The Sydney Morning Herald Women set to benefit as Europe broadens definition of refugee Date: 14/09/2001 By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels Women fleeing "gender discrimination" will be able to claim political asylum in European Union member states under rules set out by Brussels. The move is part of a plan by the European Commission to broaden refugee status to cover victims of cultural persecution, going beyond the 1951 Geneva Convention, which largely restricts asylum to those escaping repressive states. The text issued on Wednesday cites the example of female circumcision - widely practised in Africa and the Middle East - as the sort of persecution that ought to be covered. Britain already allows some asylum claims from people fleeing "non-state" persecution, such as victims of Islamic extremists in Algeria or people escaping the anarchy in Somalia. The new legally binding Brussels directive defines a refugee as someone who has a "well-founded fear" of being persecuted on grounds of "race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group and political opinion". France and Germany have a closed-door policy towards the victims of "non-state" persecution, so the proposal would amount to a significant loosening of their asylum policies when there is already a populist backlash against refugees. Either state could veto the measure, which requires unanimous support from EU ministers. Britain's Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, and his French counterpart were due to meet to try to resolve tensions between Britain and France over illegal immigration. The two countries have become increasingly at odds on the issue since 1999, when a Red Cross refugee centre was opened at Sangatte, only a couple of kilometres from the Channel Tunnel entrance. Since then numbers of immigrants trying to cross illegally into Britain through the nearby Eurotunnel terminal has risen to 6,500 a month, and both sides have blamed each other for the problem. Britain has complained that France is not doing enough to protect the Eurotunnel terminal and that the Sangatte centre encourages people-smuggling gangs to establish themselves in the area. Meanwhile, France has pointed an accusing finger at what it labels Britain's lax asylum laws, saying that they prove an irresistible magnet to refugees. At Wednesday's meeting Mr Blunkett was expected to make it clear that the opening of other refugee centres in France would be highly unpalatable to Britain if Sangatte remained open. The French Government says that Sangatte is not the cause but the result of Britain's attractiveness to immigrants. France was expected to point to Britain's refusal to introduce identity cards as well as the presence of established communities of illegal immigrants as the real root of the refugee problem. The Telegraph, London This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. http://www.smh.com.au/news/0109/14/text/world105.html ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
