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Europe
22 September [TheLocal.fr] The subject of Muslim integration in France is one of the country's most hotly debated issues. But how do Muslims themselves feel about their home country? A new survey offers some insight. Muslims living in France feel a stronger attachment to their country than they do in much of Europe, despite experiencing high levels of discrimination. That was one of the key findings of a new survey that looked at Musliims across Europe. The survey also found that first generation Muslims feel more attached to France than their offspring. This generational difference in feeling towards their country is greater in France than anywhere in Europe. German Bundesrat approves 'burqa ban' for drivers, beefs up road-race sanctions 22 September [DW] The German parliament's upper house sharpened traffic-related punishments, including a prohibition on face coverings while driving. It's being seen as a ban on burqas and niqabs — and one Muslim organization isn't happy. Bundestag questions legality of Angela Merkel's refugee policy 22 September [DW] The legal basis for Angela Merkel's 2015 decision to open borders to a group of refugees hasn't been clarified, the Bundestag has concluded. The report is a minor disturbance in the chancellor's serene re-election bid. French businessman pledges to pay Austrian face veil fines 21 September [Ynet] A French businessman said he would pay all fines imposed on women wearing a full-face veil in Austria under a law banning it from Oct. 1, an Austrian broadcaster reported. The reported remarks from Rachid Nekkaz, who already pays fines for women who wear Muslim niqabs and burkas despite bans in France and Belgium, provoked criticism from Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz. The Austrian ban makes public wearing of the Arab-style niqab, which leaves the eyes uncovered, and the Afghan-style burqa, which covers the face with a cloth grid, liable to a fine of 150 euros. Danish fashion agency hires first hijab-wearing model 21 September [TheLocal.dk] A Danish modelling agency’s decision to add a model who wears a hijab to its staff has been described as “quite exceptional”. Danish bureau Unique Models is currently the only agency in the country to include a woman who wears a hijab – 21-year-old Amina Adan – in its catalogue of models, reports broadcaster DR. Fashion expert and television presenter Chris Pedersen told DR that the use of a model wearing a hijab was “exceptional”. “Globally, there are very, very few models who have worked while wearing a hijab. In the US there is one young woman who has appeared at shows for many of the large fashion houses and in many of the big department stores, but that is an extremely small segment, and this is something that is very much in its infancy,” Pedersen said. Muslims worried as Austria's party leaders put spotlight on Islam 21 September [TheLocal.at] As Austrians grow more openly hostile towards Muslims, major political parties are deliberately brandishing Islamophobia in the Catholic majority country ahead of next month's parliamentary election. Nearly a third of Austrians told a recent survey they would not like to live next to Muslims -- a higher figure than in Germany, France, Switzerland and Britain. National newspapers warn of "spiralling refugee costs", Muslim "rapists" and impending Islamist assaults, in response to a record influx of migrants and jihadist attacks across Europe. Encroaching on far-right territory, the popular new leader of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), Sebastian Kurz, wants to slash migrant benefits and shut all Islamic kindergartens, which he says create "parallel societies". His party was instrumental in prohibiting foreign funding of mosques and pushing through a ban on the Muslim full face veil, due to enter into force in October. That paid off with the ÖVP stealing top spot in opinion polls for the October 15th election. The far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) is now battling for second place with the Social Democrats (SPÖ). Mont Saint-Michel to bring in armed police over terror fears 20 September [TheLocal.fr] Mont Saint-Michel, one of France's most popular tourist destinations is set to have an armed police presence from December this year in response to the threat of potential terror attacks. The island abbey welcomes three million visitors a year making it France's third most popular attraction, just behind the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles. The decision to introduce a team of five armed police officers was made in the interests of safety, said Yann Galeton, Mont Saint-Michel’s mayor. Migrants found by German police in back of truck go missing 19 September [DW] Almost all of the 51 Iraqi refugees found in the back of a truck in the German town of Eisenhüttenstadt on Saturday have gone missing. Officials are waiting to see if the refugees register at another reception center. The missing Iraqi migrants were most likely picked up in Eisenhüttenstadt and driven away by relatives already living in Germany, said Frank Nürnberger, head of the town's reception facility, speaking with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. While it remains unclear when exactly the refugees left the facility, unconfirmed reports stated that a number of people got into cars with license plates registered in Bielefeld. Women refugees face difficult path to integration in Germany 19 September [DW] Two out of every three refugees in Germany are male. In most cases they are under 30 and traveling alone. If they have a good chance of being granted asylum, they can sign up for an integration course where they can learn German and be introduced to life in their new country. They learn how to apply for jobs and receive advice on getting an education and finding an apartment. Generally, these men are flexible and have a lot of free time. The situation is quite different for female refugees. The majority have children and many have come to Germany to join family already in the country. Besides war and terrorism, many are fleeing sexual violence, forced marriage and so-called honor killings. The percentage of female refugees in Germany is growing: In 2015, they made up some 30 percent of all asylum applicants. This year, according to statistics compiled by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), they make up almost 40 percent.
