Refugee Stories Project - Asylum Procedures

Hedja

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:24:29 +0100

Summary

At 19, Hedja was the oldest of three children accompanying their father to visit relatives in Germany. While abroad the situation in Iran prevented their father’s return and the family were obliged to seek politcal asylum in Spain – the first EU country they had entered. Five years on, Hedja's father and youngest brother have been granted refugee status, but she and another brother have not.

Body

Against all the odds, 24 year old Hedja is managing to complete her studies in dentistry at university in Spain. When she first arrived from Iran with 2 brothers and an ailing father seeking political asylum, she didn't know any Spanish and didn't have any qualifications recognised in Spain. The family waited five years for their asylum application to be processed. Even though Hedja doesn't know whether her temporary leave to stay in Spain will be renewed, she says it's preferable to the insecurity and anxiety of waiting for a decision from one day to the next.

“I live with my family, I am studying. We are less stressed now, after all the bad things that happened to us. They replied to us whether for good or bad, at least they replied.”

Links 1

Reception and Integration

Links 2

ECRE

Links 3

Links 4

Links 5

Habib

editor — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:14:25 +0100

Summary

Habib left his home in Afghanistan at 16, when Taliban activists punished his village by closing down the only school and carrying out routine attacks on the inhabitants. Habib fled after being badly injured in one of the attacks and is now living in Greece.

Body

Habib always intended to make something of his life but the Taliban deprived him of a future in his own country. Ill health, resulting from Taliban beatings, forced Habib to leave Afghanistan in search of medical treatment and better prospects. After living in Iran and Turkey for some 4 years with no prospect of earning enough money to pay for hospital care, he tried to reach Europe. He got across the waters in a makeshift boat that took him as far as Greece, where he has found treatment for his injuries, but not the future he had hoped for.

“My mind is confused. After 7 years away from my country, I called one day to talk to my mother and they told me she had died. There was a war going on where we were living, and there was nothing they could have done, they did not have medicine, they could not go to the hospital, so she died.”

Links 1

Reception and Integration

Links 2

ECRE

Links 3

Links 4

Links 5

Ahmed

editor — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 17:21:14 +0000

Summary

Ahmed arrived in Poland in 1986 to study, but applied for asylum ten years later, following the outbreak of the civil war in Sudan. With no access to legal advice he did not realise he could appeal the rejection of his asylum claim.

Body

Ahmed left Sudan in 1986 to study in Poland. While he was there, the political situation in Sudan changed. The Nuba mountain region, where he comes from, was in the front line between the government forces and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement. He applied for asylum in Poland in 1996, but knew nothing about the procedure and on receiving a negative decision nearly gave up. Five years later, he was granted refugee status, having sought help from an NGO.

Ahmed talks about his experience of claiming asylum in a country in which he had already been living for over ten years. He is conscious that had he not been able to speak Polish, his future could have been very different.

"..based on my experience, sometimes the Polish authorities do not give full information and they count that the asylum seeker or refugee will go to the NGOs and get advice there.. but not everybody knows about NGOs."

Links 1

asylum procedures

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Links 3

Links 4

Links 5

Cecilia

editor — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:27:59 +0000

Summary

Cecilia is 29 and fled Sudan in 1995 after witnessing the murder of her family. She is living without status in Belgium and is terrified of being sent back to Sudan.

Body

Cecilia lives in fear of being sent back to Sudan. She became a refugee when she saw her mother and father murdered in front of her and ran away with no destination in mind. She ended up in Belgium. Terrified of being deported, she claimed asylum but then hid from the authorities. Seven years later she was taken to a detention centre and kept there for four months. She was then released, and is still without any status.

Cecilia talks about being treated like ‘an animal' in a detention centre, and about the bewilderment she feels as a vulnerable person asking for safety in Europe.

"I cannot remember all the things I've gone through these years...if you have a serious wound that has healed long term - you cannot describe what it looks like anymore."

Links 1

ECRE on detention

Links 2

Links 3

Links 4

Links 5

Barry

editor — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:05:08 +0000

Summary

Barry fled political persecution in the Democratic Republic of Congo and claimed asylum in Belgium. When his application was refused he was detained with his wife and small baby.

