MINELRES: UNITED: 11 Deaths in detention

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Original sender: UNITED <donotreply@unitedagainstracism.org>


UNITED E-NEWS 27/10/05: Fire in detention centre Amsterdam Airport - 11
deaths

"The Fatal Realities of Fortress Europe"
More deaths in detention.

A fire broke out last night in the detention centre at Schipol Airport,
Amsterdam (NL), where together with suspected drug smugglers caught at
the airport, asylum seekers to be expelled are detained waiting to be
escorted out of the Netherlands.

Eleven detainees died as a consequence of the fire. Many others were
injured.

The fire broke out under unclarified circumstances. Authorities have not
established whether it has been an arson or a fatal incident. Whatever
the case, the centre was supposed to be safe and in good conditions, as
stated by Bart Kroon, Director of the Ministery of Justice, when asked
about the conditions of the centre.

Survivors are being removed from the centre to other destinations within
the country. These deaths are to be accounted together with the other
victims of Europe's unhuman and nonfunctional laws in matter of
immigration. Detention of refugees and asylum seekers is now an alarming
issue throughout Europe. More and more deaths occur as a consequence of
unhuman detention conditions, with a high rate of suicides. Security
measures, health conditions and access to medical and emergency staff
are also causing deaths. The fire at Schipol requires an investigation
on many fronts.


Since 1993 UNITED has monitored the deadly results of the building of a
'Fortress Europe'.

More than 6300 deaths of refugees and migrants have been documented up
to now. These deaths can be put down to border militarisation, asylum
laws, detention policies, deportations and carrier sanctions. They are
linked to the carrying out of decision taken on highest political level:
the Schengen treaty, the Dublin Convention and EU border control
programs.

United Collects data on where and under which circumstances the refugees
die. The list is used by researchers and journalists as a basis for
their studies and articles. For example, the March 2004 issue of "Le
Monde Diplomatique" carried a widely discussed article based on the
UNITED list of refugee deaths, together with a map illustrating the
scale of the problem.

The list containing over 6300  cases of migrants, refugees and asylum
seekers, who died as a consequence of the building of a "Fortress
Europe", can be consulted on our web site, together with the database of
active organisations across Europe. It can be downloaded for research
purposes.
See http://www.united.non-profit.nl/pages/camprfc.htm and 
http://www.unitedagainstracism.org

UNITED

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----

UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support 
of migrants and refugees
Postbus 413   -  NL 1000 AK Amsterdam - phone +31-20-6834778  -  fax 
+31-20-6834582 - info@unitedagainstracism.org  - 
http://www.unitedagainstracism.org


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