The Movement of People

The Tragedy In June 2008 alone, 210 people were reported dead or missing at sea in the Strait of Sicily, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. At least 10,000 have died trying to reach Europe's southern shores in the last ten years. (International Centre on Migration Policy Development).

There are migrants from as far away as West Africa at Hal-Far, but most come from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. Most move on as soon as they can. Their aim is to make enough money to get to Italy. Extra border patrols at sea may turn some of them away, but as long as conflict, poverty and, possibly, climate change impel them to move, the migrant flows will continue. Red Cross estimates suggest one in five die during the crossing. More than 27,000 migrants have arrived in the Canaries alone in 2008.

Refugees, Immigration and Population? Causes Famine, Wars, military coups, dictatorships, corruption and maladministration, human rights violations, and ethnic and religious conflicts The need to find a better life

The Scale is Unknown In 1976, there were approximately three million refugees. This number increased to over eight million in By 1992 there were almost 18 million refugees, rising to 20 million in The UNHCR (High Commission for Refugees) estimates that there are millions around the globe who are internally displaced within the borders of their own country: either because they are unable to gain access to safe refuge in another state, or simply do not want to leave their country despite the dangers to their personal safety during ongoing conflict situations.

Food is an issue In the 1990s global poverty fell by 20%, but the number of hungry people rose by 18 million. In 2003, 842 million people did not have enough to eat, a third of them in sub- Saharan Africa, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. Food production has more than kept up with population growth. Hunger and malnutrition killed 10 million people a year, 25,000 a day - one life extinguished every five seconds.

What is a Refugee Article 1 of the UN ‘Refugee Convention’, states that a refugee is someone who has: “...a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

The Myth of the Flood One of the myths of development is that the majority of the world’s refugees are ‘flooding’ into developed countries from the Third World. In fact, only a minority of refugees from developing countries - about 20 per cent of the global total of 20 million - find sanctuary in the developed world. The overriding majority of refugees are, therefore, offered sanctuary in the developing world

How do we treat refugees The asylum procedures of developed countries fail to take into account the trauma and hardship that has forced the majority of refugees to flee their countries of origin. Many refugees have experienced human rights abuses, torture, under-nourishment and the dehumanising lifestyle associated with an all-pervading poverty only to encounter further social degradation and marginalisation in developed countries.

The New World Order In the aftermath of 11 September 2001, there has been increasing suspicion in Western countries directed at immigrants and residents with origins in the Middle- East. In the US, ‘tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have been rounded up, detained and deported’ while in Britain ‘the government rushed through the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act, which allows internment without trial and suspends obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.’ Mass Migration: The Problem of Europe/The Problem of Africa uk/2/hi/europe/ stm

NGO response Nick Hardwick, Chief Executive of the UK Refugee Council: “Detention is the hardest thing to understand. It is fundamentally wrong to detain people without going before a court, without telling them how long they will be detained for, without them even being suspected of anything. For asylum- seekers, being detained is upsetting in itself, but for those who have been through trauma in their home countries, this can bring back very painful memories.”

Websites International Organization for Migration (IOM) United Nations (UN) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Anti-Slavery International British Refugee Council Electronic Immigration Network European Council on Refugees and Exileswww.ecre.org National Immigration Forum