Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Indians Among Top Asylum Seekers in OECD Countries

India is among the the top 5 sources of migrants seeking asylum in OECD countries, according to OECD's International Migration Outlook 2017. The other four are: China, Syria, Romania and Poland.  Is increasing religious violence in India, like Syria, contributing to growing numbers of asylum seekers from the South Asian nation?

UP CM Yogi Adiyanath with Indian PM Modi
Indian asylum seekers rank 2nd in New Zealand, 4th in Latvia and 6th in Finland and United Kingdom and 8th in Australia, the OECD report says. The numbers of Pakistanis seeking asylum remains stable but they still show up among the top 3 asylum seekers in some OECD nations such as the UK, Ireland, Italy, Greece and South Korea.

Indians have sought political asylum in more than 40 countries over the years, according to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).



There's a long history of India's religious and ethnic minorities seeking asylum abroad after being persecuted at home, starting with the exodus of 8 million Muslim refugees fleeing to Pakistan after the Partition of India.  Many more millions of Dalits, Muslims and Sikhs have left India to find refuge in Canada, Europe, the United States and elsewhere.  Pakistan, too, has seen members of its religious minorities leave the country after persecution by the majority community.

Europe has historically seen a large number of new asylum applications from Indians---6,300 in 2012 and 2013. The United States has also experienced an increase in the number of Indian asylum seekers in recent years.  Media reports show 2,100 Indians receiving asylum in the United States between 2012 and 2014. The rise of extreme right wing Hindu Nationalists and increasing violence against minorities are likely to further accelerate the trend.

Related Links:

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Lynchistan: India is the Lynching Capital of the World

Fact-Checking Farahnaz Ispahani's "Purifying the Land of the Pure"

Indian Sikh Massacre of 1984

Yogi Adiyanath as UP CM

Hindu Nationalists Admire Hitler

Hinduization of India Under Modi

Muslim Victims of Gujarat 2002

India's Superpower Delusions: Modi's Flawed Policies

What Do Modi and Trump Have in Common?

9 comments:

Mahesh said...

Two questions.

Many asylum seekers are economic/work seekers trying to bypass the visa requirements. How many are rejected?

Large countries have obviously more people wanting to migrate. What is seekers per 1000 of population?

Judy said...

How many asylum seekers are true asylum seekers because the acceptance has to be very low.

Riaz Haq said...

India faced more terror attacks than Syria in 2016: US report
"On average, terrorist attacks in India caused 0.4 total deaths per attack in 2016, compared to 2.4 deaths per attack worldwide. Nearly three-quarters of attacks (73%) in India in 2016 were non-lethal," the report said.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/number-of-terrorist-attacks-in-india-increased-by-16-per-cent-in-2016-us-terror-report-4763157/

The US State Department recently released its annual report on terrorism which analyses the counter-terrorism initiatives adopted by different countries. The Country Reports on Terrorism 2016 also elaborates on the looming terror threat facing South Asian region and provides inputs to combat terrorism.

According to the report, the number of terrorist attacks in India increased by 16 per cent in 2016 and the total number of deaths too went up by 17 per cent. Globally, however, the total number of terrorist attacks in 2016 decreased by 9 per cent and so did the total deaths due to terrorist attacks (13 per cent decreased). The report attributes this to fewer attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Yemen.
The same year, India was also ranked third — behind Iraq and Afghanistan — in the list of the countries that faced the most number of terrorist attacks.
“Compared to the other countries that experienced the most terrorist attacks and fatalities in 2016, the diversity of perpetrator groups was much greater in India, with 52 active groups,” the report stated along with adding that nearly two-thirds of the terrorist attacks carried out in India in 2016 (65 per cent) were attributed to the Communist Party of India-Maoist or Maoist perpetrators.
The naxals were classified third, above Boko Haram, in the list of terror groups responsible for carrying out the most number of attacks. Islamic State and Taliban makeup the top three.
The “lethality” of attacks in India, however, remained relatively low compared to other countries. “On average, terrorist attacks in India caused 0.4 total deaths per attack in 2016, compared to 2.4 deaths per attack worldwide. Nearly three-quarters of attacks (73%) in India in 2016 were non-lethal,” the report said.

Riaz Haq said...

