MNS Summary March 2008
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The discovery of secret bank accounts of German
nationals in Liechtenstein and how this can affect Switzerland’s relations with
the EU and the future of the right of free movement of EU nationals in this
Alpine country is one of the leading articles in the March issue, together with
the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights’ reaffirmation, in the
case of Nassim Saadi, of the absolute character of the prohibition not to
torture or maltreat people, even those suspected of planning acts of terrorism.
Other international major international news items
include the European Commission’s criticisms of
Washington for negotiating bilateral travel arrangements with some EU
Member States; the European
Commission’s proposed mega scheme to control entry and exit into the EU to
combat terrorism, illegal immigration and organised crime; the appeal for
protection against Islamic extremists made by the former Dutch MP of Somali
origin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, to France and the European Parliament, and the
inconclusive discussions among ministers meeting within the framework of the
Justice and Home Affairs Council to set up a “European Protection Fund” for
this purpose; announcement by Swiss Senator Dick MARTY welcoming the fact that contrary
to earlier strenuous denials, the UK has become the latest country to
acknowledge that its territory was used to transfer abducted persons to places
where, in all likelihood, they were tortured.
Coverage is also given to the unanimous ruling of the
European Court of Human Rights that the burying in Switzerland of a still-born
baby of an Algerian asylum-seeker in the absence of its parents amounted to a
violation of Article 8 of the Convention. One of the most important elements of
the ruling is that the European judges pointed out that the absence of the
intention to interfere with a fundamental right or of bad faith in no way freed
the Contracting State concerned from its own international responsibility under
the Convention.
Other news items covered in the March issue include:
- Demand for right of appeal by two Tunisians who face
expulsion without trial from Denmark on grounds of national security;
- Setting up by the French Government of a Committee to
look into a legal framework in view of introducing immigration quotas;
- Agreement on migration management by France and
Senegal;
- Fear of Dutch Minister of less immigration of Poles
and other East Europeans;
- Sweden to introduce employment and housing requirement
for right of family reunion;
- UK to introduce a “probation period” for people
seeking naturalisation;
- Third-country doctors are told that they are no longer
needed in the UK;
- Hunger strike
of mostly rejected asylum-seekers in Belgium ends after 50 days;
- Detention of a Palestinian asylum-seeker in Cyprus
since May 2007 although the Refugee Act provides for a maximum period of 32 days
of detention;
- Removal of Albania and Nigeria from French list of
“safe countries of origin”;
- Refusal of a higher German court to grant protection
to young Afghan men of working age, even those without any more family
connections;
- Fear of repatriation by up to 50,000 Kosovars after
Kosovo’s proclamation of independence;
- UNHCR criticisms of makeshift camps for asylum-seekers
in Patras, Greece;
- Seven Tunisian fishermen who rescued 44 asylum-seekers
off Lampedusa still on trial in Sicily for migrant trafficking;
- Asylum-seekers in the Netherlands allowed more working
days;
- Norwegian authorities’ lack faith in
refugee-determination procedure in Greece;
- Algerian transsexual faced with expulsion from Spain may
be entitled to asylum;
- Steep fall in proportion of Iraqis granted protection
in Sweden;
- Baghdad’s acceptance of rejected Iraqi asylum-seekers
from Sweden;
- More orders of forced expulsions of asylum-seekers in
Sweden, but few are actually carried out;
- Problems of high concentration of Iraqis in a Swedish
municipality;
- Swedish State offers financial support to Iraqis with
business ideas willing to return to their home country;
- Voting for the third time in the Swiss Parliament on
whether to allow the use of the taser gun for forced expulsions;
- Deadline for four convicted Sikh hijackers to leave
Switzerland has passed;
- Complaint by an American Jew of anti-Semitism in
Belgian touristic city of Bruges;
- Strong doubts that deadly fire in a home in Germany
which cost the lives of nine Turkish nationals was arson;
- 25 racist murders in Russia in first two months this
year;
- Referral to Swedish Supreme Court of case of two Muslim
women who were told not be fully clad in a public swimming pool;
- Dissolution of Belgium’s Muslim executive body as a
result of squabbling and financial fraud;
- Terrorism acquittal for Belgian national whom Belgian
authorities tried to “extradite”;
- Return of Mohammed cartoons in the Danish media after
secret service discovered a plot to murder one of the cartoonists;
- Likelihood of a repeat of boycott of Danish goods
because of Mohammed cartoons;
- Youth riots in Denmark and call by imams for
restraint;
- Danish fashion magazines’ acceptance of only white and
slim women in their front covers;
- Postponement of occasion of first Muslim woman MP to
wear a headscarf in the Danish Parliament;
- Boycott of Dutch and Danish children films at a
festival in Cairo;
- Offer in France of tax-free savings which are destined
to be invested in migrants’ country of origin;
- Ruling of Germany’s Supreme Administrative Court that
it is not possible to revoke German citizenship fraudulently acquired some
years ago;
- Call by Turkish Prime Minister to his compatriots in Germany
to resist assimilation and expressions of unease and/or indignation by
Chancellor Merkel and members of her Christian Democrat Union.
- Suspension of art exhibition in Berlin after threats
for describing a Muslim sacred monument as a “dumb stone”;
- Action taken by KLM airline to prevent boarding of an
anti-Muslim Dutch politician on grounds of security concerns;
- Row between the management of a municipal swimming
pool and the municipality over the right of Muslim women to wear a burkini;
- Refusal of a Norwegian art gallery to hold an
exhibition which includes caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed;
- Inclusion of issues of immigration and wearing of the
Muslim veil in its election campaign by the largest political party in
opposition in view of the General Election;
- Overhaul of Swedish language courses for immigrants;
- Ruling by a UK court which allows an Algerian pilot
wrongly accused of terrorism plot to sue the Government for damages;
- Controversy in the UK over Archbishop’s alleged remark
that the adoption of part of Sharia is “inevitable”;
