigrants, these people were traumatized victims of war; prisoners of war.
Even though I decided to put my hand up and give my opinion on the matter, I still had many more things to say. I have therefore decided to write an article on it from my perspective.
Hope you enjoy reading!
Afghanistan has become one of the most popular countries to appear in the news since its invasion in 2001. It has now become normal to see Afghanistan mentioned in the news day in, day out. We probably do not even realise that we are constantly bombarded by images of war, bloodshed and disaster.
Like many people I have never been to Afghanistan and I have never met an Afghan, but the pictures that I see in newspapers cannot express the affection I have for these poor people, and my resentment towards this war, reason being; the real prisoners of war are the civilians. The people of a country, which is being invaded by the most powerful country in the world and its allies, will bare the brunt of it all. If the country Afghanistan cannot cope with the bombs, missiles and explosions, then consider its people.
‘The Jungle’ named Europe’s most notorious refugee camp by the BBC, is home to thousands of homeless Afghan immigrants who fled their war torn country with the hope of escaping the trauma in which many have faced, by rebuilding new lives abroad. It has been reported that half of the immigrants at the camp are women and children.
Last week the French police stormed the ‘Jungle’ in an attempt to clear the camp. There have been several images in the British newspapers with bulldozers moving in to destroy it. Many Afghans alongside French human rights activists have protested against the government, and stated that this camp is nothing but a gathering of homeless refugees who are just trying to live in a forest (hence the name Jungle), since they have no where else to go.
The French government however have been eager to close down the camp for many years, and claim that an alarming number of Afghans are making their way to the British border. Yet British Home Secretary Alan Johnson has denied claims that Britain will house people from the camp. Disturbingly, Johnson said that he was ‘delighted’ that the camp has been closed down.
Afghanistan has been topped as one of the most dangerous places in the world. There has been a lot of unrest in the country with civilians, militia and troops amongst the dead and injured. Last week alone 30 civilians were killed in bus blast; the Kandahar provincial police chief announced nine women and seven children were amongst the dead. No doubt that the people are suffering, schools and hospitals have been destroyed. Amidst the fighting between the troops and the Taliban are the bewildered Afghans; this war has produced orphans, widows and handicaps. If there were an opportunity to escape this trauma, would one not take it? Is asylum not a human right? I believe that all the countries, which are invading Afghanistan, be it Britain or Poland, should open their borders to the civilians of Afghanistan. I am not saying that there has always been peace in Afghanistan, but if a country decides to enter another country by force, invade it, kill its people, and steal its resources – then surely the doors should be wide open to its civilians?
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I could not agree more with the view that you take on this issue. I think it is essential, as you put it, that if these countries who have invaded Afghanistan for x reason do not care about the way they are destroying and depriving the country to self-sustain itself, then at least think about its inhabitants who are paying the price of this war.
Salaam Aleikum Sister, I thought your article was very well written, and that your ideas are very thorough. I agree with the fact that the immigrants should be allowed a home,but what I mostly agree with is the point you stated in your title. “Simple resolution: If Britain does not want any more Afghan asylum seekers then pull out the troops!” instead of tearing out their country and ‘creating immigrants’ which they don’t want to adopt later… the easy resolution would be to leave Afghanistan alone and let it’s inhabitants rebuild their lives and souls in their home. As you stated Afghanistan has not always known peace… when has it? It seems the world is turned against this poor country..? subhanallah! But what we mustn’t forget is that if Allah wanted there to be peace in this land… it would be peaceful. (Allahu Alim) I am in NO WAY against this country or it’s people,and I am not informed enough to be discussing it, but everything happens for a reason. I am personally completely against the idea that anyone should invade a country, obviously! But I haven’t studied Afghanistan or it’s nation to be able to discuss the impact of their history on their future and on their actual state. I will just add inshallah, that Allah rewards a people with what they deserve, and Allah will not change the state of a people before they change themselves. On this I will leave you, and inshallah see you in the prayer room at uni for some more debating. May the Peace and Blessings of The Lord be upon you, and may He reward you for your efforts in this life.