#India is not shimmering, it is simmering. #IIP Down. #FarmerSuicides #unemployment #Lynchistan #KasaiCrisis #Modi

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/india-is-not-shimmering-it-is-simmering-4777929/

India is not shimmering, it is simmering. The Bharat-India cleavage has widened to an unprecedented degree. The disconnect between ground narrative and the public discourse is nothing short of hallucinatory.
There is unprecedented farmer distress in the country.As many as 12,602 persons involved in the farming sector– 8,007 farmers-cultivators and 4,595 agricultural laborers –committed suicide in 2015, according to figures provided by the central government to the Supreme Court.Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh told Parliament that according to National Crime Records Bureau data for 2016, which is yet to be published, 11,400 farmers committed suicide; in 2015, the number was 12,602.
From Tamil Nadu to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh and even in the food bowl, Punjab, falling farm incomes are driving farmers to take the extreme step of ending their lives.
Similarly, the industrial scenario is dismal. In June 2017, eight core sectors of the economy grew by a dismal 0.4% , down from 7% for the corresponding month in 2016. The growth in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) was 1.7 per cent in May 2017, as compared to a growth of 8.0 per cent in May 2016.
As opposed to 380 lakh new jobs that India required in the38 months this government has been in office, job creation or job growth for 2015 and 2016 (April-December) stood at 1.55 lakh and 2.31 lakh in numbers respectively. The former minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh recently underscored this worrying downturn when he said, “In the first two years of the Modi government, only 4.4 lakh jobs were created in the organized sector as opposed to 21 lakh jobs created during the first two years of the UPA-II government.”
Demonetization and the implementation of the flawed GST have further broken the back of the informal sector of the economy leading to widespread chaos. The GDP growth numbers evidence this phenomenon. In the fourth quarter of 2016 the economy clocked only 6.1% which at 2004-05 base year translates into a measly figure of 4.1% only.
Social harmony has been torn to shreds with Hindustan acquiring the notorious sobriquet of Lynchistan – all thanks to the active encouragement and support of the ruling dispensation, notwithstanding the pro-forma condemnation by the prime minister once in a while. It does not require rocket science to discern the truth. You only need to ask why these lynchings weren’t taking place between 2004-14 and why have they become a norm these past three years?
Internal security lies in tatters. Kashmir is up a creek without a paddle. It is a volcano waiting to explode again as it did last year after Burhan Wani was killed by security forces last year. Maoist activity is on the rise. From January 1-July 15, 170 deaths in 504 incidents have taken place. The North East is on the boil with the Gorkhaland violence having peaked this summer.The 47-day-long indefinite shutdown, which started on June 15, is the longest so far in the picturesque hill station which had last witnessed a 40-day bandh in 1988 by the Gorkha National Liberation Front and a 44-day shutdown in 2013 by GorkhaJanmuktiMorcha on the statehood issue. Even in the otherwise peaceful state of Tripura, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura has upped the ante on their demand to carve out Tipraland— a separate state from Tripura. Meanwhile, there is no sign of the fabled Naga Accord.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan ranks 52 among 79 countries ranked by WEF for inclusive development, ahead of India at 60 but behind China at 15 and Bangladesh at 36


http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Forum_IncGrwth_2017.pdf


Pakistan has lower inequality than India as measured by Gini coefficient.


http://www.indiatimes.com/news/world/india-ranks-60th-among-79-developing-economies-in-the-world-economic-forum-s-inclusive-development-index-269629.html

Riaz Haq said...

Over 7,000 #Indians sought US #asylum in 2017: Report http://toi.in/VSTe7Y/a24gk via @timesofindia


Nationalities from which there were over 5,000 claims in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600) and India (7,400). Altogether, claims were received from nationals from 168 countries, the report said.


Over 7,000 people from India filed applications for asylum in the US last year, according to a report by the UN refugee agency which said America was the largest recipient of new asylum requests in 2017.
The UN Refugee Agency said in its annual Global Trends report that 68.5 million people globally were displaced as of the end of 2017. Among them were 16.2 million people who became displaced during 2017 itself, either for the first time or repeatedly. Wars, other violence and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, led by the crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan’s war, and the flight into Bangladesh from Myanmar of thousands of Rohingya refugees.



Riaz Haq said...

Among the many asylum-seekers imprisoned in the US and separated from their children are Indians, many Sikh or Christian and fleeing religious persecution in India.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/52-indians-mostly-sikhs-held-at-oregon-detention-centre-in-us/607815.html

A group of 52 Indians, mostly Sikhs, has been held at a detention centre in the US State of Oregon for being part of a large contingent of illegal immigrants seeking asylum, an American lawmaker has said.

The Indians form the largest group of detainees in the total 123 illegal immigrants being held at a facility in Sheridan.

The detention centre was recently visited by a group of Democratic lawmakers from the Oregon State, who later told the media about the alleged inhuman condition of the illegal immigrants. The immigrants are seeking asylum in the US.

The detainees from India is the largest group of detainees being held in Sheridan, wrote Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici on her blog post. She along with several other Democratic lawmakers from the State visited the detention centre Saturday.

"Through our Punjabi translator, we learned that these men were planning to request asylum because they faced severe religious persecution in India. Most are Sikh or Christian. Instead they were incarcerated in a federal prison," she said.

"They said they came to the United States for religious freedom, but they felt as if they were 'going crazy' because they are being confined in small cells for up to 22 hours a day," the Congresswoman said.

The Indian detainees pointed out that the other non-immigrant prisoners get far more time out of cells, she said.

Most of the detainees at the federal facility are asking for asylum because they experienced violence or persecution in their home countries, Bonamici said.

