{"id":1510,"date":"2014-06-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/13-06-2014-the-immigration-debate-and-the-discussion-about-safe-countries-of-origin\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:42:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:42:43","slug":"13-06-2014-the-immigration-debate-and-the-discussion-about-safe-countries-of-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/de\/13-06-2014-the-immigration-debate-and-the-discussion-about-safe-countries-of-origin\/","title":{"rendered":"13.06.2014 The immigration debate and the discussion about safe countries of origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hofmann (2014) focuses \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton the German migration policy based on the currently discussed draft bill to declare \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSerbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia to be safe countries of origin. The \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tkey point of the debate lies in the estimates of how strong the discrimination \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof minorities in the states in question really is. While proponents of the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdraft law point to neighbouring countries who also declared Serbia, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia as being safe countries of origin, refugee organizations \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand left-wing politicians refer to Rroma slums and repeated reports of explicit \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscrimination. The federal government takes the position that the situation of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe Rroma in the Balkans is difficult but does not fulfil the claim of an actual \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpersecution: \u201cAlthough the economic, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsocietal and social situation of the Roma in all three countries is \u201cdifficult\u201d \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2013 however, \u201c a persecution of Roma does not take place.\u201d<\/em> Eastern Europe \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\texpert Dusan Reljic is quoted stating that in his opinion, there is no direct \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscrimination by the state, but an indirect exclusion through the weak \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\teconomies that favour the discrimination of minorities such as the Rroma: \u201cIn societies where there is less and less \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto distribute, it is hardly possible for the less educated to make a living\u201d, said \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReljic. For Rom who was rejected as an asylum applicant, the return to a \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSoutheast European country means \u201ca catastrophe that is associated with \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tgreatest personal sacrifices.\u201d Finding a job is possible only with great \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdifficulty.\u201d <\/em>The European Union should therefore attach conditions to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tinclusion into the association of states as the strict observance and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tenforcement of minority rights. As the debate shows, there are no detailed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treports on the effective level of discrimination, only general estimates. This \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tis inaccurate for a detailed assessment, if ultimately human fates depend on these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpolitical decisions.<\/p>\n

Demir (2014) criticizes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin his article about the immigration debate, that the term \u201cpoverty \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration\u201d is used in the political discussion as a synonym to the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\timmigration of Rroma. The immigration from the Balkans is clearly not limited \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tto Rroma, but also includes a variety of other ethnic groups. Therefore, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tterm \u201cRroma problem\u201d is inappropriate and ethnicizes a phenomenon that includes \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tand encompasses much more than a single ethnic group. The complexity behind the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmigration movements, the structural conditions, the different ethnic groups, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvarious educational levels of individual migrants, the economic situations, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpolitical values of the different actors, all these factors are lost in \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treductionist modes of argumentation. Simplicity is elegant, but from the viewpoint \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tof a scientific will to truth, simplicity is very dangerous.<\/p>\n