Assalaam Alaikum warahmatullahi warbarakatu!! Masha’Allah i really enjoyed reading your article…Joanna sent me the link for it…..Masha’Allah keep up the good work and may Allah swt help us and our brothers and sisters facing the brutality of this war and make them die shaheed AMEEN! xxx- btw it’s Rosezanna from your journalism class LOL!!
Dear Marian,
just read your article and I have to admit I am a little annoyed.
OK, as you wrote it as an opinion piece. You saw the camp removal on TV or read about it and you felt sad about it. I did the same. But from an aspiring journalist student I would have expected a little more balance and facts about the situation.
BTW, that camp has turned into a dangerous place over time and needed to be removed again.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3246036/Riot-police-clear-Calais-migrant-camps.html
Here are my questions:
Did you ever wonder why there are mostly young guys in that camp?
(I would have expected them the join the afghan police force in the first place.)
Did you ever wonder, why these guys flee to Europa instead to neighbouring countries?
Did you ever wonder, why these guys never sought asylum in France or at
their first port of entry into the Schengen area?
Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement
Do you ever wondered, why some guys and their family at home payed a huge amount of
money to get into England, instead of setting up a business at home?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8268028.stm
Afghanistan is about three times as big as England, there are fightings in some places
but most areas are at peace. But they don’t go there. So why England? Because England had been extremely liberal to refugees/immigrants from overseas in the past and there are a lot of family ties now.
In my opinion these guys are immigrants, not asylum seekers who flee from a wartorn country
in the first place.
If you interested in migration and refugee problems, please interview some people
who are knowledgeable about it.
Interview some immigration officials from UK about the situation.
Talk to some asylum seeker, who came to the UK some 5 to 10 years ago, and ask them
how they are doing and if/when they want to return to their home country.
(Dreams change over time, do they?)
Ask the same questions to someone who has just been granted asylum,
and then ask the questions to an immigrant who came to UK to make a living here.
(An asylum seeker is entitled to benefits, an immigrant is not.)
Talk to some british people what they think about it.
Love to read your next article here at mideastyouth.
Dietrich
I, like Dietrich, was disappointed in reading this article.
First off, a journalism student should clearly define in her writings the differences between an immigrant, aslyee, and refugee.
Asylum is a human right, but it is clear within international law that each soverign conutry has the right to define their own laws governing who can and should be granted asylum or refugee status – including what actually constitutes asylum and limits on numbers of people granted refugee benefits (and yes, it is a benefit. Here in the US, refugees who are located through the UN get 6 full months of pay but are not required to work, 1 full year of free health benefits, and virtually unlimited food stamps). Individuals who move to the US and then claim asylum on their own accord are not granted these same benfits, nor are immigrants. To be eligible for asylum in the US, an applicant must demonstrate that he was a refugee, defined as a person “unable or unwilling to return to his home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, and membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Persecution may include “detention, arrest, interrogation, prosecution, imprisonment, illegal searches, confiscation of property, surveillance, beatings, torture, behavior that threatens same, and non-life threatening behavior such as torture and economic deprivation if the resulting conditions are sufficiently severe.” Not all Afghans, simply by being from a war-torn country, fit this definition.
The UNHCR defines refugee and aslyee this way: “Refugees are people who have fled their homes and crossed an international border to escape persecution or conflict. Asylum-seekers are people who have made a claim to be recognized as refugees and are waiting for that claim to be accepted or rejected.” http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c20.html. Hence, the “accepted or rejected” part comes down to the individual laws of the country in which they applied for asylum.
If every citizen from every war-torn nation in the world had an inherent “human right” to go to countries where they may be better off, those countries would soon collapse under that heavy burden and then no one would have anywhere to go. This is exactly why countries have numerical limits on immigrants, refugees, and asylees and definitions on what constitutes each category under such legal definitions.
Instead of addressing the violence and fixing the problems, your suggestion is simply to move everyone elsewhere. By this logic, most of the ME and Africa would be simply moved….as if changing their geographical location would fix all the problems of the region. !?!?!?!? If you expect everyone to leave, what exactly is your suggestion for what to do with the areas left that would be – theorhetically – void of people? Or, an even worse alternative, is that the only people left in such regions would be those who chose not to try for a better life elsewhere. Do you really think the fighting for control would stop among those groups left?