Several had travelled to the border with a wife and a child or children; none knew where their family members are, she said.

"This is a shameful hour in US history. I don't care what your stance on immigration is, no one should favour ripping children out of their parents' arms ...." Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer told reporters after visiting the detention center.

He alleged that President Donald Trump and Attorney-General Jeff Sessions have doubled down on their anti-immigrant, xenophobic agenda with the administration's new "zero tolerance" policy on immigration.

"The administration is criminalising families who are fleeing abuse and violence and separating children as ICE detains or deports their parents," he said in a statement.

According to the local daily 'The Oregonian', of the total detainees, 52 have identified themselves as Sikhs or Christians from India.

They alleged that they fled their country because of religious persecution from the Hindu majority. The Indians told the delegation that their Hindi and Punjabi translators were the first outsiders they've been able to talk to since they were imprisoned weeks ago, the daily reported.

The Congressional delegation included Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden.

"As the child of parents whose families found refuge in America from the terrors of Nazi Germany, I strongly believe Donald Trump's cruel and callous treatment of human beings seeking asylum flies in the face of America's core humanitarian values," Wyden said.

"Trump's choice of zero tolerance for the refugees we met today and for the others imprisoned around the country this Father's Day weekend makes zero sense and shows zero understanding of American values.

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The men come from 16 different countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, China, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, India, Mauritania, Nepal, Peru and Russia, as well as from Congo and Eritrea, it said.

Riaz Haq said...

#BJP #Hindutva trolls attack #India FM #SushmaSwaraj for intervening on behalf a #Hindu-#Muslim #interfaith couple to issue a passport that was illegally denied by a right wing Hindu employee

https://thewire.in/gender/sushma-swaraj-right-wing-twitter-trolling

Swaraj experienced what women on Twitter have to deal with on a daily basis – death and rape threats, threatening messages which are often sexual in nature.

Sushma Swaraj, one of the ruling government’s most loved ministers, found herself on the receiving end of troll firing quad on social media after she pulled up a passport office employee for harassing an inter-faith couple.

In a series of tweets to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj last week, Tanvi Seth had complained that one of the officials who interviewed her did not approve her application and verbally lashed out at her for marrying a Muslim and not changing her name. Her husband said that the ministry of external affairs (MEA) employee also asked him to convert for their marriage to be ‘accepted’.

A day later, the MEA handed over their passports and promised “appropriate action” against the employee concerned.

A day after Tanvi spoke to the media, the passport officer, identified as Vikas Mishra, held a press conference to share his side of the story. “I asked Tanvi Seth to get the name ‘Shadia Anas’ endorsed as it was mentioned on her Nikahnama [Muslim marriage contract], but she refused. We have to do thorough checks to ensure no person is changing their name to obtain a [false or duplicate] passport,” he told Asian News International (ANI).

The passport officer’s statement angered the right wing Twitterati who felt that the minister had acted impulsively in an attempt to appease minorities.

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In his speech, the UN human rights chief specifically mentioned the case of two Indian woman journalist, one of whom was assassinated in 2017 in Bengalooru. “In India, Gauri Lankesh, a journalist who published criticism of Hindu extremism, was killed last year following widespread online calls for violence against her; and her colleague Rana Ayyub has been subjected to thousands of hate-filled messages, including calls for her to be gang-raped and murdered, with dissemination of her phone number and home address”.

Even as external affairs minister’s account was being targeted with online vitriol, the Indian statement said at the discussion that “India has taken various steps to address cases of online violence against women”.

India even claimed that it was simpler now to remove abusive material from the internet.

“A Central Reporting Mechanism is being created to work as a hotline for easier reporting of any cyber crime. The process for removing objectionable imagery from the digital space is also made easier. Increased awareness is being promoted among public and authorities on better prevention and redressal,” it said.

Riaz Haq said...

#Indian Shot Dead By Masked Man At 711 Store In Whittier Near #LosAngeles. Originally from Karnal, #India, Mr Sahi had arrived in the US less than 6 months ago and had sought political #asylum in #UnitedStates . https://www.ndtv.com/indians-abroad/indian-man-shot-maninder-singh-sahi-dead-by-maskeman-at-los-angeles-grocery-store-2184583 via @ndtv

A masked man shot dead an Indian national at a grocery store in Los Angeles in the early hours of Saturday, local police said.
Maninder Singh Sahi, who had turned 31 last month, was married and a father of two.

Originally from Karnal, Mr Sahi had arrived in the US less than six months ago and had sought political asylum.

He was working at a 7-Eleven grocery store in the Whittier City in Los Angeles County of California.

The only earning member of his family, Mr Sahi used to send money to his wife and two children back home, his relatives in the US said.


According to the Whittier Police Department, the incident occurred at 5:43 am on Saturday.

Preliminarily it appears the suspect entered the store with a semi-automatic handgun with the intent to commit a robbery.