The new law on asylum was enforced four months ago and today we are willing to deepen the reasons that make people flee away from their countries in spite of the tremendous wrecks at sea. We interviewed professor Bruce Leimsidor. Professor Leimsidor teaches Immigration and European law at University of Venice, he also used to counsel UNHCR in matters concerning the African area and he was in charge of projects concerning the removal of refugees as well.
Question - You worked in UNHCR camps in Africa, can you tell us why these people run away from such camps, which should represent a safe shelter to them?
Answer - The first idea anyone has of these camps is that they are dreary miserable places where life is tough and uncomfortable. But this is not the main reason people escape from UNHCR camps, the real reason is that these camps are not safe.
African authorities have many times recommended that camps are not set next the borders of the countries which people run away from. This request was accepted but the truth is that the 80% of such camps actually are opened at countries’ borders, this leads to the facts that arms, guns and officers from the citizens’ original country do enter camps: in Ciad soldiers always actuate massacres inside refugees camps. This means that camps are not safe places.
Security, surveillance inside camps is not under UNHCR control but under local police control and too often hosting countries do not care about peacekeeping and safety inside camps. Therefore many problems move from countries of origin to camps: these are the same problems that made people escape from their homes. This is why camps are not safe.
Another matter is that UNHCR is under strong international pressures and it is often obliged to agree with repatriations of refugees. Citizens live inside these camp under the constant threat of being sent back. The situation that everyone knows of is the one Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan face, but in Africa there are even worse situations: Congolese and Burundi’s citizens sent back to Congo and Burundi from Tanzania without any place where to go. These same citizens had to run away again after few months.
Question - In our everyday work we’ve noticed that many of the people that come from such camps were actually born there and when they arrive here they tend to welfarism. They have difficulties in being independent. Can you tell us something about this?
Answer - This is not refugees’ fault, it is a consequence of the situation. Refugees in camps cannot do anything most of the times. In Tanzania for instance they cannot even have a piece of land where to grow some food, they can only eat what international organizations take there. There is no strength in helping people in becoming independent, they might become and wish not to go back home anymore.
Question - What did you do in camps?
Answer - I used to work in Nairobi, I supervised the situation in all the camps set in eastern, central and southern Africa. I sometimes went to the camps to choose refugees that should have gone to European countries or in the USA because of the camps’ dangers. This specific program needed to be extended but I met resistance even inside the organization, many officers believe that African refugees must remain in Africa.
Question - You do no work for UNHCR anymore. Is this a choice?
Answer - Yes, it is. I frankly did not fully agree with the organization policies and I did not agree on the fact that African refugees must remain in Africa. Theoretically speaking this is correct, but if people keep risking their lives, if they suffer so much, well, then they probably need to go away otherwise they escape. My colleagues and I could not do anything more and I therefore accepted to come and teach at Venice University. I am actually writing a book about refugees in Africa.