France clears hundreds of migrants from wood near Calais 19 September [TheLocal.fr] French authorities evacuated hundreds of migrants from a wood on the northern coast near Calais on Tuesday over fears it could become a magnet for others hoping to head to Britain. Some 350 men, women and children, most of them Iraqi Kurds, had been living for weeks in squalid conditions in the wood on the edge of the town of Grande-Synthe. Hundreds of police were brought in to dismantle the camp as its residents were packed onto buses, bound for migrant centres in 10 different regions across France. "At the last count there were 56 children present and around 40 women. I can't let this situation go on anymore," local mayor Damien Careme told AFP on Monday before the operation. Grand Synthe lies 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the port city of Calais, where authorities dismantled the sprawling "Jungle" camp -- which at its height was home to 10,000 people -- in late 2016. Another nearby camp, at Norrent-Fontes, was cleared of its 85 residents on Monday. They were taken to migrant centres in the region. Migrants have been encouraged to register asylum applications in France, but many are determined to travel to Britain for family, language or work reasons. Lampedusa's anti-migration mayor says the island is 'collapsing' 18 September [TheLocal.it] The Italian island of Lampedusa became a symbol for the country's welcoming culture towards migrants, and an award-winning film showed how islanders and new arrivals lived together in harmony. But over the weekend, the town's mayor, Salvatore Martello, warned that the town is "about to collapse", singling out groups of migrants for criticism. On Saturday, Martello called for the government to close Lampedusa's hotspot, a centre created to host migrants when they first arrive to the island but which has ended up housing them longer term. In an open letter to Italy's largest news agency, Ansa, Martello said that Lampedusians had been "abandoned". "Lampedusa is collapsing, police are powerless," the mayor warned, calling for the Interior Ministry to intervene and close the hotspot, which he labelled "useless". Martello said that he regularly received complaints from tourists and business owners on the island, who told him they "could not manage anymore" due to repeated instances of threats, thefts, and harassment. He said that a group of "180 Tunisians" were to blame for these incidents, and that they were able to "circumvent security controls" despite a heavy presence of security and police officers outside the centre. Sharp rise in asylum appeals leaves court system struggling to cope 18 September [TheLocal.de] The opposition has accused the government of overstretching the courts and endangering the integration of refugees, after a rise in appeals on rejected asylum cases. Figures released by the federal government and published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) on Monday show that the backlog of asylum appeals waiting to go through the courts has risen dramatically over the course of 2017. By the end of July, 283,000 appeals against asylum decision were pending, almost double the number than for the end of 2016. Some 146,000 new appeals were lodged in the first five months of this year, almost as many as the 175,000 that were lodged in the whole of 2016. Meanwhile the court system is working through the appeals at a much slower pace - only 39,000 decisions were made between January and May. The avalanche in appeals comes as the second stage in the long bureaucratic process refugees have to go through in Germany. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) decided on 480,000 cases from the start of the year, as it finally started to make headway on the piles of cases it had to deal with after the refugee influx of 2015. Of the close to half a million decisions made by the BAMF this year, 190,000 were rejections. But the courts often overrule the BAMF decisions. Syrians have a particularly good chance of success - four out of every five court appeals end in their favour. Spike in arrivals of migrants across the Mediterranean to Italy 18 September [TheLocal.it] Libya's coastguard has rescued over 3,000 migrants aiming to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in the past week, while Italy picked up another 2,000 in recent days, official and reports said on Sunday. Though the numbers attempting the dangerous journey have dropped off significantly in recent months, these new rescues indicate the route is still very much open. The tally was the highest reported out of Libya for a one-week period since mid-July saw a dramatic fall in the number of migrants trying to reach Europe. Most of the latest rescue operations in Libyan waters were staged off the cities of Zawiya and Sabratha, Libyan navy spokesman General Ayoub Kacem said in a statement. Italy, the closest and main destination, has recorded 6,500 arrivals since mid-July, barely 15 percent of the figure for the same period in the past three years. Spain to spend big at borders tightening defences to stop migrants 14 September [TheLocal.es] Spain’s interior minister has announced plans to spend €12million fortifying border fences at its north African enclaves after a surge in migrant arrivals. Juan Ignacio Zoido unveiled the plans to boost border security at Melilla and Ceuta during a parliamentary commission this week when he revealed that migrant arrivals had soared by 88 percent this year. Zoido said that this year had seen a rise in co-ordinated attempts to break through the six-metre-high double fences topped with razor-wire that line Europe’s only land borders with Africa. So far this year, some 9,000 migrants – mostly from sub-saharan Africa - had attempted to force their way into the Spanish territory compared to 613 in the same period in 2016, he said. Hostility towards Muslims on the rise in Switzerland 12 September [TheLocal.ch] Hostility and discrimination towards Muslim people in Switzerland is on the rise, the Federal Commission against Racism (FCR) said on Monday during a conference at the University of Fribourg. Austria halts anti-terror wall plans after outcry 8 September [TheLocal.at] Austria's chancellery on Thursday halted the construction of anti-terror walls outside its office in Vienna after critics slammed the government for failing to provide similar protective measures in main tourist areas. Works began last month to build five large concrete blocks outside the historic Hofburg palace which houses the offices of the chancellor and the president. The barriers -- each eight metres long, 80 centimetres high and one metre wide -- were intended to withstand potential ramming attacks by vehicles, used as weapons in terror attacks across Europe over the past year. But the €1.5 millio ($1.8 million) project sparked outrage among political opponents of Chancellor Christian Kern, ahead of a national election on October 15th. Critics including the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) accused Kern, a Social Democrat, of double standards. Vienna had refused to put up anti-terror structures in key tourist areas after jihadists killed 16 people using vehicles and knives in Spain last month. Officials had dismissed the barriers as "placebo measures". Posted by: trailing wife 2017-09-23 |
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