Safe corridor for refugees cannot be an excuse for racial profiling
With regards to announcement by the Minister of Internal Affairs Vlaho Orepić, introducing a new regime of transporting refugees by rail directly from Macedonia to Austria, the Welcome! Initiative reminds of the necessity to introduce secure and protected air, land and sea corridors for refugees wishing to reach their desired destinations, in order to reduce the violations of their human rights, as well as number of deaths occurring daily within the EU borders.
The above mentioned mode of transportation may represent a good approach for persons directly threatened by war. However, the Welcome! Initiative reminds that individuals seeking international protection for other reasons, such as political persecution, do not have access to the system of international protection at the moment. The procedure of seeking international protection is individually based and every person in need of seeking protection must have access to it, while his/her destiny cannot be arbitrarily judged through a discriminatory system of racial profiling. Therefore, securing that individuals from countries other than Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have access to the system of international protection is necessary, as well as securing secure and legal paths for all those people who wish to find safety within the European Union. Otherwise, these types of decisions contribute to the ever stronger fortification of EU borders and are very susceptible to the equally arbitrary decisions of decreasing the number of people accepted, as well as total abolition of safe corridors.
As a society, we cannot allow for all the responsibility of this humanitarian crisis to lie on the shoulders of two countries, Austria and Germany, as well as ever more frequent deportations and unnecessary detentions of persons based solely on their country of origin as a result of taking over this responsibility. The Initiative is urging the governments of other countries to accept people in search of safety and protection, based on the solidarity principle that lies in the foundations of the EU.
By establishing a safe corridor for refugees, the duration of this very unsafe journey will be significantly shortened, but it is necessary to secure dignified conditions on the trains that will be taking the refugees to their final destinations. Welcome! Initiative is demanding and expecting for humanitarian aid to be provided, as well as presence of physicians and medical aid inside the cars, securing access to volunteers from specialised organisations offering support to vulnerable groups, securing areas for nursing, pregnant women, mothers with children and the disabled.
During transportation things to be considered are numbers of passenger seats in trains, as well as securing a sufficient number of trains, in order to avoid overloading. Additionally, on locations where police officers and locomotives are to be replaced, it is necessary to secure checkpoints with all the infrastructure, where organisations, volunteers, self organised groups will be providing the refugees with emergency support.
PHOTO: HINA
