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StellaSlight · 04-15-2004, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Avatar:
<STRONG>Illegal immigration is definately a problem, which is why more countries probably could practise externalised processing of asylum claims. This is when I might lose you, but I'll try to explain as well as I can - externalised processing of asylum claims basically gives the applicant the chance to seek asylum from his country of origin - eg. if I wanted to seek asylum in, say, France (since they're one of the countries that practise it), I would enter the French embassy and seek asylum from there. That way, I don't have to get to French soil to apply, which means that I don't have to a) pay smugglers a lot of money to get to France and b) don't have to stay in France indefinately while the application is being handled. The big drawback to this is of course that people who do have a well-founded fear would be put in jeopardy while waiting for an answer in their country of origin, so this have no easy solution.
</STRONG>

This is the way my family asked for asylum -through the embassy. I totally agree this is the best way to apply for the status of refugee in one country. But the problem is that not everyone is a 'refugee' according to the 1951 Refugee Convention. There are lots who just want a better place to live, but they aren't facing oppression or the fear of persecution. Most of the time, the refugees are all granted the asylum of France, but as for the rest of the immigrants... that's another problem.

There are so many people applying through the 'normal' way (the embassy) that the country cannot let everyone in. I've seen figures of application for asylum in France and it's really impressive. In African countries, most of France's embassies receive like a thousand persons per day for an application.
And there's also the problem that many many people know they would not get a positive answer, so they choose the illegal way.

I'm not worried for refugees in general because they usually get to enter the country quite quickly. But like you said, there are other people who just want a better life. And those are usually the ones who are denied the access.