Around 25 years ago....Sep 1997....a group of EU members sat down and wrote up what would be called the Dublin Convention. The countries involved? Denmark, UK, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Greece, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands). About every decade, it gets updated or slightly changed.
The basis of the agreement is this....when some immigrant, refugee, or asylum seeker arrives in the member states....if they don't have a visa, then they will be returned to their original country, or they will be offered a chance to submit paperwork for immigration....ONLY in the country of arrival.
Basically, you are from X-country and hate the place for whatever reason. You find some way (by boat or aircraft) to enter a EU host country with the Dublin Convention in place. You arrive....ask for asylum, and they present the paperwork.
In the process of feeling great that your new country will accept you....you come to two odd realities (you didn't do any homework ahead of time). Your new host country lets you know of a high rate of NOT accepting applications from your country (reasons don't matter). By the words of the Dublin Agreement, that's the end of your game....you can't go to France, or Germany....to restart your whole process on a second attempt.
The second issue in your discover is that some countries offer lousy and marginal benefits. Portugal, Poland and Greece area fairly well known for marginal help for immigrants. So you wake up and realize this, then want to to just disappear to a better country (like Germany, Sweden, UK, or Iceland). By the agreement, you can't do that.....at least until you've become a full up citizen of that country that you applied into.
If you went and asked a hundred Germans about the Dublin Agreement....you might have maybe two folks who know the basic rule. The rest will comment that they've never heard of the agreement.
In recent months, folks in Iceland have gotten all hyped up (mostly by social media and news site) to come out and support such-and-such poor character from Iraq, or Syria, or wherever.....who apparently signed up in some country, and came to realize some disadvantage. They've made their way into Iceland, and sought a new immigration or asylum situation. Well....the authorities hand them the paperwork....review the application, and come to realize they are under the Dublin agreement. They need to finish up the process where they started. So they are attempting to send individuals or families out of Iceland.
The Icelandic social media side is condemning all deportations....while not understanding this Dublin Agreement.
In some ways, it's fake news, and a fair number of the public being drawn into a topic which they understand little about.
How did the Dublin Agreement ever come about? There aren't a lot of details. If you look at the way it's constructed.....countries on the exterior of Europe are the ones who might get stuck with a large number of asylum seekers, while France and Germany are mostly protected by this agreement. Only by cross through Greece and continuing on....never asking for help or attention....doing the same in Hungary, Serbia, and Austria.....then asking for asylum in Germany....do you avoid the Dublin Agreement situation.
Effect in Iceland? This all draws upon political parties and puts the conservative folks into a bind. They are branded as unfair and unable to support the poor young gentlemen or families who've arrived but have already registered in places like Spain or Greece. Asking the naive folks to update or change the Dublin Agreement? Oh my....they'd freak out.
Just one single example of dozens which affect immigration and asylum in Europe, and few understand it enough to chat on the topic.
No comments:
Post a Comment