By Kassim Mohammed
analysis
In this second installment of the 44-day investigation by Star correspondent Kassim Mohammed, find out how Somali asylum seekers, denied refugee status in European countries, are involved in criminal syndicates to acquire the all important document
Somalia is mired in a seemingly unending armed conflict between the Transitional Federal Government and Al Shabaab fighters. Mortar and rocket fire that the two warring factions exchange lead to casualties and the common man bears the brunt.
Taking note of this grim reality, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued guidelines requesting host countries not to return any Somali seeking asylum to Southern and Central Somalia.
The UNHCR has issued repeated warnings about the situation in Somalia and on May 11 last year, the agency issued guidelines aimed at strengthening international protection for people from this troubled nation.
Among the recommendations in these guidelines is for countries experiencing large numbers of people seeking asylum to grant protection to people from southern and central Somalia on a group basis, and to extend complementary forms of international protection where refugee status is not granted.
Under the European Union's Dublin II regulations, the country where a person first entered the EU is generally held responsible for examining that person's asylum claim.
This it appears is great on paper. Some of the Somali refugees who hear of the fate of their countrymen living on the streets opt out of the asylum process.
Passport syndicates
Ali Mohamed, 25, came to Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from Italy in April and decided not identify himself to authorities but use unorthodox means to get his way to the United Kingdom. "I heard that the Netherlands is not a good place to seek asylum. I don't want to live on the streets. I will try my luck in London," Ali said.
Ali was informed of Dutch passports for sale in Den Haag (The Hague). In the presence of the Star reporter, Ali was told by an Ethiopian man in the Dutch administrative capital to bring a passport size photograph to identify a passport that resembles him. Within five days, Ali managed to pocket a Dutch passport for 1,000 Euros (Sh126,000). "I called several of my relatives in Canada and Norway who each sent me some money and I managed to raise the amount. I know it's a bad thing but I am not planning to harm anyone, I just want a better life since my home country is uninhabitable," Ali remarks while keenly looking at the photo attached to the passport.
Ali will now have to send back the passport after his arrival in his final destination- London. He went through Callais, France, and crossed the border into the United Kingdom. Immigration officials on both sides of the border didn't notice any abnormally.
Keeping his promise to inform the Star on his progress of seeking asylum, Ali called after 17 days. "I am so happy. I have been accepted as a refugee here in the UK and all is well. I have also managed to send back the passport to the person who sold it to me. I hope it reaches him safely."
The Ethiopian man who only identified himself as Elamanyahu for fear of arrest by Dutch authorities said he has been involved in this business for many years. He has a resident permit.
According to Elamanyahu, a passport goes for between 300 Euros (Sh37,800) to 3,000 Euros (Sh378,000). The UK and Canadian passports are the most expensive - 3,000 Euros - followed by other Euro zone passports.
"A fake one will cost you as less as 300 dollars (Sh37,800) while a genuine European passport goes for between 1,000 to 3,000 Euros (Sh136,000 to Sh378,000) depending on the country. The genuine one like the one Mohamed was lucky to receive must be returned to the owner."
It's a risky business, says Elamanyahu, and most of the clients know this. They simply want to get out of the mess they are in. "On my part, I source for passports from other migrants who have been granted passports in Europe or any other western country and the owner gets 50 per cent of the money while the rest is mine." Ali is now in the UK under a different name and feels a heavy weight has been lifted off his weak shoulders.
The Netherlands is home to at least 27,000 Somalis who have fled the violence in their homeland. Most of them feel safe and welcome in the Netherlands.
The Star reporter managed to speak with 30 Somalis in different areas in the Netherlands who have been granted refugee status. Almost all said they are grateful to the Dutch government and its people. Most are, however, worried of the instability in their home country and hinted they will go back if peace is realised in the horn of Africa nation.
Farimos Maalim of Karti Foundation in Eindhoven, an NGO that helps fight for the rights of asylum seekers, says peace in Somalia is the only way to end the plight of asylum seekers. "I met another Somali refugee the other day who told me 96 of them left Sudan, only 12 made to the border of Libya and the rest died on the way due to starvation and thirst. Out of the 12 that came to Libya, six were women and were forcefully taken by Libyan men who hinted they will marry them. Out of the six that remained two men died in Libya and only four managed to cross the sea to Italy. He came to Holland and the other three are still in Italy, so can you imagine all those problems?"
Hussein M. Ahmed is a Somali who entered the Netherlands in 1991 and is now the director of Federatie Somalische Associaties Nederland (FSAN), an umbrella organisation of 52 NGOs that deal with issues that pertain to the interest of Somalis. He says the organization is working with the government to ensure a better asylum process. "Somalis are suffering in all spheres... there's nothing we gave this government to return to us but we are trying to lobby the government to change things and take care of the Somalis. Hopefully that will bear fruit."
Efforts to reform and harmonise asylum procedures across the EU are yet to be streamlined. Studies by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in March 2010 and the European Commission in September found significant differences and shortcomings in the way asylum claims are handled across the EU.
Jan Hofdijk is a Dutch lawyer based at The Hague. He has specialized in immigration issues for the last 30 years. Hofdijk was the lawyer of the controversial Somali author/anti-Islamist Ayan Hirsi when she entered the Netherlands in 1992.
Hofdijk notes that Dutch rules are too severe and are unfriendly to migrants. According to Hofdijk, the interviewing officials are very rude to migrants. "I am now representing a girl from Burundi who is 12 years old but they treat her like she's an adult. They shouted at her that she's lying and I try to stop her from being returned to Burundi because that's a dangerous place for a girl like her... in general the cases are hard to win. You lose all."
Hofdijk says the government is afraid of more people coming to The Netherlands and that no-one from the Government is willing to help these refugees who are abandoned to live on the streets.
According to Human rights Watch report of 2010, new rules in July extended the 48-hour accelerated asylum procedure to eight days while making it the default procedure, despite domestic and international criticism that eight days are insufficient for a proper assessment, particularly in complex cases and those involving vulnerable groups.
According to Human Rights Watch, in September last year, under a new policy announced in July, the Dutch government deported to Mogadishu a Somali who had been refused asylum, despite UNHCR guidelines advising against all returns to south-central Somalia.
Whatever the case, most of these Somalis who fled their homes thinking the Netherlands and Italy and other European countries were paved with gold now say they are frustrated and depressed. It has turned out to be a prison rather than paradise.
Source: allAfrica.com
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