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Newszine
17 January Februay March 2000 |
"Sans Papiers"
 There
are - according to estimates by the UN - around 50 million people
worldwide living without valid residence status. They are called "undocumented
people", “Sans Papiers” "irregulars", "clandestine",
"furtive" or, in Government racist lingo, "illegals".
To live “without papers” means to have no protection or
rights in interactions with Governments, state authorities, employers
and landlords/ladies, but also in case of illness, accidents or assault.
It means to live in constant fear of being discovered, because this
would lead to punishment, internment or immediate deportation.
In every European country almost every form of immigration is now
being systematically illegalised and immigration laws synchronised.
From Schengen and Amsterdam to Tampere - barely one meeting of Heads
of State or of government officials does not, among other things,
have as its aim yet another tightening of asylum or immigration regulations.
Hundreds of thousands of people throughout Europe live without residence
status, documents, or work permits. And the consequences of this go
beyond having no access to citizens' and social rights. "It is
like being constantly on the run."
Children born in Europe of migrants without papers are subject to
the same draconian laws imposed on their parents.
Even migrants who have been living in European countries legally for
several years do not have any guarantee that their residence permit
will not be suddenly withdrawn.
In 1989 the “fall” of the Berlin Wall gave rise to a migration
movement from Eastern to Western Europe against which the Ministers
of Home Affairs of the EU recommended stricter measures of control
at their conference in Budapest in 1993.
The “Fall” also lead to a change in Western States’
attitudes. Before the “Fall”, anyone from Eastern Europe
who could get into Western Europe was welcomed. Now the wall has gone,
people from Eastern Europe are shunned.
They have joined the Africans, Asians and West Indians welcomed into
Europe after the Second World War to rebuild a devastated infrastructure
and kick start a new economy. But now are no longer wanted. |
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