Body

Barry, 28, arrived in Belgium from the Congo in 2002. With his wife and small baby, he was detained pending repatriation following the refusal of his asylum claim, but subsequently released. He had been politically active in the Congo, and continues this in Belgium, both for those still in the Congo, and for the rights of asylum seekers in Belgium.

Barry talks here with feeling about being locked in prison with his small baby, and of the lack of dignity and culture of disbelief inherent in the asylum system.

"I immediately changed my opinion of Europe...What really scared me was the prescence of new born babies at the centres."

Links 1

ECRE on detention

Links 2

detention in Belgium

Links 3

Links 4

Links 5

Nadezda

editor — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:26:17 +0000

Summary

Nadezda fled political persecution in Ukraine in 1996. She applied for asylum twice in the Czech Republic before finally being granted protection seven years after her original claim.

Body

Nadezda fled the Ukraine in 1996 to seek asylum in the Czech Republic, following threats made to her husband who was the chairman of the local opposition party. She and her husband hoped to find sanctuary in the Czech Republic until the political situation improved and they could return. But the authorities in the Czech Republic considered Ukraine a safe country of origin and their asylum application was turned down.

"They said there were democratic changes and a democratic state. So we believed that and returned."

On their return to Ukraine, Nadezda was accused of attempting to illegally smuggle their second child - born in a Czech refugee camp - into the country and she was imprisoned. The family escaped once more to the Czech Republic in the back of a truck.

Links 1

safe country concept

Links 2

asylum procedures

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Links 5

Mahdi

editor — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:22:05 +0000

Summary

Mahdi was tortured by Iran's secret police and fled to the Netherlands in 2000. His asylum application was rejected and in fear of being sent back to Iran, he fled to Denmark. He has since been returned to the Netherlands and is now living without status.

Body

Mahdi fled Iran after being tortured by the government security services. He reported to the Dutch immigration officials on arrival in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. He had no expectations other than that his story of persecution would receive a fair hearing by the Dutch immigration authorities.

"I was literally destroyed, fresh scar, bad health."

Six years later, Mahdi is without status, having lodged three asylum applications in the Netherlands. Following the failure of his final appeal, Mahdi fled to Denmark to avoid expulsion. There, he applied for asylum and was undergoing psychiatric care when he was returned to the Netherlands under the Dublin Regulation.

Mahdi’s desperate search for protection exposes the risk of fast tracking the applications of vulnerable asylum seekers.

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Fema

Admin — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:31:59 +0100

Summary

Fema arrived in the Netherlands in 1998 with her husband and three children, fleeing persecution in Sudan. The family endured a long asylum procedure and were finally granted refugee status in 2003.

Body

Fema fled Sudan with her husband and three children for a safer life in the Netherlands. For five years she confronted the disbelief of the immigration authorities. During this time the family moved seven times between different reception centres.

Fema talks about the agonising wait for her refugee status and the stress of trying to convince the Dutch authorities of the truth of her story.

"We - my children and my husband - had to flee our country because of security reasons. But what happened here was even worse. We had to wait for five years, we moved five times with our children...they had to leave school. Nobody wanted to believe us."

Links 1

asylum procedures

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reception standards

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Ali

editor — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 17:53:45 +0100

Summary

Ali is a qualified engineer from Chechnya who fled to Poland with his family in 2003. He was granted tolerated status, but feels insecure and alienated from Polish society.

Body

Ali is an engineer from Chechnya, now living in Poland. He became caught up in the Chechen – Russian conflict and escaped with his family in 2003, after he had been detained and interrogated three times by the Russian security services. He has since heard from relatives that rumours are circulating in Chechnya accusing him of betraying his own people and he is fearful of revenge attacks.

Ali cannot return home but does not feel safe or settled in Poland. His application for refugee status was rejected and he was granted tolerated status, leaving him without support while he struggles to overcome discrimination on the labour market.

“I don’t feel safe here, so I would like to leave this country. I don’t care about myself, just about my son.”

Links 1

ECRE Chechen Guidelines

Links 2

NRC report: protection

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NRC report: return

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subsidiary protection

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Memorial report: situation of Chechens in Russian Federation