It is admirable to want to help immigrants and asylees and aid in their journey to a better life. I agree with your utopic vision of everyone being able to have access to the same opportunities that people in the UK or US have. However, your suggestion of allowing every Afghan citizen access to the US, Poland, UK, ect is simply not logical, rational, or really the best solution for those citizens or the world.
You need to weigh – and prove, in order to support your opinion – why those refugees in Afghanistan are more qualified than refugees from, for example, Sudan. Or Somolia. Or the DRC. All I got from your article was that Afghanistan refugees should be considered more because certain countries have a direct stake in making their country worse…well, that argument could also be made for all 3 of the coutnries I just mentioned.
Also, it is worth noting the amount of people who did flee Afghanistan but then came back….which significantly weakens your argument According to the UNHCR in 2008, there has been A TWENTY PERCENT INCREASE in the population of Afghanistan due to refugees returning home. Obviously they made the calculated decision to return, evaluating the risk and opportunities in their home country vs. their new country….and in fact, Afghanistan’s repatriation program is the largest repatriation program the UN has had recently: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/11/03/un-afghanistan.html. Obviously a lot of Afghans don’t relaly think Afghanistan is all that terrible. The repatriation rates on places like Somalia, DRC, and Sudan are MUCH MUCH less.
Also, before making such suggestions, maybe you should examine some basic statistics. The budget for the UNHCR is at a record high of $2 billion, and the number of refugees worldwide has actually decreased since 2007: http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c11.html. Who do you think pays the UNHCR’s budget? You can probably guess, the vast majority is paid by the UN dues from countries like the US, UK, ect….Australia is actually the country who by straight numbers takes in the most refugees. So, those very countries who have troops in Afghanistan already DO try to give back the most in helping those very people who countries are ravaged by conflict, and in a much more practical and feasible way than your suggestion.
asylum seekers suffer from bad treatment and neglection of human rights for the benifet of international poltices, the afghan are the worst most of them under age and live for a long period after they apply for asylum under temmprory family supervsion ,they go to school ,adopt to new life then aske to return to afghanistan ,to villages and bombs ,regardless of there situation
Salaam aleikum
I read all these comments, and have learned a lot! I thought I would let you all know that thanks to you (Maryan) for having written this you made me think about a lot about different world issues, and thanks to all the comments I was able to get a wider idea of the situation and learn a few facts.
May God bless all of you for your time and effort. Peace
Asalamu ‘alaikum thank you for your positive and negative feedback!
Dietrich and Jessica thank you both for giving me the other side of the story, which really as a new journalism student I already should be doing. There’s a lot of things that I didnt consider before I wrote this. I didnt put in time to examine WHY the camp was closing down, and the correct terms to use regarding these Afghans. However I didnt intend to make this a detailed piece of writing, and to argue for both sides; I wrote this very quickly after feeling that I did not express everything that I wanted to say in that lecture hall. When I first saw the lengths of the comments I did feel a bit overwhelmed but there are interesting points that I have not known about or mentioned.
This is my first roughly written collection of thoughts on an issue which I have posted online, but taking onboard the feedback, I am sure that my articles will not be so dissapointing or annoying in the future.
I WILL COME BACK STRONGER AND BETTER! (…inshaAllah) .
Peace!
MashaAllah sister! this last comment shows how determined you are and how good your intentions are. I am looking forward to your future work, InshaAllah. Take care, Salaam =)
Marian, your article wasn’t at all annoying! after all, none of us would have read it through to the end if it were.
looking forward to reading the next one…
Marian,
that is the spirit. You will doing great….
Great article.
British colonial attitudes are still alive everywhere. From propping vicious dictators in Muslim countries the likes of Husni Mubarak, arming tyrannical blood thirsty warlords (as was the case in Somalia) plundering the resources and wealth of other nations, than hypocritically complain when those very same people sough refuge from those very same tyrants whom they empowered and continue to fund.
If the British and her colonial partners left the Muslims to govern themselves can you imagine the catastrophic consequences and ramification this would have? Remember the 1973 Energy crisis imposed by King Faisal when he turned of the oil taps to the west? and how as a result he was assassinated?
You want the immigrants to go back? no problem, leave them to run their own affairs.
well said Dawud! love your comment! mashaALLAH. peace