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CNN Live Sunday
Iraqi Refugees in Europe Feel Pressure to Leave
Aired May 04, 2003 - 18:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Refugees from Iraq are feeling the pressure to leave. Many flooded Europe to escape Saddam Hussein's regime, but now that he's gone, are they going to go home?
CNN's senior European political correspondent Robin Oakley takes a look at the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Saddam Hussein is toppled. A shadow has been lifted. But how many of those who have chose exile rather than live under his tyranny will now want to return?
It's a question of growing interest to Europe's politicians, many of them under heavy political pressure to curb the number seeking asylum in their countries.
Iraqis, especially Iraqi Kurds, have figured prominently among those seeking entry, legally or illegally, into Germany and France. Many of them finished up in the Sangatte Camp in northern France, a staging post on the route to Britain, where 20 percent of refugees last year came from Iraq.
Now in the U.K., where Tony Blair's government is struggling to keep its promises to curb asylum-seekers, there's talk of giving Iraqis a cash inducement to go home.
DOMINIC GRIEVE, CONSERVATIVE PARTY SPOKESMAN: That's certainly an option that should be considered. Of course, the government did that in respect to Afghanistan. It was successful. But I don't think one should necessarily equate the situation in Afghanistan with that in Iraq.
OAKLEY: Inducements for Afghan refugees to return home voluntarily were basically a failure. In 2002, 7,000 claimed asylum in Britain, just 39 accepted cash, up to $3,700 per family, to go home.
And now the U.K. government has begun forcibly repatriating those refused asylum.
Refugee campaigners worry that after Saddam's downfall, the government might be pressured into acting too quickly on Iraqis.
ANNA RIEBENBERGER, REFUGEE COUNCIL: What we're concerned about is any talk about forcing people to return while the situation out there is very, very insecure.
OAKLEY (on camera): What worries campaigners is how long the politicians will fight off the pressures to curb the numbers of asylum-seekers by inducement or by compulsion, especially when it's clear that many Iraqis who've paid their life-savings to illegal traffickers to get them to Europe, are motivated less by the politics they left behind than by the economics of the countries where they've sought a new life.
Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 4, 2003 - 18:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Refugees from Iraq are feeling the pressure to leave. Many flooded Europe to escape Saddam Hussein's regime, but now that he's gone, are they going to go home?
CNN's senior European political correspondent Robin Oakley takes a look at the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SR. EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Saddam Hussein is toppled. A shadow has been lifted. But how many of those who have chose exile rather than live under his tyranny will now want to return?
It's a question of growing interest to Europe's politicians, many of them under heavy political pressure to curb the number seeking asylum in their countries.
Iraqis, especially Iraqi Kurds, have figured prominently among those seeking entry, legally or illegally, into Germany and France. Many of them finished up in the Sangatte Camp in northern France, a staging post on the route to Britain, where 20 percent of refugees last year came from Iraq.
Now in the U.K., where Tony Blair's government is struggling to keep its promises to curb asylum-seekers, there's talk of giving Iraqis a cash inducement to go home.
DOMINIC GRIEVE, CONSERVATIVE PARTY SPOKESMAN: That's certainly an option that should be considered. Of course, the government did that in respect to Afghanistan. It was successful. But I don't think one should necessarily equate the situation in Afghanistan with that in Iraq.
OAKLEY: Inducements for Afghan refugees to return home voluntarily were basically a failure. In 2002, 7,000 claimed asylum in Britain, just 39 accepted cash, up to $3,700 per family, to go home.
And now the U.K. government has begun forcibly repatriating those refused asylum.
Refugee campaigners worry that after Saddam's downfall, the government might be pressured into acting too quickly on Iraqis.
ANNA RIEBENBERGER, REFUGEE COUNCIL: What we're concerned about is any talk about forcing people to return while the situation out there is very, very insecure.
OAKLEY (on camera): What worries campaigners is how long the politicians will fight off the pressures to curb the numbers of asylum-seekers by inducement or by compulsion, especially when it's clear that many Iraqis who've paid their life-savings to illegal traffickers to get them to Europe, are motivated less by the politics they left behind than by the economics of the countries where they've sought a new life.
Robin Oakley, CNN, London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
