Refugees from Iraq, Afghan wars in Germany

This video says about itself:

Watch documentary maker Nick Broomfield’s short film, made for Amnesty International, about destitute refused asylum seekers in the UK.

From Deutsche Welle radio in Germany:

23.12.2009

Asylum seeker numbers on the rise in Germany

The number of people seeking asylum in Germany is expected to rise by 10 percent in 2010, says the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), after the government said Wednesday that more than 25,000 applied this year.

German media has reported that the country is set to see an increase in the number of asylum seekers in 2010, according to the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The office said the number of asylum applications could rise by around 10 percent.

The office said most of the asylum seekers would arrive from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, according to public broadcaster ZDF.

BAMF said that unstable security situations and economic strains in Afghanistan and Iraq were the main reasons for people fleeing those countries, while in Iran, government repression was a leading cause for people seeking a new life.

With 2009 coming to a close, Germany has recorded accepting more than 2,000 Iraqi refugees, whom it has housed at its Friedland border transit camp in the state of Lower Saxony.

Applications increase

Iraqis made up the vast majority of people seeking asylum in Germany in 2009, with the Interior Ministry logging more than 6,200 applications for asylum status from January to November. In second place were asylum seekers from Afghanistan with around 3,000 applications.

The ministry said a total of 25,429 people applied for asylum in Germany in the first 11 months of this year. That figure represents a 15 percent increase compared to the number of applications for all of 2008.

One year ago European Union Interior Ministers pledged to take in up to 10,000 refugees from Iraq, with Germany saying it would accept as many as 2,500.

Most of those accepted are persecuted minorities, particularly Christians.

Iraqi Christians most definitely suffer from cruel violent persecution since George W. Bush invaded their country in 2003. So do Christians in Afghanistan (where there are far less than in Iraq).

However, occupation, war and dire poverty mean that basically the overwhelming majority of Iraqis and Afghans are “persecuted“, not just Christians or other minorities. Xenophobic prejudices, including in government policies, in Germany and other NATO countries mean that refugees are often not getting the asylum which they should get. Sometimes, Western governments deport Iraqi and Afghan refugees as these countries are supposedly “safe” (why are their soldiers waging war there then?). Quite often, the worst xenophobes are also the most enthusiastic supporters of bloody wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

So, most refugees are from the two main countries where the USA and its allies wage war ever since 2001.

As for Iran, the third country in refugee numbers to Germany: while the Iranian government may repress people which it considers “not Islamic enough”, Iranian refugees may now face xenophobia in the West: whether they are “conservative” Muslims, “liberal” Muslims or not Muslims at all, they are, in xenophobic Rightist ideologies, part of the Great “Eurabia” Conspiracy (also never mind that Persians are not Arabs …).

A US-based human rights group has called on the Afghan regime to investigate the death of a suspect who died while being held in prison by the intelligence service: here.

Britain: Anti-war campaigners have called on the government to “open its eyes” and bring troops back home from Afghanistan after a probe was launched into the second suspected friendly-fire death of a British soldier in as many days: here.

The Great Afghan Gem Heist: How the War Led to the Pillaging of Afghanistan’s Precious Stones: here.

Iranian activists have called on the international labour movement to press Tehran to end its crackdown on opposition campaigners after eight people were killed in anti-government protests and hundreds detained in the aftermath: here.