[EN] BREECHING SPAIN’S FENCE

Posted by Judith Westwood in Uncategorized

Whether fleeing from conflict, persecution or simply looking for a better life, Europe has faced a a flood of immigrants trying to break through its borders. There has been a recent influx in the numbers of Sub-Saharan migrants coming into the Spanish enclave of Melilla – a 50 percent influx from 2013. Similarly to the border control between the United States and Mexico, Spain has constructed several fences to deter immigrants as well as strict border controls. The risks of coming over are high. Many migrants incur injuries along the way either from Moroccan guards beating them or the perils of jumping the fence. Many others fail to get across at all.

[EN] SYRIAN REFUGEES FACE CHILLY RECEPTION IN BULGARIA

Thousands of fleeing Syrians are being held in dilapidated refugee camps while right-wingers demand their expulsion and the authorities build a huge border fence to keep new asylum-seekers out.

Visiting the Voenna Rampa refugee camp, on the outskirts of Sofia, is not for the faint-hearted. The place is overcrowded, there is no hot water at the moment, and medical care is scarcely available for the hundreds of people who are packed into the camp.

They are Syrian refugees, including women and children, who have entered Bulgaria and thus the EU by crossing the Turkish border illegally.

“We live six families to one room, separating out private spaces inside with sheets. Everything around is dirty and we lack fresh water, while the heating is not working properly. This is hard to handle,” said one of the refugees, a young man called Ravan.

[EN] AS AFRICANS SURGE TO EUROPE’S DOOR, SPAIN LOCKS DOWN

Credit Samuel Aranda for The New York Times

By SUZANNE DALEY

MELILLA, Spain — It is easy to pick out the new arrivals at the shelter for immigrants here on this tiny patch of Spain in North Africa. One man limps by on crutches with a plaster cast on his ankle. Another has a bandaged arm in a sling. AbbdolCisse, 19, had stitches on his face.

“The police in Morocco were throwing stones at us, at our heads,” Mr. Cisse said recently, explaining his injuries. “They had metal bars, and they hit our legs while we were climbing.”

Ten years ago Spain spent more than 30 million euros building up the barriers around Melilla and Ceuta, its two enclaves surrounded by Morocco on the northern coast of Africa, which offer the only land borders between the promise of Europe and the despair of Africa. And for a while the investment seemed to work.

[EN] FREEDOM FROM FENCES

© Hamish Gregory / AI 

It is no secret that under the new Australian Government, life for asylum seekers is worse than ever and many are losing hope.

Amnesty caseworkers make sure asylum seekers get the support they need.

Help restore hope by donating to the Refugee Casework Team in 2014.

THE HORRIBLE REALITY FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS