Some 10,000 people have lost their lives in the war. José Maria Mendiluce, special UNCHR envoy, was quoted in the UK Guardian (August 18, 1992): "If the war does not end, then access sanctuary in a church in Copenhagen. A public campaign made the will continue to be difficult to many opposition parties pass legislation in March 1992 forcing the minority areas; we will not be able to meet the government to allow a number of stateless Palestinians to remain in needs of all the victims over the winter.
the country on an exceptional basis.
We will be forced to try to make priori-
France: On September 25, 1991, work permits were abolished for ty areas and groups.
all asylum seekers arriving in France. The measure has not been
" It's hard to believe we will be able accompanied by any steps towards increasing social or financial beneto save all their lives. Winter could kill
Article 8 of a new bill which provided for the setting up of a transit more people than the whole war. It is unavoidable that many people will be zone at airports and the possibility of administrative detention for up to forced by winter alone to leave Bosnia,
30 days without any intervention by a judicial authority has been declaor die of starvation".
red inconsistent with the French constitution.
Germany: Amendments to the Asylum law reducing the limited time
Refugees predominantly available to lodge an appeal have evoked much criticism from nongovernmental organizations, lawyers, judges and the UNHCR. The young amendments might be unconstitutional. Following the recent wave of
Two out of every three of the displaneo-fascist attacks on refugee hostels, cross-party support for a drastic ced people or refugees are aged under tightening of Germany's historically relatively liberal asylum laws has
20. If they cannot get protection and been strengthened food inside ex-Yugoslavia this winter
Netherlands: Amendments to the Aliens Law have been made.
they will move to other European
Asylum applications which have been declared to be manifestly unfounded can now lead to detention during the asylum period. Failing countries.
Most of the refugees inside the forto turn up for an interview can also lead to detention.
mer Yugoslavia are ethnic Bosnians
Ratification of the Schengen Convention standardizing external border controls for the EC has been criticized in the Dutch parliament both
By the end of July they accounted for on questions of content and the lack of democratic and judicial control.
1,285,000 out of 1,884,500. Almost half of them (681,000) are still in Bos-
Luxembourg: The government has terminated an existing labour nia itself.
agreement with Yugoslavia due to the fear of many more Yugoslavians
But many of them might want to get arriving as a result of the war.
out as soon as there is an opportunity.
Switzerland: As of January 1992, as soon as an asylum seeker
The Guardian (August 8, 1992) gave finds a job, 7% of the salary is deducted on a monthly basis for the puran example of what some of them pose of reimbursing the government for public relief received and as a experience:
deposit for possible deportation costs.
"Mortars crashed into a Sarajevo
Sweden: Immigrant, migrant and refugee organizations called for all hotel filled with refugees last night, setworkers of an immigrant background to stop work for one hour in
February as a protest to show the contribution of immigrants to working ting it ablaze and sending frightened life and to protest against racist attacks and xenophobia. Many Swedipeople screaming into darkened streets.
sh nationals of no immigrant background joined the symbolic strike;
At least two people died. Hours after the bombs exploded on the roof, the underground trains stopped for five minutes and government offices joi-
Hotel Europe, home to 1,500 refugees, ned the protest.
was still burning.
Norway: A demonstration was organized on the occasion of a spee-
"A series of other explosions crackch by racist Mr. Arne Myrdd in November 1991. The 10,000 strong led around Sarajevo. Some reports crowd turned their backs on him when he began his address. The from the scene said that when refugees event was declared a victory for anti-racists by the media. * fled from the burning building, snipers opened fire on them".
Hypocrisy and feigned surprise
According to Jonathan Eyal, director of studies at the Royal United Services
Institute, this refugee crisis "was utterly predictable and is unlikely to be solved unless the mixture of hypocrisy and feigned surprise adopted by many
European governments is quickly abandoned.
"Most knew what to expect for some time: since early 1991 intelligence reports warned about the dangers of a
Yugoslav civil war and forecast a refugee crisis would be one of the most immediate and pressing outcomes...
"Western governments, alarmed by a sharp rise in refugee applications during the last two years, responded in the only way they knew - by tightening border controls, bringing in cumbersome visa requirements and draconian entry conditions" (The Guardian, July 7, 1992).
Of the more than 400,000 refugees who have left the former Yugoslavia, Germany has received almost half. Hungary, Austria and Sweden have taken around 50,000 while Britain has taken around 2,000.
Britain has been criticized abroad and by Members of Parliament from all parties for not taking enough refugees. Religious leaders in the UK (Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus) have joined together in a plea to help the most vulnerable victims of the conflict (The Observer, August 16, 1992).
It has been estimated that it will cost $1bn just to look after the refugees in ex-Yugoslavia this winter. If the conflict escalates this figure will increase.
If war comes to Kosovo, millions could flee into poverty-stricken Albania, the European country least able to withstand the influx. * *Fim Jensen works for the Greater Manchester 1 1 Immigration Aid Unit (UK).
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Cracking the three
International Viewpoint # 234 • September 14, 1992
CHINA
The Chinese Woman quoted a woman worker in Shanghai as saying "the reform should bring workers a sense of security, otherwise, it will not gain the support of the majority of workers". The magazine irons
THE March meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)