Istanbul/
The civilians are still the victims of the wars and civil conflicts around the globe. In their quest to build up a new life for themselves, the civilians that run away from such conflicts try a set of different means of conveyance on their way to Europe and to other developed countries such as USA and Canada. Most of them however perish before they reach the destination. The refugees that prefer the seaway encountered great disasters in 2014.
Dedicated for the protection asylum seekers' and refugees' rights, meeting their basic needs such as boarding and provisions, children's educational life and adaptation to the society they are living in, solving language and communication problems of refugees; İMKANDER, an association of human rights and humanitarian aid, prepared a "report on the refugees' death cases", calling our attention to striking details of those that set sail in a hope for the better.
Thousands Sail for Death in Mediterranean and Aegean Sea
As the report reveals, 207 thousand immigrants attempted to reach the European coasts by sea from war territories, primarily from the Middle East countries such as Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and North Africa. The Frontex reports that only 182.1 of the immigrants managed to reach the coasts safe and sound. More interestingly, 3 thousand 419 of them died on their way as it appears from the official data.
Highlighting that the death cases are even more than what is officially reported, the report emphasises that the actual number of death cases will never be known precisely as immigrants are not registered at the time of sail. There are thousands of lost passengers apart from the identifiable immigrants. Considering that it is very unlikely for them to reach the European coasts, it is considered that over 20 thousand lost passengers might have been dead.
What lies beneath the deaths is human trafficking
Underlining that the boats that transport the refugees in return for prohibitively high amounts of money allow in way too many passengers above the capacity; the report also emphasises that the asylum-seekers' demand for a better life has led to an illegal organisation under the name of human trafficking: "Already having difficulties in reaching the territory of Turkey under harsh conditions, the refugees trust their life in illegal organisations against prohibitively high amounts of money. It cannot be defended that Turkey has strict penal sanctions against human trafficking". It is expressed that human traffickers are sentenced to prison for 3 to 8 years only.
The money the refugees pay to human traffickers is also revealed in the report. Accordingly, here is the price tariff of human trafficking in the Aegean Sea: Human trafficking on a luxurious yacht costs 10.000 Euro, a boat with a captain aboard costs 4.000 Euro human trafficking by an inflatable boat costs 2.000 Euro per person.
Refugees Not Treated Humanly
The report calls our attention to the fact that migration-receiving countries such as Italia, in particular, have "racist approaches". It is further emphasises that the Greek Security Forces at times push the sinking boats to the coastal waters of Turkey, causing death. In addition, the report criticises the approaches to refugees in Turkey, underlining that none of the asylum-seekers are given a status of a "refugee" except for exceptional cases.
To prevent refugees' deaths, Murat Özer, the Chairman of İMKANDER, called on countries such as Turkey, Greece and Italia, adding that the report prepared by the association contains solution suggestions. "Majority of people that seek to reach Europe by sea leave their homeland due to threats of security of life. That is why these are the people that are the most eligible for a political asylum right. Pursuant to the Geneva Convention of 1951, refugees must be provided with the necessary legal facilities, and must be treated humanely. Some criminal enterprises, in an attempt to exploit the difficult conditions of the refugees, engage in human trafficking by means of sea transportations that ' do not fit the human dignity and put refugees' life at stake. It is therefore essential that the signatory countries, Turkey in particular, should enforce legal arrangements in prevention of such deeds." says Özer.
In the report, he also calls on media to replace the phrase of "illegal immigrants" by the "victims of human trafficking". Prepared in English and in Turkish, the report ends up with a call for "creating humane environments for the victims, simplifying the asylum seeking and refuge applications, children's education and providing unconditional healthcare services for all victims".
You may download the full report from the following link:
http://www.imkander.org.tr/file/2015/multeci-olumleri-raporu-report-2014-imkander.pdf
